First record of the microtoid rodent Microtocricetus Fahlbusch & Mayr 1975 from the South German karsts

ABSTRACT

While the swabian and franconian karsts of southern Germany have yielded rich and important neogene vertebrate faunas, the middle to late Miocene transition is still extremely underrepresented. This period is however key for the understanding of the European mammal evolution. A microtoid rodent Microtocricetus M2 is described and commented in this paper. The fossil discovered in the karst filling Petersbuch 69 is regarded herein such as derived and might be thus the youngest fossil of the genus in Germany.

KEYWORDS:

• Miocene
• Bavaria
• fissure filling

Acknowledgments

We express our gratitude to Prof. Jorge Morales his inspiring contribution to mammalian paleontology. JP thanks Uwe for his help in solving major computer problems making this paper possible. We also thank an anonymous reviewer for his constructive comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).