2011/11/10 by Xijun Ni, Zhuding Qiu · 3 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Bat Biology and Ecology Studies #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s13358-011-0029-0
openalex publication_date 2011/11/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Tree shrew fossils are extremely rare. Here, we report two new tupaiine tree shrews, Prodendrogale engesseri sp. nov. and Tupaia storchi sp. nov., discovered from the late Miocene deposits of Yuanmou Lufengpithecus locality of Yunnan Province in China. P. engesseri is very close to the slightly younger species P. yunnanica Qiu (Vertebrata PalAsiatica, 24: 308–319, 1986 ) from the Lufeng Lufengpithecus locality of Yunnan Province. Relatively lower crowns and less trenchant tooth cusps of P. engesseri show that P. engesseri is more primitive than P. yunnanica . Tupaia storchi is a species larger than Palaeotupaia sivalicus Chopra and Vasishat, 1979, T. minor Günther, 1876 and T. javanica Horsfield, 1822, but smaller than all the other extant species of Tupaia and T. miocenica Mein and Ginsburg, 1997. The mesiobuccal side of the lower molar of this species develops a very strong cingulid. It should be interpreted as a primitive condition. Discovery of diverse tree shrew fossils in Yunnan suggests that multiple evolutionary lineages of tree shrews must have coexisted in a very large area in East Asia.