Leithia

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Leithia
Temporal range: Early Pleistocene–Late Pleistocene
↓
Skeleton of Lethia melitensis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Gliridae
Subfamily: Leithiinae
Genus: †Leithia
Lydekker, 1896[1]
Type species
†Myoxus melitensis
Adams, 1863[2]
species
  • Leithia melitensis (Adams, 1863)
  • Leithia cartei (Adams, 1863)

Leithia is an extinct genus of giant

Mediterranean islands of Malta and Sicily. It is considered an example of island gigantism
. Leithia melitensis is the largest known species of dormouse, living or extinct, being twice the size of any other known species.

Discovery and taxonomy

The species were first named by

Myoxus.[2] Leithia was proposed in 1896 by Richard Lydekker as a new genus, suggesting an arrangement currently recognised as the subfamily Leithiinae; the names honour Leith Adams.[1][3] Two species of Leithia, namely Leithia melitensis and the smaller L. cartei, lived in Sicily and Malta.[4]

Description

masseter muscles in life) and the pterygoid flange. The rostrum of L. melitensis relatively short, and the molar teeth are proportionally enlarged relative to Eliomys.[5] The mandible of L. melitensis is also extremely robust.[9]

Ecology

The teeth of Leithia melitensis exhibit a variable amount of wear, indicating an abrasive, and probably largely herbivorous diet,[9] with the lower jaw exhibiting greater adaption to chewing rather than gnawing.[10] Leithia was likely predated upon by large birds of prey native to the islands, such as the endemic large barn-owl Tyto mourerchauvireae.[5]

Evolutionary history

The closest living relative of Leithia is assumed to be

Elephas mnaidriensis” faunal complex, but apparently became extinct sometime before the end of the Pleistocene, prior the deposition of deposits assigned to the “Grotta S. Teodoro Pianetti” faunal complex.[11][12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Lydekker, Richard (1895). "On the affinities of the so called extinct giant dormouse of Malta". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London: 860–863.
  2. ^ a b Adams, A. L. (1863),  ‘Observations on the Fossiliferous caves of Malta’. Journal of the Royal Society, 4 .2. pp.11–19.
  3. ^ Wilson, Don E.; Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 12. JHU Press. p. 829.
  4. ^ Petronio, C. (1970). "I Roditori Pleistocenici della Grotta di Spinagallo (Siracusa)" (PDF). Geol. Rom. IX: 149–194. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-06-29. (in Italian)
  5. ^
    S2CID 221868671
    .
  6. ^ "Giant dormice the size of cats used to live on Sicily". www.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-02-17.
  7. ^ Guglielmo, M.; Marra, A.C. Le due Sicilie del Pleistocene Medio: osservazioni paleogeografiche. [in Italian]. Biogeographia 2011, 30, 11–25.
  8. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2016.05.007
    .
  9. ^
    PMID 33143584
    .
  10. PMID 36881990
    .
  11. ^
    hdl:2318/89144
    .
  12. ^ a b c Bonfiglio, L., Marra, A. C., Masini, F., Pavia, M., & Petruso, D. (2002). Pleistocene faunas of Sicily: a review. In W. H. Waldren, & J. A. Ensenyat (Eds.), World islands in prehistory: international insular investigations. British Archaeological Reports, International Series, 1095, 428–436.
  13. ^ Petruso, D. 2004. New data on Pleistocene endemic Sicilian-Maltese dormice (Gliridae, Mammalia). 18th International Senckenberg Conference, VI International Palaeontological Colloquium in Weimar, 205–206.  
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