First record of the mustelid Trochictis (Carnivora, Mammalia) from the early Late Miocene (MN 9/10) of Germany and a re-appraisal of the genus Trochictis

ABSTRACT

We present the first record of the mustelid Trochictis from the Late Miocene (MN 9/10) of Germany, a partial mandible with p4, m1, and m2 from Eppelsheim. Trochictis peignei sp. nov. is characterised by the combination p4 with a distal accessory cuspid and a basal lingual enlargement, m1 with a length/width index larger than 2.5, a rounded lingual wall of the paraconid, an entoconulid present, the metaconid as high as the paraconid, and cuspules present on the posterior talonid edge, and m2 with a very reduced talonid. Comparison to similar sized Middle and Late Miocene mustelids and a stratocladistic analysis place T. peignei sp. nov. closest to T. narcisoi from MN 9 of Can Llobateras, T. depereti from several MN 6 to MN 7/8 European localities, and cf. Trochictis sp. from MN 9 of Rudabánya. We also suggest synonymy of T. carbonaria and T. artenensis and verify that m2 of Trochictis occasionally is double-rooted. The analysis does not corroborate a close relationship of Trochictis to Taxodon or the subfamily Ictonychinae, but can also not discard confidently such an assignment.

With a body mass of about 3 kg, Trochictis peignei sp. nov. represents the hitherto smallest described carnivoran of the Eppelsheim Formation.

KEYWORDS:

• Miocene
• Mustelidae
• systematics
• Paleosynecology
• Eppelsheim Formation

Acknowledgments

We thank Jorge Morales (MNCN), Elmar Heizmann (SMNS), and Loic Costeur (NMB) for fruitful discussions and providing access to comparative material housed in their care. Ellen R. Miller (Wake Forest Univ.) corrected the English of some parts of the manuscript. Josep M. Robles (ICP) and Alberto Valenciano (Iziko Museums of South Africa, Cape Town) generously provided pictures of Spanish mustelids and mephitids, and Saverio Bartolini Lucenti (Univ. of Florence) shared pictures of Martellictis. Two anonymous reviewers increased a former version of the manuscript by their comments. Last but not least we thankfully acknowledge the financial support granted by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate that provided the Naturhistorisches Museum Mainz/Landessammlung für Naturkunde Rheinland-Pfalz and the Generaldirektion Kulturelles Erbe Rheinland-Pfalz, Direktion Landesarchäologie, the financial resources required to realize the long-time scientific excavations at Eppelsheim. Finally, we also thank the capital of Mainz for enabling and supporting our scientific activities.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

No funds were received to perform this specific study, but financial support was granted by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate for the excavations in Eppelsheim and ALM was funded by the Austrian Science Fund [FWF grant number P29397].