Evolution and Classification of the Pocket Gophers of the Subfamily GeomyinaeRussell, Robert J.
Science
Evolution and Classification of the Pocket Gophers of the Subfamily Geomyinae
Russell, Robert J.
Pocket gophers
_Dikkomys woodi_ Black, 1961. Postilla, Yale Peabody Museum, 48:13,
January 16. Type from Deep River Formation, late Hemingfordian
(middle Miocene), Meagher County, Montana; also known from Upper
Rosebud deposits (middle Miocene) near Wounded Knee, Shannon
County, South Dakota.
Genus =Pliosaccomys= Wilson
1936. _Pliosaccomys_ Wilson, Carnegie Inst. Washington Publ.,
473:20, May 21.
_Type._--_Pliosaccomys dubius_ Wilson, 1936, from Smiths Valley local
fauna in Lyon County, Nevada.
_Chronologic range._--Early Pliocene, late Clarendonian (Wolf Creek
local fauna, South Dakota, and Nettle Springs local fauna, California)
to Middle Pliocene, middle part of Hemphillian (Smiths Valley local
fauna, Nevada, and McKay Reservoir and Otis Basin local faunas,
Oregon).
_Description._--Size small (alveolar length of mandibular tooth-row
measuring 6.0 in holotype), about as in _Thomomys monticola_; upper
incisor relatively broad and flat, having anterior face smooth,
without trace of grooving; crowns of cheek teeth of medium height and
rooted; enamel investment continuous and uninterrupted in all stages
of wear; premolars permanently, biprismatic; P4 having anterior prism
subtriangular and decidedly smaller that sub-crescentic posterior
prism, and joined near centers by narrow, obliquely oriented isthmus;
p4 having anterior prism subovate, posterior prism strongly compressed
anteroposteriorly, and joined at mid-points by relatively broad and
straight isthmus; first and second molars, both above and below,
monoprismatic in final (?adult) stage of wear, derived ontogenetically
from primitive bilophate pattern by coalescence of two columns into
one; M1 and M2 mirror images of m1 and m2 in pre-final stages of wear,
two columns first uniting at edge of protomeres forming U-pattern, and
primitive H-pattern never developing in either series (for detailed
description of stages of wear, see account of phylogeny, p. 546); m3
(M3 unknown, but probably with same form as in Geomyini, see p. 552)
persistently biprismatic, two columns joined by relatively broad
isthmus at centers, consequently, forming H-pattern of primitive
ancestors; rostrum heavy and broad as in modern geomyids; palate
narrow and strongly ribbed; mandible stout; masseteric ridge and fossa
well developed; basitemporal fossa absent.
_Specimens examined._--Six, nos. 1796 (holotype)--1799, 1804 and 1806
(CIT) now in the Los Angeles County Museum, all from Smiths Valley
local fauna, Middle Pliocene, Nevada.
_Referred species._--two:
*_Pliosaccomys dubius_ Wilson, 1936. Carnegie Inst. Washington Publ.,
743:20, May 21. Known from early and middle Pliocene faunas
including Wolf Creek local fauna (late Clarendonian), Shannon
County, South Dakota; McKay Reservoir local fauna and Otis Basin
local fauna (Hemphillian), Oregon; type from Smiths Valley local
fauna (probably middle Hemphillian), Lyon County, Nevada.
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