Rodents and lagomorphs (Mammalia) from the Hemphillian (late Miocene) of Utah
Four species of rodents (two heteromyids and two cricetids) and one lagomorph are identified from the late Tertiary Sevier River Formation of Utah. The heteromyids include a new genus and species of heteromyine, Metaliomys sevierensis, which is intermediate in morphology between the Clarendonian and early Hemphillian Diprionomys Kellogg and the extant genera Liomys and Heteromys. A single specimen is referred to Diprionomys sp., cf. D. minimus (Kellogg). The cricetid Paronychomys lemredfieldi Jacobs is known from the Hemphillian of Arizona. The second cricetid is referred to a new genus Basirepomys. Peromyscus pliocenicus Wilson from the Hemphillian of California is designated as the type species of the new genus, to which the new species B. robertsi from Utah is referred. Basirepomys is viewed as intermediate between Peromyscus and the basal neotomyine Repomys May from the late Hemphillian and Blancan. The only lagomorph in the fauna is Hypolagus vetus (Kellogg). Four of the taxa recognized from the Sevier River Formation (Diprionomys, Paronychomys lemredfieldi, Basirepomys, and Hypolagus vetus) are elsewhere known from the Hemphillian of North America. However, it is not possible at this time to determine whether the fauna is early or late Hemphillian. ?? 2010 by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.