Simplomys meulenorum Garcia-Paredes, Pelaez-Campomanes & Alvarez-Sierra 2009
Creators: name: Crespo, Vicente Daniel
name: Ríos, María
name: Marquina-Blasco, Rafael
name: Montoya, Plini
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Rodentia
Gliridae
Simplomys
Simplomys meulenorum

description: Simplomys meulenorum García-Paredes, Peláez-Campomanes & Álvarez-Sierra, 2009
(Fig. 10 A-L)
LOCALITIES. — BC1, MAB 3, MAB 4, and MAB 5.
MATERIAL. — BC1: 1 M1, 1 M2; MAB 3: 1 p4, 1 m 2, 3 P4, 6 M1, 3 M2; MAB 4: 1 P4; MAB 5: 1 m 3, 1 M1, 1 M2; MAB 11: 1 p4.
MEASUREMENTS. — Appendix 13
DESCRIPTION
p4 (MAB 3)
Tooth subtriangular in outline and hypsodont. The anterolophid is absent. The metalophid and the anteroconid are transverse. The mesolophid is long and independent, with a well-developed posterolophid. In MAB 11, the pattern of the crestids is more chaotic in the anterior zone.
m2 (MAB 3)
A very hypsodont tooth with a rectangular outline. The anterolophid is long. The metaconid is connected to the anteroconid. The metalophid is curved and long.The centrolophid is absent. The endolophid is short. The mesolophid and the posterolophid are long and connected.The mesolophid is divided in two. The labial cuspids are more developed than the lingual ones. The posterior valley is narrow. There are no extra crestids.
m3 (MAB 5)
The tooth is greatly reduced and shows a more or less elongated D-shape in occlusal view. The anterolophid is long and isolated. The metalophid is long and curved. The endolophid is short and the centrolophid is absent. There is no mesolophid. The posterolophid has two posterior spurs. The posterior valley is strongly developed, as is the posterolophid.
P4 (MAB 3)
The outline is sub-rounded. The anteroloph may be long (2 out of 3) or short (1 out of 3), in one specimen it is divided and the parts are separated. The anteroloph is isolated from the protoloph. The protoloph and the metaloph are well developed and connected, forming a typical Y-shape. In one tooth the metaloph is divided. The posteroloph is long and isolated. In MAB 4 the protoloph and the metaloph are short and only the protoloph contacts the protocone.
M1 (MAB 3)
The tooth is hypsodont and has a subquadrangular outline. A crest may be present in front of the anteroloph (5 out of 6) or it may be reduced to only a depression (1 out of 6). The anteroloph may be short (3 out of 5), medium-sized (1 out of 5) or long (2 out of 5); it may be isolated lingually and labially and it may be not connected to the protocone (1 out of 5), or both the anteroloph and the protocone may end together (4 out of 5). The protocone may be connected to the protoloph (1 out of 6), or have a spur towards it (5 out of 6). The protoloph and the metaloph form the typical Y, joining near the lingual face. The postcentroloph may reach up to the middle of the tooth (4 out of 5) or be slightly shorter (1 out of 6). The posteroloph may be of medium size (3 out of 5) or long (2 out of 4) and it is isolated at both of its ends. In BC1 there are no centrolophs and there is no anterior crest in front of the anteroloph, which is characterized by a constriction. In MAB 5 the metacone has a posterior spur.
M2 (MAB 3)
The tooth is hypsodont and of subquadrangular outline. There is a small crest in front of the anteroloph. The anteroloph is long and isolated lingually and labially. The protoloph and the metaloph form the typical Y, joining near the lingual side. The centrolophs may be absent (2 out of 3), or there may be a postcentroloph reaching up to the middle of the tooth and divided in two (1 out of 3). The posteroloph may be isolated (2 out of 3) or connected on the lingual side (1 out of 3) and short. The specimens found in MAB 5 follow this description. In BC1 there is no anterior crest of the anteroloph, it is a platform, the anteroloph has a constriction and no centrolophs are present.
REMARKS
This species was described by García-Paredes et al. (2009), and until now it had only been recorded in the Calatayud-Montalbán and Loranca basins in Spain and the site of St Catherine 9 in France. The fossil record of S. meulenorum ranges from MN3, local biozone A to MN4, local biozone C, in the Early Miocene (García-Paredes et al. 2009).
It is characterised by its medium to large size. When it occurs together with S. simplicidens it is larger, with lower molars without centrolophids (as in S. julii, but larger) and with the posterior crestids of the m3 completely fused (García-Paredes et al. 2009). Some of the characteristics that best differentiate this species arethe appearance, on occasions, of an interruption in the anteroloph, which sometimes contacts the protoloph medially, the reduction of the centrolophids, and the fusion of the mesolophid and the posterolophid in the m3 (García-Paredes et al. 2009). This pattern has been observed in Ribesalbes-Alcora and all the splitting stages have been noted, from an anteroloph with a small constriction to the fusion with the protoloph. A similar species comparable in size is Simplomys hugi Prieto, Lu, Maridet, Becker, Pirkenseer, Rauber & Peláez-Campomanes, 2019 but in this Central European species, the centroloph is lacking and the anteroloph is never divided (Prieto et al. 2019). An additional characteristic in our material is the presence of a small pre-anteroloph crest, which gives the tooth greater robustness.
description: Published as part of Crespo, Vicente Daniel, Ríos, María, Marquina-Blasco, Rafael & Montoya, Plini, 2023, They are all over the place! The exceptional high biodiversity of dormice in the Early Miocene of the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin (Spain), pp. 589-641 in Geodiversitas 45 (20) on pages 613-614, DOI: 10.5252/geodiversitas2023v45a20, http://zenodo.org/record/10137206