Folia Historico-Naturalia Musei Matraensis - A Mátra Múzeum Természetrajzi Közleményei 17. (1992)
Hír, J.: Subfossil Mesocricetus population from the Toros Mountains (Turkey) (Mammalia)
SYSTEMATICS AND DISCUSSION CRICETIDAE ROCHEBRUNE 18B3 CRICETINAE ROCHEBRUNE 1803 Mesocricetus NEHRING 1839 Mesocricetus auratus (WATERHOUSE 1839) In the Mesocricetus genera living in Asia Minor a group of the authors acknowledges the existence of the Mesocricetus brandti (NEHRING 1890) species (HAMAR, M.-SCHUTOWA, M. 1966; STORCH, G. 1975; FELTÉN, H.-SPITZENBERGER , F.-STROCH, G. 1971; SPITZENBERGER, F. 1972). Another group (HARRISON, 0.-BATES, P. 1991; CORBET, G.-HILL, 3. 1991) in recent times rejectes this opinion and synonymizes the M. brandti with the M. auratus. The author followes the latter opinion, because in the available literature there is not any data of the differences in the dentition between the two taxa. The statistical difference of the measurements between the Mesocricetus newtoni (NEHRING 1898) after the dates of MAYHEW, D. (1978), POPOV, V. (1989), PRADEL, A. (1989) and the Mesocricetus auratus from Meydan is very week. Ne results are probable after the morphological investigation of Mesocricetus newtoni materials. Mesocricetus sp. The systematic position of the few small sized molars is uncertain, and without more comparltlve material we can not take a standpoint in this matter. The published Pleistocene materials from the Aegean region are all larger sized (STORCH, G. 1975; MAYHEW, 0. 1978; KUSS, E.-STORCH, G. 1978). Only the first representative of the Mesocricetus genera: the M. primitivus is smaller described from the Pliocene fauna of Maritsa, Rhodes (BRUIŰN DE H.-DAWSON, M.-MEIN, P. 1970). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author would like to express his sincere thanks to Prof. Dr. Yücel ASKIN, President of the Turkish Speleological Society, to Onur ÖZBEK and Guiles CARP0, - leaders of the Turkish - French Toros Expedition'89-for their help in the field work. I want to thank to Prof. Dr. Dénes JÂN0SSY - retired director of the Paleontologlcal Collection of the Hungarian Natural - history Museum-, to Dr. György T0PAL - director of the Mammalian Collection of the Museum, to Prof. Or. Miklós KRETZ0I for their help in the elaboration. I should like to thank to Dr. Friderika SPITZENBERGER - Naturhistorisches Museum, wien) for her kind help by correspondence. LITERATURE BRUIJN DE H. - DAWSON, M. - MEIN, P. (1970): Upper Pliocene Rodentia, Lagomorpha and Insectivore (Mammalia) from the isle of Rhodes (Greece). I.-II .-III.-Proceedings Kon. Nederl. Akad. van Wet., Ser. В., 73:535-584., Amsterdam. CORBET, G. - HILL, J. (1991): A World list of Mammalian Species .-Natur . Hist. Mus. Publ. Univ., p. 1-165., Oxford. FAHLBUSCH, V. (1964): Die Cricetlden (Mammalia) der Oberer Süsswasser-Molasse Bayerns.-Abh. Bayer. Akad. Wiss., Math.-naturw. Kl .,N.F .,118:1-1)6., München. FELTÉN, H.-SPITZENBERGER, F. - STORCH, G. (1971): Zur Kleinsäugerfauna West-Anatoliens, Teil I.,-Senckenbergiana biol., 52(6): 393-424., Frankfurt a HAMAR, M. - SCHUT0WA, M. (1966): Neue Daten über die geographische Veränderlichkeit und die Entwicklung der Gattung Mesocricetus NEHRING, 1898 (Glires, Mammalia). - Zeitschrift f. SMugetierunde, 311 237-251., Hamburg. HARRISON, 0. - BATES, P. (1991): The Mammals of Arabia.- Harrison Zool. Mus. Publ., p. 266., London. 129
