The Early Miocene mammalian assemblages in Jebel Zelten, Libya

Pages	95-105
Citation	HORÁČEK, Ivan a FEJFAR, Oldřich. The Early Miocene mammalian assemblages in Jebel Zelten, Libya. Lynx, new series. Prague: National Museum, 2006, 37(1), 95-105. ISSN 0024-7774 (print), 1804-6460 (online). Also available from: https://www.nm.cz/en/periodicals/lns/37-1/the-early-miocene-mammalian-assemblages-in-jebel-zelten-libya

Lynx, new series | 2006/37/1

The small mammal assemblage obtained from six sites of the Miocene deposits in Jebel Zelten, Libya, in 1982, 1983 and 1997, is composed of 10 species of rodents (seven different clades), 2 spp. of ochotonid Lagomorphs and one vespertilionid bat. A special attention is given to the forms characterising the uppermost part of the series: they belong (mostly as new species) to the genera Potwarmus (Muridae), Mellalomys (Myocricetodontinae), Heterosminthus (Lophiocricetinae), Sayimys (Ctenodactylidae) and a new genus of Vespertilionidae. The most parsimonious dating for them is the early Middle Miocene (ca. 15 My) as the cricetids and ctenodactylids are apparently less advanced than their congeneric forms in Beni Mellal (14 My) while Potwarmus, representing the first wave of murid expansion from Asia to Africa, is more advanced than the congeneric forms from Banda daud Shah in Pakistan (16 My). All these forms reveal close relations both to the clades known from several other African localities and to those found in the Early or Middle Miocene of Pakistan and illustrate the intesive s. c. “southern” faunal interchange between north Africa and Asia in time of the Early and Middle Miocene.

Fejfar2006lynx.pdf