Mimomys Explained

Mimomys is an extinct genus of voles that lived in Eurasia and North America during the Plio-Pleistocene. It is believed that one of the many species belonging to this genus gave rise to the modern water voles (Arvicola).^[1] Several other prehistoric genera of vole are probably synonymous with Mimomys, including the North American Cosomys^[2] and Ophiomys.^[3]

Several species are known to have survived into the Late Pleistocene, including M. pyrenaicus of France^[4] and M. chandolensis of the Russian Far East, which may have survived as recently as 50,000 BP.^[5]

Notes and References

1. Gray . J.E. . On the natural arrangement of vertebrose animals . The London Medical Repository Monthly Journal and Review . 1821 . 15 . 296–310.
2. Web site: Mimomys (Cosomys) primus . Smithsonian.
3. CHARLES A. REPENNING "Chapter 17," Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2003(279), 469-512, (1 November 2003). https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0090(2003)279<0469:C>2.0.CO;2
4. Jeannet . Marcel . Mourre . Vincent . Mimomys pyrenaicus nov. sp. nouvel arvicolidé (Mammalia, Rodentia) dans le Pléistocène supérieur des Pyrénées (Fréchet-Aure, Hautes-Pyrénées, France) . Paleo . 2013 . 24 . 24 . 139–147 . 10.4000/paleo.2570. free .
5. Tiunov . Mikhail . Golenishchev . F.N. . Voyta . Leonid . The First Finding of Mimomys in the Russian Far East . Acta Palaeontologica Polonica . March 2016 . 61 . 1 . 10.4202/app.00082.2014. 54511108 . free .