Galerix

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Galerix
Temporal range: Late Oligocene through Pliocene [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Eulipotyphla
Family: Erinaceidae
Subfamily: Galericinae
Genus: Galerix
Pomel, 1848

Galerix is a prehistoric genus of gymnures. [2] Fossils of these hedgehog-like creatures are found in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Taxonomy

Nine species are recognized as members of the genus: [1]

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Deinogalerix is an extinct genus of gymnure which lived in Italy in the Late Miocene, 7-10 million years ago. The genus was apparently endemic to what was then the island of Gargano, which is now a peninsula in southeastern Italy bounded by the Adriatic Sea. The first specimens of Deinogalerix were first described in 1972.

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Galerix kostakii is a fossil erinaceid mammal from the early Miocene of Greece. It is known from the site of Karydia, assigned to the biostratigraphical zone MN 4; similar fossils have been found at an approximately contemporary Czech site and a slightly younger Greek site. With characters like the presence of a hypocone on the upper third premolar, the presence of a connection between the protocone and metaconule cusps on the second upper molar in only a few specimens, this species is intermediate between the slightly older Galerix symeonidisi and the slightly younger Parasorex pristinus. It may form part of the lineage leading from the genus Galerix to the younger genus Parasorex.

References

  1. 1 2 "Galerix". Paleobiology Database. Archived from the original on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
  2. van den Hoek Ostende L. W. (2001). A revised generic classification of the Galericini (Insectivora, Mammalia) with some remarks on their palaeobiogeography and phylogeny. Geobios34(6): 681–695. doi:10.1016/S0016-6995(01)80029-2