Beremendia fissidens (Petenyi, 1864)

Botka, D. & Mészáros, L., 2014, (Mammalia, Soricidae) remains from the late Early Pleistocene Somssich Hill 2 locality (Southern Hungary) and their taxonomic, biostratigraphical, palaeoecological and palaeobiogeographical relations, Fragmenta Palaeontologica Hungarica 31, pp. 83-115 : 104-107

B. fissidens is reported from ecotypes nearby open water bodies (lakes or rivers) by several authors (e.g. CUENCA-BESCÓS et al. 2005; FURIÓ et al. 2010; AGUSTÍ et al. 2011; GARCIA et al. 2014). Its adaptation to watersides is supported

here by simultaneous occurrence with water-preferring amphibians and reptiles in the Somssich Hill 2 assemblage ( SZENTESI 2013, 2014 a, b). On the other hand, the rodent fauna (e.g. the abundance of the dormice) of the studied site indicates the presence of closed vegetation.

The layer-by-layer occurrences of the two studied Beremendia species in the Somssich Hill 2 section do not show significant differences between the preferences of the two forms ( Table 3). That is why both of them can be considered here as the indicators of gallery forests or bushy vegetation on the side of a lake or a river.

It should be noted that BOTKA & MÉSZÁROS (in press) gave a figure on the MNI of B. fissidens teeth by layers from Somssich Hill 2 site. These data were completed with some specimens, yielded by the present studies. Otherwise some teeth should have been re-determined as B. minor . That is why the data of Table 3 are somewhat different from Figure 4 of BOTKA & MÉSZÁROS (in press).

Palaeobiogeography

Figures

Figs 4–6. Beremendia fissidens (Petényi,1864), Somssich Hill 2, scale bar:2 mm.4 = right mandible fragment with I 1 , A 2 and M 1 , layer 13, lingual view, 5 = right mandible fragment with M 2 -M 3 , layer 28, lingual view, 6 = left mandible fragment with M -M , layer 32, occlusal view