Mylagaulidae

Extinct family of rodents

Mylagaulids Temporal range: 28–5 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Late Oligocene - Early Pliocene

Reconstruction of Ceratogaulus hatcheri
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Suborder:	Sciuromorpha
Family:	†Mylagaulidae Cope, 1881
Subfamilies
See text

The Mylagaulidae or mylagaulids are an extinct clade of sciuromorph rodents nested within the family Aplodontiidae.^[1]^[2] They are known from the Neogene of North America and China.^[3]^[4] The oldest member is the Late Oligocene Trilaccogaulus montanensis that lived some 29 million years ago (Mya), and the youngest was Ceratogaulus hatcheri—formerly in the invalid genus "Epigaulus" ^[2]^[5]—which was found barely into the Pliocene, some 5 Mya.^[6]

Systematics

Three subfamilies are recognized. The taxonomy of Galbreathia is not resolved; it might belong in Mylagaulinae, but lacks the characteristic apomorphies.^[6]

Promylagaulinae

Genus Crucimys
Genus Promylagaulus
Genus Trilaccogaulus
Genus Simpligaulus

Mesogaulinae

Genus Mesogaulus - includes Mylagaulodon

Mylagaulinae

Genus Alphagaulus (paraphyletic^[6])
Genus Ceratogaulus - includes "Epigaulus"
Genus Hesperogaulus
Genus Mylagaulus
Genus Notogaulus
Genus Pterogaulus
Genus Umbogaulus

incertae sedis

Genus Galbreathia - basal in Mylagaulinae?

Footnotes

^ Calede, Jonathan J. M.; Samuels, Joshua X. (2020-09-01). "A new species of Ceratogaulus from Nebraska and the evolution of nasal horns in Mylagaulidae (Mammalia, Rodentia, Aplodontioidea)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 18 (17): 1395–1414. doi:10.1080/14772019.2020.1765889. ISSN 1477-2019. S2CID 219902187.
^ ^a ^b Hopkins, Samantha S. B. (August 2008). "Phylogeny and evolutionary history of the Aplodontoidea (Mammalia: Rodentia)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 153 (4): 769–838. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00399.x. hdl:1794/10750.
^ Tesakov, A. S.; Lopatin, A. V. (January 2015). "First record of Mylagaulid rodents (Rodentia, mammalia) from the Miocene of Eastern Siberia (Olkhon island, Baikal Lake, Irkutsk Region, Russia)". Doklady Biological Sciences. 460 (1): 23–26. doi:10.1134/S0012496615010032. ISSN 0012-4966. PMID 25773245. S2CID 254412481.
^ Wu; et al. "Mylagaulids (Mammalia: Rodentia) from the early Middle Miocene of northern Junggar Basin" (PDF). Retrieved 2023-01-05.
^ Korth, William W. (September 2013). "Mylagaulid Rodents (Mammalia: Rodentia: Mylagaulidae) from the Middle Miocene (Barstovian) of New Mexico". Annals of Carnegie Museum. 81 (4): 233–245. doi:10.2992/007.081.0403. ISSN 0097-4463. S2CID 86013119.
^ ^a ^b ^c Hopkins (2005)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mylagaulidae.

Hopkins, Samantha S.B. (2005): The evolution of fossoriality and the adaptive role of horns in the Mylagaulidae (Mammalia: Rodentia). Proc. R. Soc. B 272(1573): 1705–1713. doi:10.1098/rspb.2005.3171 PDF fulltext^{[permanent dead link]}
McKenna, M. C, and S. K. Bell (1997): Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-11012-X