Tupaia miocenica
| Tupaia miocenica Temporal range: ~18 mya
| |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Scandentia |
| Family: | Tupaiidae |
| Genus: | Tupaia |
| Species: | †T. miocenica
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Tupaia miocenica | |
Tupaia miocenica is a
protocone in front of it by a narrow valley. The condition of the hypocone distinguishes this species from various other treeshrews. In addition, the presence of a well-developed but simple mesostyle
(a small cuspule) is distinctive.
Taxonomy
Tupaia miocenica was described in 1997 by French paleontologists
Lufeng, China, in 2012.[4]
Description
The single known tooth, a
Urogale, which have a large hypocone. In T. miocenica the back and lingual sides of the hypocone are straight and form a right angle with each other.[1] The tooth most closely resembles Tupaia species with a simple mesostyle, such as the common treeshrew (Tupaia glis). However, this species is smaller and unlike in T. miocenica, the hypocone is not isolated from the protocone by a narrow valley.[2]
Range and ecology
Li Mae Long, the collection site of T. miocenica, is dated to the latest
Diatomys liensis, the slow loris ? Nycticebus linglom, and the metatherian Siamoperadectes. Mein and Ginsburg conclude that the fauna represents a tropical forest environment close to a shallow lake.[9]
References
Literature cited
- Helgen, K.M. 2005. Order Scandentia. Pp. 104–109 in Wilson, D.E. and Reeder, D.M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference. 3rd ed. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols., 2142 pp. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0
- Mein, P. and Ginsburg, L. 1997. Les mammifères du gisement miocène inférieur de Li Mae Long, Thaïlande : systématique, biostratigraphie et paléoenvironnement. Geodiversitas 19(4):783–844 (in French). Abstract in French and English.
- Ni, X. and Qiu, Z. 2012. Tupaiine tree shrews (Scandentia, Mammalia) from the Yuanmou Lufengpithecus locality of Yunnan, China (subscription required). Swiss Journal of Palaeontology 131(1):51–60.
- Sargis, E.J. 2004. New views on tree shrews: The role of Tupaiids in primate supraordinal relationships (subscription required). Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 13(2):56–66.