ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The paper is dedicated to C.A. Repenning in acknowledgment of his outstanding contributions to the knowledge of the origin, evolution, phylogeny, and biochronology of arvicolids.

We are very grateful to E.H. Lindsay (Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson, USA) and two anonymous reviewers for suggestions and critical comments. We extend our sincere thanks to P. Mein (Université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1 Dép. des Sciences de la Terre, Villeurbanne, France) who kindly supplied data on Rotundomys.

The study was supported by grant No. 205/09/0184 from the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic.