Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia, 22() 1977
Fossil Lemmings (Mammalia, Rodentia) from the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene of Poland
Abstract:
Synaptomys (Praesynaptomys) europaeus subg. n. sp. n. from the fauna of the Middle Villafranchian of Rębielice Królewskie I and II is described. It is the oldest member of the genus, whose origin in the Palaearctic it indicates, and at the same time the oldest form of the Arvicolidae with rootless teeth in Europe. Lemmus lemmus (Linnaeus 1758) occurs in Poland from the beginning of the Pleistocene till the Mindel glaciation; it shows only a slight evolution in the pattern of molars and remarkable fluctuations in size. In the fauna of Kozi Grzbiet (Mindel I/Mindel II) the genus Dicrostonyx, represented by D. simplicior Fejfar 1966, appears for the first time in Poland. In addition to descriptions, measurements, and drawings of the forms under study, this paper contains a discussion of their systematic position, and, in the light of new finds, of the evolution of lemmings in the Holarctic.
