A new prosciurine rodent from Shantung Province, China

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Abstract
A lower molar of a new species of rodent,Prosciurus?shantungensis, from the subsurface of eastern China adds to the diversity of the known Asian prosciurine aplodontids and increases the likelihood that aplodontids were widespread in Eurasia during the Oligocene. This form is structurally close to the North American prosciurine aplodontids, especiallyProsciurus relictusfrom the middle Oligocene. The metaconid is strongly compressed and reduced in height, a condition partially developed inP. relictusbut here more extreme. Height of the mesoconid and the degree of lophodonty are more advanced than in North American species ofProsciurus. P.?shantungensisdiffers from the prosciurine-like lower dentitions from Kazakhstan and Mongolia described by Argyropulo (1939) and Kowalski (1974) in crest development and in details of the cusp morphology. Types of the Asian prosciurine or presumed prosciurine species are upper dentitions for which associated lower dentitions are unknown, yet the slope of the crests inProsciurus lohiculusis too low to match the occlusal surface inP.?shantungensisand the degree of lophodonty inP. arboraptusis less than would be expected for the upper dentition of the Shantung form.

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