Dental morphology and wear pattern in Tachyoryctes (Spalacidae, Rodentia)

Abstract

Received February 2, 2012; accepted March 15, 2012 ; previously published online May 13, 2012Tachyoryctes , the most derived genus within the tribe Tachyoryctini (Rhizomyinae, Spalacidae, Rodentia), is known from Pliocene to Recent. It comprises four species: the fossil T. pliocaenicus and T. konjiti and the extant T. splendens and T. macrocephalus . A detailed description of the morphology and dental wear pattern of the cheek teeth of T. splendens is provided based on the study of 297 skulls. For the first and second lower and upper molars, fi ve stages of wear are recognized (0 – 4). The third lower and upper molars show four stages of wear (0 – 3). The dental wear pattern in T. splendens is comparable to that of the Pleistocene T. konjiti.My sojourn in Berlin and Paris were funded by the SYNTHESYS Project (http://www.synthesys.info/ ), which is financed by European Community Research Infrastructure Action under the FP7 “Capacities” Program and by the EDIT Gender Action Plan, respectively.My research is currently supported by the Ramón y Cajal Program and the research project CGL2011-24829.Peer reviewe