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 Mus musculus Linnaeus, 1758 This small species is found today in all anthropogenic and natural ecosystems of Madagascar from 0 to 2500 m a.s.l. ( Soarimalala and Goodman 2011 ). Genetic studies have demonstrated that these mice belong to the subspecies M. m. gentilulus Thomas, 1919 and originated from Yemen ( Duplantier et al . 2002 ). Archaeological bone remains included material of M. musculus excavated from a late ninth to tenth century Islamic port site south of Ambanja ( Radimilahy 1998 ), and very few subfossils were listed. Mus musculus of unknown age is attested to in the south-eastern site of Andrahomana ( Burney et al . 2008 ), where some endemic rodents were dated between 4500 and 1500 BP, and at Ankilitelo ( Muldoon et al . 2009 ). Many M. musculus were also described from the Lavajaza site ( Denys et al . 2021 ). In Children’s Cave we found numerous remains of small murids that we can attribute to M. musculus based on small size, the disposition of the cusps of the prelobe of m1 and the presence of a hook on the upper incisor ( Figure 4f ). Table 3. Cranio-dental measurements of the modern and Children’s Cave (CC) subfossil R. rattus and Mus musculus in millimetres. Range: minimum and maximum values, mean = average value, N = number of specimens measured. LS13: upper tooth row length; WM1: width of the upper M1; LMDB: maximum length of the mandible; HMDB: maximal height of the coronoid process; LI13: lower tooth row length.

Species, site	LS13	WM1	LMDB	HMDB	LI13
Rattus rattus	N = 25	N = 25	N = 25	N = 25	N = 25
Modern Madagascar
Range	6.22–7.0	1.9–3.2	23.8–28.8	9.4–13.7	6.1–6.9
Mean	6.56	2.1	25.7	11.3	6.4
Rattus rattus	N = 19	N = 19	N = 16	N = 15	N = 36
Children’s Cave
Range	6–7.1	1.8–2.1	21.0–26.4	9.5–12.5	5.7–6.9
Mean	6.63	2.0	24.84	10.85	6.44
Mus musculus	N = 19	N = 19	N = 19	N = 19	N = 19
Modern Madagascar
Range	2.8–3.4	0.9–1.3	10.0–13.6	4.2–5.5	2.7–3.4
Mean	3.22	1.1	12.33	4.97	2.9
Mus musculus	N = 8	N = 8	N = 24	N = 17	N = 24
Children’s Cave
Range	3.1–3.4	1.1–1.4	11.1–13.8	4.1–5.9	2.6–3.1
Mean	3.3	1.18	12.21	5.22	2.86

Figure 6. Scatter diagram of dental measurements from modern Rattus rattus and specimens from Children’s Cave and Lavajaza. Top: LS13: length of the upper molar row, WM1: width of M1. Measurements in mm. Bottom: length of the mandible (LMDB), L13: length of the lower molar row. Attributed material: Upper Stratum: 10 maxillaries; 52 mandibular rami; see Appendix. On these specimens, the incisive foramen enters deeply into the palate and stops at the level of the t1 cusp of M1. The molars are relatively narrow. On M1 the cusps are arranged in three convex lobes, with t1 and t4 ending posteriorly to t3 and t6. The t1 cusp is compressed laterally. On M2 the t1 is very large and bunodont. On the very small M3 only two small anterior cusps and one small distal cingulum are visible. On m1 the four cusps of the prelobe are well linked together but the antero-labial one is very small and situated posteriorly compared to the large anterior antero-lingual cusp. On the anterolabial side of m1 and m2 one can see a small oblique cingulum. The m1 and m2 display a small posterior cingulum of about the same size. On the very small m3 one can see two rows of cusps. The first row is composed of two equal cusps while the second row has only a small median cusp ( Figure 4f ). The size of the upper molar rows as well as the width of M1 fit well with modern Mus musculus specimens of Madagascar ( Table 3 , Figure 7 ).