Vörös A. szerk.: Fragmenta Mineralogica Et Palaentologica 16. 1993. (Budapest, 1993)

FRAGMENTA MINERALOGICA ET PALAEONTOLOGICA 16. BUDAPEST 1993. p. 61-80 Allocricetus ehiki Schaub, 1930 (Rodentia, Mammalia) finds from Villány 3 and Esztramos 3 (Hungary) by J. HÍR Abstract: The metrical and morphological analyses of two Pliocene Allocricetus populations are given. The ancestral morphotypes in these assemblages are more frequent than in the Pleistocene Allocricetus materials. On the basis of the metrical features we presume the beginning of the separation the Allocricetus bursae from the, Allocricetus ehiki in the fauna of Esztramos 3. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to give the metrical and morphological analysis of the small-sized hamster material of two Hungarian Pliocene paleovertebrate localities. These localities are well known in the Hungarian, and in the international vertebrate paleontological literature, but the standard of the elaboration and documentation of the finds is fallen behind the recent requirements. The cricetids have a general importance in the biostratigraphy of the Late Neogene. The author studied fossil non arvicoloid cricetids (Hír 1989, 1992) and in the course of this he effected the description of the material of Villány 3 and Esztramos 3. LOCALITIES The classical locality of Villány 3 is situated in Southern Hungary in the limestone quarry of Villány, Templom Hill (Kormos 1937, Kretzoi 1956, Jánossy 1979, 1986). The elaborated material of this article was collected by D. Jánossy in 1979 with washing and sieving. (This method was not applied by the former researchers.) Esztramos is another prominent group of the Hungarian Plio - Pleistocene paleovertebrate localities. It is situated near the northernmost point of Hungary in the Aggtelek Karstic Region (Jánossy 1972a, 1972b, 1973, 1974, 1979, 1986, Jánossy & Kordos 1976, Jánossy & Van der Meulen 1975). Villány 3 and Esztramos 3 were described by Jánossy (1979, 1986) as Lower Pleistocene localities. After the acceptance of the lower chronostratigraphic boundary of the Pleistocene at 1.8 MY, (Zagwijn 1985) these faunas have fallen to the Pliocene, MN 17. (De Bruijn et al. 1990).