Miocene and early Pleistocene rodents (Mammalia) from Denizli Basin (southwestern Turkey) and a new species of fossil Mus

Abstract

The terrestrial Neogene Basin of Denizli, located in southwestern Turkey, yields rodent faunas from nine localities dated between MN6 and MNQ18-19. Arabosminthus gansus, which is known in China and Mongolia, is recorded for the first time in Turkey at the Yenicekent localities (MN8-9), an older stratigraphical level than it is usually known from. Another species from the same localities, Microdyromys complicatus, is described for the first time in Anatolia in a younger locality than usual known in Western Europe. Myomimus dehmi, Myocricetodon eskihisarensis, Dryomys tosyaensis, and Dryomys sp. are the other species described in the present study. A new species of fossil Mus (Mammalia, Rodentia), Mus denizliensis, sp. Nov. (MNQ18-19), has been found at the Gökpinar locality. This is the oldest fossil species of this genus known from Turkey or continental Europe.