Abstract
The late Miocene and Pliocene fossil record documents important changes in rodent faunal composition heralding the advent of the modern East African fauna. Most significant among these changes is the beginning of the radiation of the Murinae, the true rats and mice, whose earliest African record is 12–10 Ma, and which currently dominate rodent assemblages in sub-Saharan Africa. The rodent record for the late Miocene and Pliocene is better than that for the middle Miocene, but still woefully inadequate. Hence the significance of late Neogene rodent remains from the Manonga Valley, in north-central Tanzania.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Andrews, P. J., 1989, Palaeoecology of Laetoli, J. Hum. Evol. 18:173–181.
Azzaroli, A., 1990, Palaeogeography of terrestrial vertebrates in the perityrrhenian area, Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol. 77:83–90.
Baker, G. H., Mohr, P. A., and Williams, L. A. J., 1972, Geology of the eastern rift system of Africa, Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap. 136:1–67.
Black, C. C., and Krishtalka, L., 1986, Rodents, bats, and insectivores from the Plio-Pleistocene sediments to the East of Lake Turkana, Kenya, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Contributions to Science No. 372, pp. 1–15.
Brandy, L. D., 1979, Rongeurs nouveaux du Néogène d’Afghanistan, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Sér. D 289:81–83.
Brandy, L. D., 1981, Rongeurs muroïdés du Néogène supérieur d’Afghanistan. Évolution, biogéographie, corrélations, Palaeovertebrata 11(4):133–179.
Brandy, L. D., and Jaeger, J.-J., 1980, Les échanges de faunes terrestres entre l’Europe et l’Afrique nord-occidentale au Messinien, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Sér. D 291:465–468.
Brandy, L. D., Sabatier, M., and Jaeger, J-J., 1980, Implications phylogénétiques et biogéographiques des dernières découvertes de Muridae en Afghanistan, au Pakistan et en Ethiopie, Géobios 13:639–643.
Conroy, G. C., Pickford, M., Senut, B., Van Couvering, J., and Mein, P., 1992, Otavipithecus namibiensis, first Miocene hominoid from southern Africa, Nature 356:144–148.
Denys, C., 1985, Palaeoenvironmental and palaeobiogeographical significance of the fossil rodent assemblages of Laetoli (Pliocene, Tanzania), Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol. 52:77–97.
Denys, C., 1987, Fossil rodents (other than Pedetidae) from Laetoli, in: Laetoli, A Pliocene Site in Northern Tanzania (M. D. Leakey and J. M. Harris, eds.), Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 118–170.
Denys, C., 1990, The oldest Acomys (Rodentia, Muridae) from the lower Pliocene of South Africa and the problem of its murid affinities, Palaeont Abt. A 210:79–91.
Denys, C., 1992, Présence de Saccostomus (Rodentia, Mammalia) a Olduvai Bed I (Tanzanie, Pléistocène inférieur). Implications phylétiques et paléobiogéographiques, Géobios 25:145–154.
Denys, C., Chorowiez, J., and Tiercelin, J. J., 1986, Tectonic and environmental control on rodent diversity in the Plio-Pleistocene sediments of the African Rift System, in Sedimentation in the African Rifts (L. E. Frostick, R. W. Renaut, I. Reid, and J. -J. Tiercelin, eds.), Geol. Soc. Spec. Publ. No. 25, pp. 363–372.
Denys, C., Michaux, J., Petter, F., Aguilar, J. P., and Jaeger, J. J., 1992, Molar morphology as a clue to the phylogenetic relationship of Acomys to the Murinae, Israel J. Zool. 38:253–262.
Flynn, L. J., and Winkler, A. J., 1994, Dispersalist implications of Paraulacodus indicus: A south Asian rodent of African affinity, Hist. Biol. 9:223–235.
Harrison, T., 1993, Further paleoanthropological research in the Manonga Valley of north-central Tanzania, Nyame Akuma 39:49–57.
Jacobs, L. L., 1978, Fossil rodents (Rhizomyidae & Muridae) from Neogene Siwalik deposits, Pakistan, Mus. Northern Arizona Press, Bull. Ser. 52:1–103.
