The middle Pleistocene rodent<i>Atopomys</i>(Cricetidae: Arvicolinae) from the eastern and south-central United States

Abstract

ABSTRACT New records of Atopomys salvelinus from West Virginia and Florida, and additional remains of A. texensis from Texas are reported. A partial mandible of A. salvelinus with M1–2 from Alachua County, Florida, is the first record of the genus from that state, and the most complete specimen of Atopomys known. Although M3s of A. texensis have not been recovered, three M3s of A. salvelinus are now known from Hamilton Cave, West Virginia. These teeth, as well as the others, are similar to those of the Blancan arvicoline genus Nebraskomys. These similarities support Hibbard's (1970) suggestion that Nebraskomys was ancestral to Atopomys.