A new genus of red-toothed shrew (Mammalia, Soricidae) from the Early Pleistocene of Gran Dolina (Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain), and a phylogenetic approach to the Eurasiatic Soricinae

This paper describes a new genus and species of shrew from the Pleistocene (levels 4, 5, and 6) of the Gran Dolina site, located in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain). Dolinasorex glyphodon gen. et sp. nov. (Mammalia, Soricidae) is a type of large-sized soricine, endemic in character, which inhabited the Sierra de Atapuerca in the last part of the Early Pleistocene (c. 780–900 kya). Morphometric and phylogenetic analyses indicate that the new species is more closely related to Asiatic forms than to the species Beremendia fissidens with its primarily European distribution. The main palaeoecological and palaeobiogeographical implications of the new taxon in the area around Atapuerca and in the Iberian Peninsula in general are discussed. The paper also presents a tentative phylogeny for the Soricinae subfamily in Eurasia, including for the first time exclusively fossil species, producing results that may prove to be of great interest for more complete studies in the future.