Apocricetus barrierei (Rodentia, Mammalia) from La Bullana 2B and La Bullana 3 (Cabriel Basin, Valencia, Spain). Revision of the Late Miocene–Early Pliocene forms of the genus Apocricetus

First Early Pliocene micromammal faunas from Venta del Moro (Cabriel Basin, Spain): new data on the Messinian dispersal of Debruijnimys

“…The specimens from La Bullana 2B largely agree with the material of O. brailloni from Layna (type locality) described by Michaux (1969): m1 without tma and with the accessory cuspids less developed than Apodemus, M1 with t1 bis, a crest that connects t1 to the posterior crown and a much reduced t12, and M2 with reduced t3 and well-developed t1 connected to the t5 by a crest. Michaux (1969) also considered diagnostic the presence of a low longitudinal crest in m1, lower than in Stephanomys.…”

“…With respect to the size, the material from La Bullana 2B is similar in size to O. brailloni from other MN14 localities such as Ptolemais 1 and 3 and Kardia (Weerd, 1979), Gorafe A (Ruiz Bustos et al, 1984) and Vorio 1 (Hordijk and de Bruijn, 2009), and slightly smaller than the same taxon from MN15 localities such as Vorio 3 (Hordijk and de Bruijn, 2009), Arquillo 3 and Aldehuela (Adrover, 1986), Layna, Nîmes and Sête (Michaux, 1969), Cañada del Castaño 1 (Martín-Suárez, 1988), TCH-1B (Minwer-Barakat et al, 2005), Bélmez 1, Rambla Seca A1, A2 and A3, Moreda 1L-4 and the MN16 locality of Moreda 1B (Castillo, 1990). The scarce material from AL2-D (Mansino et al, 2013) is morphologically con-(LB2B-11, LB2B-123, LB2B-124, LB2B-251) 1 M2 (LB2B-135).…”

“…In the Greek locality of Vorio 3 (Hordijk and de Bruijn, 2009) all M1 have a crest on t1, two molars have a spur on t3 and another one a developed crest. In Layna and Nîmes there is always a crest on t1, but the t3 has a spur (Michaux, 1969). The single M1 from TCH-1B has well-developed crests on t1 and t3 .…”

“…In localities assigned to the early MN15, this crest is present in 2 out of 7 specimens from Arquillo 3 (Adrover, 1986), and absent in the two m1 from Vorio 3 (Hordijk and de Bruijn, 2009). In more recent localities, such as Layna, Nîmes (Michaux, 1969) and TCH-1B (Minwer-Barakat et al, 2005) there is always a low longitudinal crest.…”

“…Michaux (1969) also considered diagnostic the presence of a low longitudinal crest in m1, lower than in Stephanomys. Regarding this character, there seems to be a great variability among populations, and Adrover (1986) suggested an increase of the longitudinal crest in m1 and m2 through time.…”