Subfossil rodents and tenrecs of Children’s Cave, Madagascar
Author
Denys, Christiane
Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB) UMR 7205, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, EPHE, Université des Antilles, Paris, France;
Author
Gabriel, Nadine W.
Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, UK;
Author
Lalis, Aude
Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB) UMR 7205, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, EPHE, Université des Antilles, Paris, France;
Author
Jenkins, Paulina
Vertebrates Division, Natural History Museum, London, UK
text
Journal of Natural History
2024
2024-07-15
58
25 - 28
796
839
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2024.2370663
journal article
10.1080/00222933.2024.2370663
1464-5262
13219769
Genus
Nesogale
Thomas, 1918
This genus, originally included in the genus
Microgale
, is distinguished from the latter by morphological and molecular differences, and is represented by two species,
Nesogale dobsoni
(Thomas, 1884)
and
N. talazaci
(Major, 1896)
. Both species, listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (
Stephenson
et al
. 2016
), are widely distributed, with a broad latitudinal range in moist evergreen forest and, while both occur in the Central Highlands,
N. dobsoni
is apparently more tolerant of fringe habitat of fragmented forest and marshland. The two species are distinguished by the greater size of
N. talazaci
. Measurements of the subfossil mandibular rami show that they are clearly within the range of the smaller
N. dobsoni
(
Table 5
).