First galericine erinaceid (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla) from the early Oligocene of tropical North America

ABSTRACT

A new galericine erinaceid, Dzavui landeri Crespo and Jiménez-Hidalgo, gen. nov., sp. nov., from the early Oligocene (Rupelian) Iniyoo Local Fauna of northwestern Oaxaca in southern Mexico is described. It is diagnosed based on its reduced p4 with a poorly developed paracone and metacone, a short trigonid on the m1 and a straight paralophid on m1. D. landeri gen. nov., sp. nov., probably was more carnivorous than Ocajila but more omnivorous than the other North American galericines. The similarity of teeth morphology between this new hedgehog and the Asian Eocene taxa, suggest that it was derived from an Asian ancestor. The new galericine from Oaxaca is the first from the Mexican Paleogene and the most southern record in North America.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B69724C4-D32F-46B4-A389-970124BEA55E

KEYWORDS:

• Erinaceidae
• Iniyoo Local Fauna
• Yolomécatl
• Oaxaca
• Chilapa Formation
• Arikareean

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the local authorities and landowners of Santiago Yolomécatl for their authorisation to prospect lands under their purviews. We thank Kesler A. Ranfall (San Diego Natural History Museum) for making available the 3D model of Ocajila. VDC is beneficiary of a grant (ZA21-044) for the requalification of the Spanish university system from the Ministry of Universities of the Government of Spain, financed by the European Union, Next Generation EU. G. Carbot-Chanona kindly drew the hedgehog silhouette of Figure 2. We thank the comments of two anonymous reviewers that helped to improve this paper.

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was partially supported by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología CONACYT Ciencia Básica 2015-01 Project No. 255883, ‘Asociaciones faunísticas y ambientes de depósito de las localidades fosilíferas continentales del Eoceno tardío de la Mixteca Alta oaxaqueña’.