Abstract
We report here that the first rodents from the early (or early middle) Miocene of North Africa have been found in the Rotem and Yeroham Basins in the northern Negev of Israel. The rodents are associated with a large-mammal fauna resembling those of Gebel Zelten (Libya) and Moghara Wadi and Siwa Oasis (Egypt). These are the earliest records of Miocene rodents north of the Sahara, and strongly support reconstructions of a drier, more open environment in the northern part of Africa compared with the equatorial regions, with obvious significance for the evolution of grassland-adapted faunas.
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Goldsmith, N., Tchernov, E., Ginsburg, L. et al. Ctenodactylid rodents in the Miocene Negev fauna of Israel. Nature 296, 645–647 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/296645a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/296645a0
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