Rodents of the family anomaluridae (mammalia) from Southeast Asia (Middle Eocene, Pondaung Formation, Myanmar)

Abstract

Latest middle Eocene deposits in the Pondaung Formation of Myanmar have yielded specimens representing the rodent family Anomaluridae. This is the geologically oldest record of the family. There appear to be two or three species of Pondaung anomalurids, the most completely represented taxon of which is described as a new genus and species, Pondaungimys anomaluropsis. The anomalurids from the Pondaung Formation are characterized by a complex folding pattern on the occlusal surfaces of the cheek teeth, as well as the basically anomalurid pentalophodont condition. Undescribed anomalurids have been reported from the late Eocene of Thailand and Oligocene of Pakistan and the Arabian Peninsula. Their Neogene distribution is only African. This occurrence in the Pondaung Formation adds new evidence to previously reported similarities between Southeast Asian and North African Paleogene mammalian faunas.