Jacobs, L. L., Flynn, L. J., and Downs, W. R., 1989, Neogene rodents of southern Asia, in: Papers on Fossil Rodents in Honor of Albert Elmer Wood (C. C. Black and M. R. Dawson, eds.), Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Spec. Publ. 33, pp. 157–177.
Jaeger, J.-J., 1975, Les Muridae (Mammalia, Rodentia) du Pliocène et du Pléistocène du Maghreb. Origine, évolution, données biogéographiques et paléoclimatiques. Thesis, Univ. Sc. et Tech. du Languedoc.
Jaeger, J.-J., 1976, Les rongeurs (Mammalia, Rodentia) du Pléistocène Inférieur d’Olduvai Bed I (Tanzanie) Ière Partie: Les Muridés, in: Fossil Vertebrates of Africa (R. J. G. Savage and S. C. Coryndon, eds.), Academic Press, London, vol. 4, pp. 57–120.
Jaeger, J.-J., 1979, Les faunes de rongeurs et de lagomorphes du Pliocène et du Pléistocène d’Afrique orientale, Bull. Soc. Géol. France 7(3):301–308.
Jaeger, J.-J., Michaux, J., and Sabatier, M., 1980, Premières données sur les rongeurs de la formation de Ch’orora (Ethiopie) d’âge Miocène supérieur. I: Thryonomyidés, Palaeovertebrata, Montpellier, Mém. Jubil. R. Lavocat 69:365–374.
James, G. T., and Slaughter, B. H., 1974, A primitive new middle Pliocene murid from Wadi el Natrun, Egypt, Ann. Geol. Surv. Egypt 4:333–362.
Kingdon, J., 1974, East African Mammals: An Atlas of Evolution in Africa, Volume IIB (hares and rodents), University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Misonne, X., 1969, African and Indo-Australian Muridae Evolutionary Trends, Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale—Tervuren Belgique, Annales Science Zoologie 172:1–219.
Misonne, X., 1974, Part 6, Order Rodentia, main text, in: The Mammals of Africa, an Identification Manual (J. Meester and H. W. Setzer, eds.), Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, pp. 1–39.
Nowak, R. M., and Paradiso, J. L., 1983, Walker’s Mammals of the World, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland.
Petter, F., 1983, Elements d’une revision des Acomys Africains. Un sous-genre nouveau, Peracomys Petter et Roche, 1981, Ann. Kon. Mus. Mid. Afr., Zool. Wet. 237:109–119.
Sabatier, M., 1982, Les rongeurs du site Pliocène à hominidés de Hadar (Éthiopie), Palaeovertebrata 12(1):1–56.
Sen, S., 1983, Rongeurs et lagomorphes du gisement Pliocène de Pul-e Charkhi, bassin de Kabul, Afghanistan. Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat, Sect. C [Sér. 5] 1:33–74.
Slaughter, B. H., and James, G. G., 1979, Saidomys natrunensis, an arvicanthine rodent from the Pliocene of Egypt, J. Mammal. 60:421–425.
Steininger, F. F., Bernor, R. L., and Fahlbusch, V., 1990, European Neogene marine/continental chronologic correlations, in European Neogene Mammal Chronology (E. H. Lindsay, V. Fahlbusch, and P. Mein, eds.), NATO ASI Ser. A., Vol. 180, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 15–46.
Ward, S., and Hill, A., 1987, Pliocene hominid partial mandible from Tabarin, Baringo, Kenya, Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 72:21–37.
Wesselman, H. B., 1984, The Omo micromammals: Systematics and paleoecology of early man sites from Ethiopia, Contr. Vertebrate Evolution 7:1–219.
Winkler, A. J., 1990, Systematics and biogeography of Neogene rodents from the Baringo District, Kenya, Ph.D. thesis, Department of Geological Sciences, Southern Methodist University.
Winkler, A. J., 1992, Systematics and biogeography of middle Miocene rodents from the Muruyur Beds, Baringo District, Kenya, J. Vert. Paleontol. 12:236–249.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Winkler, A.J. (1997). Systematics, Paleobiogeography, and Paleoenvironmental Significance of Rodents from the Ibole Member, Manonga Valley, Tanzania. In: Harrison, T. (eds) Neogene Paleontology of the Manonga Valley, Tanzania. Topics in Geobiology, vol 14. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2683-1_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2683-1_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-3265-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-2683-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive