Diggers, gliders and runners: The squirrels from the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin (East of Spain)

Abstract

The family Sciuridae currently comprises more than 273 species and 50 genera, distributed in all continents except Australia and Antarctica. This group, together with the mountain beavers (Aplodontiidae) constitute the Suborder Sciurida in the order Rodentia (McKenna & Bell 1997, Churakov et al. 2010). In the Miocene the sciurids experienced a big eco morphologic diversification (with terrestrial, arboreal and gliding forms) as well as a substantial increase in diversity, with up to six species coexisting in some sites. In the Plio Pleistocene transition, this family underwent a crisis, with less genera surviving in Europe than before, reflecting the deterioration of the climate (de Bruijn 1999). In the Iberian Peninsula, the dominant ecomorphological type during the early Miocene are the ground squirrels, with a combined representation of the genera Heteroxerus and Atlantoxerus at many sites, accompanied to a lesser degree by Arago xerus,

They are all over the place!The exceptional high biodiversity of dormice in the Early Miocene of the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin (Spain)

“…Regarding the other rodents studied, there are sites with a greater abundance of ground squirrels, which have a greater affinity for open spaces, while the eoymiids indicate the presence of wooded and humid areas nearby, a fact confirmed by the presence of the Konservat-Laggerstatten of Foieta la Sarra A. (see more details in Crespo et al 2019a, b, c, 2020a, b, 2021a, b, 2022; Álvarez-Parra et al 2021; Albesa et al 2022).…”

“…The study of the dormice of this basin is one more piece of the puzzle that forms the ecosystem of the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin during the end of the Early Miocene. Other important pieces already published are: the new species of the dimylid Plesiodimylus ilercavonicus Crespo, Furió, Ruiz-Sánchez & Montoya, 2018 (Crespo et al 2018), the bat Cuvierimops penalveri Crespo, Sevilla, Montoya & Ruiz-Sánchez, 2020a (Crespo et al 2020a), and the snail Pseudamnicola roblesi Albesa, López & Crespo, 2022 (Albesa et al 2022); also worth noting are: the finding of the southernmost documented record of the herpetotheriid Amphiperaterium frequens erkertshofense (von Meyer, 1846) (Furió et al 2012; Crespo et al 2020b); the abundant remains of talpids (Crespo et al 2019b); the diversity of soricids (Crespo et al 2019c), erinaceids (Crespo et al 2020b), squirrels (Crespo et al 2021a), eomyids (Crespo et al 2021b) bats (Crespo et al 2020a), lagomorphs and Cainotherium (Crespo et al 2022), snails (Albesa et al 2022); reelaborated Cretaceous batoids (Manzanares & Crespo 2023); and even a Konservat-Lagerstätte (Álvarez-Parra et al 2021).…”