<p>Two new species of fossil hamsters (Cricetinae, Cricetidae) collected from early Pliocene sediments (∼4.4 Ma) in the Zanda Basin, southwestern Tibet (China), demonstrate greater past diversity among cricetines in the hinterland of the Tibetan Plateau within the Himalayan Range (beyond the previously known ‘<i>Plesiodipus</i>’ <i>thibetensis</i> from the late Miocene of the Gyirong Basin). The occurrence of <i>Nannocricetus qiui</i>, sp. nov., in the Zanda Basin indicates a dispersal of <i>Nannocricetus</i> from its center of origin in northern and northwestern China and the Mongolian Plateau, into the hinterland of the high-elevation Tibetan Plateau and subsequently into the Himalayan Range. The new taxon <i>Aepyocricetus liuae</i>, gen. et sp. nov., possibly represents a specialized (and endemic) Neogene hamster from the Tibetan Plateau. The dispersal of these hamsters into the high-elevation portions of Tibet during the early Pliocene contrasts with the hypothesized biogeographic shift of several large mammal lineages out of Tibet. The absence of <i>Aepyocricetus</i> and <i>Nannocricetus</i> from adjacent portions of the south slope of the Himalayans (and the Siwalik Hills in India and Pakistan) further implies that the Himalayan range functioned as a dispersal barrier for these small mammals by the early Pliocene.</p> <p>http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:9EE286AA-0C00-4041-8F0C-877B35283181.</p> <p>SUPPLEMENTAL DATA—Supplemental materials are available for this article for free at <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/UJVP" target="_blank">www.tandfonline.com/UJVP</a></p> <p>Citation for this article: Li, Q., T. A. Stidham, X. Ni, and L. Li. 2018. Two new Pliocene hamsters (Cricetidae, Rodentia) from southwestern Tibet (China), and their implications for rodent dispersal ‘into Tibet’. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2017.1403443.</p
