The late Miocene Erinaceidae and Dimylidae (Eulipotyphla, Mammalia) from the Pannonian region, Slovakia

The late Miocene (11.5–5.5 million years ago) was a period of faunal change for small mammal communities. The evolution of several climatic parameters has greatly impacted faunas from Europe, and the surviving species also had to deal with the competitive pressure of new migrant species into Europe. In this context, mammal groups having high sensitivity to climatic parameters, such as temperature and humidity, show peculiar patterns of evolution. This is the case for the Erinaceidae (hedgehogs and gymnures) and the extinct family Dimylidae, well recorded in the fauna from the late Miocene of Slovakia. At least six Erinaceidae and two Dimylidae were present in Slovakia during that time, as shown by material extracted from the localities of Borský Svätý Jur, Krásno, Pezinok, Šalgovce, Studienka, and Triblavina. Both families were extremely abundant during the early part of the late Miocene, the Vallesian (11.5–9.0 million years ago), supporting the idea that central Europe played an important role in the preservation of high paleodiversity of insectivore species. However, the abundance of the Erinaceidae and Dimylidae strongly declined afterward, eventually leading to the extinction of the Dimylidae soon after the Vallesian. On a smaller scale, the material described from the late Miocene of Slovakia brings a lot of new information about the morphology, variability, and phylogeny of the identified species, namely ‘Schizogalerix’ voesendorfensis, Schizogalerix cf. S. moedlingensis, Lantanotherium sanmigueli, Atelerix cf. A. depereti, Atelerix aff. A. depereti, cf. Postpalerinaceus sp. indet., Erinaceinae gen. indet. sp. indet., Plesiodimylus chantrei, and Metacordylodon aff. M. schlosseri. The families Erinaceidae and Dimylidae are represented in the late Miocene localities of Slovakia (Borský Svätý Jur, Krásno, Pezinok, Šalgovce, Studienka, and Triblavina) by at least six hedgehog species—‘Schizogalerix’ voesendorfensis (Rabeder, 1973); Schizogalerix cf. S. moedlingensis (Rabeder, 1973); Lantanotherium sanmigueliVillalta and Crusafont, 1944; Atelerix cf. A. deperetiMein and Ginsburg, 2002; Atelerix aff. A. depereti, cf. Postpalerinaceus sp. indet., and Erinaceinae gen. indet. sp. indet.—and two dimylid species—Plesiodimylus chantreiGaillard, 1897; and Metacordylodon aff. M. schlosseri (Andreae, 1904). Material of L. sanmigueli from the western Carpathians was investigated, revealing broad variability in all samples. Additionally, the deciduous premolars of L