NEW MATERIALS OF PARARHIZOMYS FROM NORTHERN CHINA

ABSTRACT

Several new specimens of the poorly known late Neogene muroid Pararhizomys known mainly from the holotype jaw from Fugu, Shaanxi Province, and a skull from western Mongolia, help to characterize the genus more fully.  We review all known specimens representing the genus, including new material from Lantian, near Xi'an in Shaanxi Province, 600 km south of Fugu. The dental material from Lantian is found to be primitive in having shorter reentrant folds and a less undulating enamel base, and is used to diagnose a new species. The Lantian Pararhizomys qinensis is smaller than the type species and, being early late Miocene in age, is likely geologically older. We find no compelling argument to support attribution of Pararhizomys to known families, although Rhizomyidae remains a possibility. Alternatively, Pararhizomys is a late-surviving member of an independent archaic muroid lineage.

Zhang Zhaoqun. Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, CAS, Beijing 100044, Ps Republic of China.
Lawrence J. Flynn. Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Qui Zhuding. Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, CAS, Beijing 100044, Ps Republic of China.

KEY WORDS: Pararhizomys; muroid rodents; Miocene; China; Lantian

PE Article Number: 8.1.5A
Copyright: Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. May 2005
Submission: 27 August 2004. Acceptance: 6 March 2005.