The Shanxi gerbils

Abstract

Despite the wealth of small mammals in the Late Neogene of Yushe Basin, gerbils are not an abundant or diverse element. A single genus, Pseudomeriones Schaub, 1934, is known in the Miocene-Pliocene deposits of Yushe, although the Pleistocene introduces a new fauna containing Meriones Illiger, 1811. The well-known species Pseudomeriones abbreviatus (Teilhard de Chardin, 1926) is recorded in the Pliocene deposits of Zhangcun subbasin, south of Yushe. Whereas this species remains undocumented for Yuncu subbasin, Miocene age sediments have produced a lower crowned member of the genus, P. latidens Sen, 2001. We describe these remains and summarize their stratigraphic occurrence. The low crowned Miocene Yushe material suggests that the Pseudomeriones lineage involves increasing hypsodonty, with latest Miocene and Pliocene Pseudomeriones abbreviatus showing greater crown height than older late Miocene P. latidens.