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Hedgehogs (Erinaceidae, Lipotyphla) from the Miocene of Pakistan, with description of a new species of Galerix

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Abstract

Hedgehogs (erinaceid insectivores) are a common element in Miocene small mammal faunas of Pakistan, but little material has been formally described. Here, we report on extensive collections from numerous localities across Pakistan, most from the Potwar Plateau, Punjab, and the Sehwan area in Sindh. The dominant erinaceid is Galerix, which is also known from Europe, Turkey, and East Africa. We document a new early species of Galerix, Galerix wesselsae, in sites from Sehwan, the Zinda Pir Dome, the Potwar Plateau, and Banda Daud Shah ranging in age from about 19 to 14 Ma. This species briefly co-occurs with and is then replaced by the smaller Galerix rutlandae, previously based on a few teeth from Daud Khel. G. rutlandae is a common element of Chinji Formation faunas through about 11.5 Ma. Scanty material of an apparently new species of Schizogalerix succeeds Galerix. After 10.2 Ma, no galericines occur in Pakistan, but rare erinaceines are later faunal components.

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Acknowledgements

We are glad for the opportunity to contribute to this volume in honor of Albert van der Meulen and appreciate the advice and assistance of the guest and technical editors. Albert worked in Pakistan, especially in Sindh, and likely helped to screen the small mammal localities that produced hedgehogs from the Sehwan area. Our contribution is in honor of his research, which is of global impact, and in this case quite international. We thank Will Downs and Gina Gould for assembling much of the material we studied and for their preliminary work on the collections. Will (1950–2002) first recognised Schizogalerix in our collection, but unfortunately, was unable to complete this study. We thank Wilma Wessels for permission to study erinaceid material under her care and Lars van den Hoek Ostende for many useful comments on erinaceid palaeontology. Judy Chupasko and Mark Omura provided access to comparative collections of modern erinaceids at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard. Jerôme Prieto and an anonymous reviewer provided constructive comments.

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  1. Harvard University, 914 Rich Avenue #3, Mountain View, CA, 94040, USA

    Jelle Zijlstra

  2. Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Lawrence J. Flynn

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  1. Jelle Zijlstra
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Correspondence to Jelle Zijlstra.

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This article is a contribution to the special issue “Old worlds, new ideas. A tribute to Albert van der Meulen”

This article is registered in Zoobank under urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:5CE18C88-8BD6-4C95-BF5D-2D45C984571D

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Zijlstra, J., Flynn, L.J. Hedgehogs (Erinaceidae, Lipotyphla) from the Miocene of Pakistan, with description of a new species of Galerix . Palaeobio Palaeoenv 95, 477–495 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-015-0190-3

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