Re-investigation of fossil Lemmini specimens from the early and Middle Pleistocene of Western and Central Europe: Evolutionary and paleoenvironmental implications

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11310%2F24%3A10483085" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11310/24:10483085 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=KrqqdhPQTV" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=KrqqdhPQTV</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2024.112128" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.palaeo.2024.112128</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Re-investigation of fossil Lemmini specimens from the early and Middle Pleistocene of Western and Central Europe: Evolutionary and paleoenvironmental implications

Original language description

The current study focuses on the emblematic Myopus/Lemmus species complex (tribe Lemmini) in the European Pleistocene fossil record. The members of the two genera occupy distinct ecological niches and have different external appearances, but they are remarkably similar in their dental morphology, so that they were commonly thought of as undistinguishable in the fossil record. Thus, more or less all European Lemmini fossils have been assigned to the genus Lemmus. In the Early Pleistocene site of Schernfeld (Germany), the species Lemmus kowalskii had been described. It was thought by some authors that all Lemmini from Early to late Middle Pleistocene belong to this species. In the current study, we investigated Lemmini molar morphology from Western and Central European sites including Schernfeld (Early Pleistocene), Sackdillinger Hohle (Sackdilling Cave), and Koneprusy C718 (both early Middle Pleistocene), as well as other fossil localities with fewer specimens, formerly assigned to Lemmus kowalskii. Using an extensive modern referential material of Lemmus and Myopus, this study proposes to reevaluate taxonomic status of the Middle and Early Pleistocene Lemmini. This modern referential also allows a better understanding of the morphology of Lemmus kowalskii specimens and its variability. Our results highlight the very high variation within fossil populations, as well as significant statistical differences between populations of the Early and Middle Pleistocene localities. A large part of these fossil specimens is firmly identified as Myopus sp., including the L. kowalskii holotype. Our identifications demonstrate that in most Early and Middle Pleistocene sites considered in this study, both genera (Lemmus and Myopus) are present. Possible interpretations and consequences for current view of lemming history are discussed, as well as some of the paleoecological and paleoenvironmental implications.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10613 - Zoology

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

ISSN

0031-0182

e-ISSN

1872-616X

Volume of the periodical

641

Issue of the periodical within the volume

May

Country of publishing house

NL - THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS

Number of pages

15

Pages from-to

112128

UT code for WoS article

001202893300001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85187007024