Paleontological research on fossil small mammals from the open-pit coal mines of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Overview of results

Abstract

Fossil remains of Tertiary small mammals were found on four open-pit coal mines in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Three of them are the Oligocene/Oligo-Miocene in age "Bogutovo Selo" and "Luke Mezgraja"-Ugljevik Basin and "Turija"-Banovići Basin), while one belongs to the Middle Miocene, "Gračanica"-Bugojno Basin.

Prospalax priscus jaw from the site of Węże 2 (southern Poland, Pliocene)

“…f lying squirrels (Sciuridae: Petauristini) and dormice (Sulimski, 1964;Daxner-Höck, 1970; assemblages otherwise typical for forest habitats (Hordijk & de Bruijn, 2009;Nesin & Kovalchuk, 2020) as well as by the reinterpretation of the anomalomyid incisors as not being proficient digging tools (Kalthoff, 2000;Nesin & Kovalchuk, 2020). Also the relationships between Anomalomyidae and Spalacidae seem to be more distant than previously thought and the presence of bur- Jánossy, 1986;Nadachowski, 1989;Sabol, 2003;Hordijk & de Bruijn, 2009;Marković & Milivojević, 2010).…”

“…Moreover, the species was attested at the MN 15? site of Notio 1 in Greece (Hordijk & de Bruijn, 2009), MN 16 of Hajnáčka I in Slovakia (Sabol, 2003), and MN 18 of Riđake in Serbia (Marković & Milivojević, 2010). It was also reported from the Upper Miocene of Eichkogel in Austria (Daxner-Höck, 1970;Temper, 2005).…”

“…Prospalax priscus is now recognized as a representative of the Anomalomyidae. Apparently restricted to the Old World, this family is known to have lasted since the Early Miocene till the beginning of MN 18 (Marković & Milivojević, 2010;López-Guerrero et al 2017;Nesin and Kovalchuk 2020). The family includes three genera (Anomalomys, Anomalospalax, Prospalax), all of which were previously assigned to the Cricetidae (i.e.…”

“…P. priscus is known from several sites in Central Europe and Greece, dated from the Upper Miocene (Daxner-Höck 1970;Temper 2005) till the beginning of MN 18 (Marković & Milivojević, 2010). In Poland it was attested at the MN 15 sites of Draby 1, Mokra 1, Raciszyn 1 (Nadachowski 1989;Nadachowski et al 1989) and Węże 1 (Sulimski, 1964), as well as the MN 16 site of Rębielice Królewskie 1A (Kowalski, 1960).…”

Deperetomys (Rodentia, Muridae) from the Oligocene of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina

“…The treated matrix was subsequently "gold-panned" in order to separate the heavier teeth from the coal. A few remains of large mammals from the Ugljevik coal have been published by Laskarev (1925) and Malez and Thenius (1985), but small mammal remains have so far passed unnoticed (Marković et al 2018a).…”