A small assemblage of early Oligocene rodents and insectivores from the Sivas basin, Turkey

The assemblage of small mammals from a site near Yeniköy (Anatolia) is described. The assemblage was collected by screen-washing a sample from a locality in the Selimye Formation (Sivas basin). The site has a magneto-stratigraphic calibrated age of 29 Ma (younger part of the early Oligocene). The murids dominate in this relatively small collection with Eucricetodon and Pseudocricetodon . In addition, a dipodid, an unidentified erinaceide and the new baluchimyin hystricognath genus and species Zorania milosi nov. gen. et nov. sp. are present. The study of Eucricetodon , Pseudocricetodon and Zorania nov. sp. includes an analysis of incisor enamel microstructure. The incisor microstructure of Eucricetodon shows that there are several parallel long-living lineages within the genus. The Anatolia-Balkans biogeography of the late Eocene-Oligocene is reviewed. Its rodent assemblages are characterised by dominance of murids and presence of taxa that are known from low-latitude Asia. The Paleogene Anatolia-Balkans biogeographic province, is therefore rather different from those of western European and the Indian subcontinent.