Vallesian rodents from Sheikh Abdallah, Western Desert, Egypt
Abstract
The aim of this contribution is to describe and interpret the fossil rodents from the Vallesian spelean breccias of the Sheikh Abdallah paleocave system, Western Desert, Egypt. Among the 1239 rodent teeth studied, there are three new genera and five new species. The fauna contains the earliest known murine in the world (four specimens), the earliest recorded hystricid in Africa and Europe (one specimen) and a primitive lophiomyine (15 specimens). The assemblage is dominated by Myocricetodon, of which there are four species comprising more than 1000 specimens, followed by a new genus of gerbilline (80 teeth), Africanomys (30 specimens), two genera of dendromurines (45 specimens), the squirrel Atlantoxerus (two specimens), glirids (five specimens), the gerbil Protatera (three specimens) and an indeterminate murid (two specimens). No lagomorphs were found in samples. New rodent taxa described are Faraframys heissigi, Ameurom