The second record of Borsodia (Arvicolidae, Rodentia) from the Pliocene of the Netherlands

This note describes a tooth of the extinct lagurine vole genus Borsodia (Arvicolidae, Rodentia) from a borehole at Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Borsodia was previously reported for the first time from the Netherlands on the basis of a tooth dredged from the Oosterschelde (Reumer et al. 2005). Attention is drawn to the use of Borsodia for stratigraphic correlation and climatic interpretation

The type material and the enamel structure of Villanyia exilis KRETZOI, 1956 (Arvicolidae, Rodentia)

Re-examination of the two teeth constituting the original type and genotype material of Villanyia exilis KRETZOI, 1956 from Villány-5, Hungary, indicates that subsequently published descriptions need revision. The tooth selected as the lectotype of Villanyia exilis by RABEDER (1981) is considered here to belong to Clethrionomys kretzoii (KOWALSKI, 1958). The second specimen, with morphology in accordance with the original description of Kretzoi, is considered to represent the characters of Villanyia exilis. In order to stabilise the nomenclature in accordance with current usage an application has been made to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. The fine structure of the enamel of Villanyia exilis as defined above is described for the first time, based on a tooth from the Late Villanyian of Osztramos-3, Hungary. It demonstrates a simple grade of arvicolid evolution. This enamel type differs substantially from the enamel structure of material from Rêbielice Królewskie, Poland, which was originally identified as Mimomys (Villanyia) exilis by KOWALSKI (1960), but considered here to be referable to the genus Borsodia. The generic name Villanyia has been applied widely in the literature to various other taxa, mainly species of extinct rooted lagurine voles which are currently referred to the genus Borsodia (JÁNOSSY & VAN DER MEULEN, 1975). It is proposed to limit the use of the genus name Villanyia to the latest part of a lineage of uncertain origin which became extinct close to the Villanyian/Biharian boundary

Small mammals from the Late Pliocene Oosterschelde dredgings

A description is given of the fossil small mammal remains that were found during dredging activities in the Oosterschelde estuary, the Netherlands. The following taxa are encountered in the samples: Mimomys pliocaenicus, Mimomys reidi, Mimomys tigliensis, Mimomys newtoni, Trogontherium sp., Beremendia fissidens, Sorex (Drepanosorex) praearaneaus, and Galemys kormosi. The find of one m1 of Microtus oeconomus is considered to be a contamination. The fauna is of Late Pliocene age, and may appear slightly older than the classic Tegelen fauna. In terms of mammal zonation, we consider the age to be MN17

Trait-dependent declines of species following conversion of rain forest to oil palm plantations

Conversion of natural habitats to agriculture reduces species richness, particularly in highly diverse tropical regions, but its effects on species composition are less well-studied. The conversion of rain forest to oil palm is of particular conservation concern globally, and we examined how it affects the abundance of birds, beetles, and ants according to their local population size, body size, geographical range size, and feeding guild or trophic position. We re-analysed data from six published studies representing 487 species/genera to assess the relative importance of these traits in explaining changes in abundance following forest conversion. We found consistent patterns across all three taxa, with large-bodied, abundant forest species from higher trophic levels, declining most in abundance following conversion of forest to oil palm. Best-fitting models explained 39–66 % of the variation in abundance changes for the three taxa, and included all ecological traits that we considered. Across the three taxa, those few species found in oil palm tended to be small-bodied species, from lower trophic levels, that had low local abundances in forest. These species were often hyper-abundant in oil palm plantations. These results provide empirical evidence of consistent responses to land-use change among taxonomic groups in relation to ecological traits