A new species of Golunda (Muridae, Rodentia) from the Early Pleistocene of Eastern Morocco

Abstract

We report a new species of the murid genus Golunda from the Early Pleistocene site of Guefaït-4 (Jerada, Morocco). This species is named Golunda aouraghei, after Dr. Hassan Aouraghe, a geologist at the Mohamed I University of Oujda, inrecognition of the facilities that he provided for the paleontological research in the Region of Aïn Beni Mattar-Guefait. The new species shows affinities with Golunda jaegeri from Oued Athmenia 1 (Coiffait-Martin, 1991). However, when compared, some morphological differences are remarkable. In addition, the size of G. aouraghei, especially its relative width, is somewhat greater than that ofGolunda jaegeri. The rodent assemblage from Guefaït-4 also includes the murids Paraethomys pusillus, Paraethomys chikeri and Praomys cf. skouri, a member of the family CtenodactylidaeIrhoudia sp., two gerbils, the sciurid Atlantoxerus sp. and the glirid Eliomys sp. The combination of the paleomagnetic series and the recorded fauna suggests an Early Pleistocene age (Sala-Ramos et al., 2017). Hitherto, G. aouraghei is the youngest Golunda species recorded in northern Africa.