Evolutionary history of the African soricid Myosorex (Insectivora, Mammalia) out of Africa

ABSTRACT

The species Myosorex meini Jammot, 1977 was a nomen nudum because it was named in an unpublished dissertation. The species is here revised using the new material found in the Late Pliocene fissure infillings of Almenara-Casablanca 1 and 4 (province of Castelló, East of Spain) and from the Tollo de Chiclana localities 1B, 3, 10, and 10B in the Guadix Basin (province of Granada, Southeastern Spain). A new diagnosis is given with some differential characters to identify the species within the family. The species definitively belongs to the genus Myosorex. A definitive new allocation for the genus into the subfamily Crocidosoricinae is proposed as an alternative to the classical assignment to the Crocidurinae. This is justified by available data coming from different fields of research, such as genetics, reproductive biology, morphology, and paleontology. Within the Crocidosoricinae, the tribe Myosoricini Kretzoi, 1965 is resurrected, and two other ones, the Crocidosoricini and the Oligosoricini, are redefined. From the paleobiogeographical point of view, the occurrence of the African genus Myosorex constitutes a new striking evidence of the faunal exchange between Eurasia and Africa that took place during the Messinian Salinity Crisis.