Beavers and flying squirrels (Rodentia: Castoridae, Pteromyini) from the Late Pliocene of Hambach 11C, Germany

This paper is a study of part of the rodent fauna collected at Hambach 11C, located in the Hambach lignite mine in north-western Germany. The deposits exposed here are fluvial channel fills of Late Pliocene age (MN16a) and the rodent material is compared to previously published material from the contemporaneous deposits of Hambach 11. Four species are discussed: two Castoridae, Castor fiber Linnaeus, 1758 and Trogontherium minus Newton, 1890 and two Sciuridae, Blackia miocaenica Mein, 1970 and Pliopetaurista pliocaenica Depéret, 1897. This new material is of great importance as the fossil records of T. minus and B. miocaenica are very scarce so far. Blackia is especially rare in the Late Pliocene and this occurrence is one of the three youngest of the genus. We also described the most complete juvenile material of Trogontherium minus. The fauna is indicative of fluvial environment surrounded by a forest of deciduous trees and of a temperate and humid climate.We would like to thank the RWE Power AG mining company (Cologne) for access to the Hambach mine. We grateful acknowledge financial support by the Special Research Project SFB 350 of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG (to TM).