Quaternary distribution of rhyzomyid rodents in East Asia

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  • 第四紀の東アジアにおけるタケネズミ類の分布

Abstract

<p>Bamboo rats and their allies (Family Rhizomyidae) are a group of large-sized rodents that is adapted to a fossorial life and now occurs in East Africa, Southeast Asia, and South China. In East Asia, including South China, the group consists mostly of the genus Rhizomys throughout the Quaternary. In addition to its present-day distribution, we here present a distribution map of Pleistocene fossils of the genus in East Asia with data sources on which the map is based. The map shows that Early Pleistocene fossils of the genus are known from a limited number of localities mostly in South China. Middle and Late Pleistocene fossils are recorded from many more localities, which are also placed mostly in South China. The genus can be regarded as one of the most representative elements, as Stegodon orientalis, in the Middle and Late Pleistocene faunas of South China. In contrast to South China, fossils of the genus are almost unknown in the Quaternary of North China. Furthermore, they are missing in Quaternary fossil records of Northeast China, the Korean Peninsula, Honshu-Shikoku-Kyushu, the Ryukyu Islands, and Taiwan; thus the distribution of the genus has been limited almost entirely to South China during the Quaternary. Fossil records of S. orientalis indicate that this species immigrated from South China to Honshu-Shikoku-Kyushu in the Middle Pleistocene, whereas Rhizomys did not migrate from South China in association with S. orientalis.</p>

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