{"title":"No place for Pliocene tourists with Ockham’s razor in the pocket: Comment on Crespo et al. (2023)","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.palwor.2024.02.002","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><span><span>Crespo et al. (2023)</span></span> have recently described a new genus and species called <em>Europotamogale melkarti</em>, purportedly an afrosoricid ‘tourist genus’ coming from central Africa to Spain during the Pliocene. The occurrence of this mysterious animal has been justified by means of a migration of thousands of kilometers leaving no other fossil evidence all along such an incredible journey. According to our analyses, this ‘tourist genus’ is surrounded by many inconsistent facts, which lead us to the conclusion that <em>Europotamogale</em> should not have been erected as a new taxon because its holotype (and only element yet known) belongs to a very different animal. We alternatively propose that this fossil is indeed a fragment of a tooth of a water-mole of the genus <em>Archaeodesmana</em>, which is a much more parsimonious hypothesis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48708,"journal":{"name":"Palaeoworld","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Palaeoworld","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871174X24000155","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PALEONTOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Crespo et al. (2023) have recently described a new genus and species called Europotamogale melkarti, purportedly an afrosoricid ‘tourist genus’ coming from central Africa to Spain during the Pliocene. The occurrence of this mysterious animal has been justified by means of a migration of thousands of kilometers leaving no other fossil evidence all along such an incredible journey. According to our analyses, this ‘tourist genus’ is surrounded by many inconsistent facts, which lead us to the conclusion that Europotamogale should not have been erected as a new taxon because its holotype (and only element yet known) belongs to a very different animal. We alternatively propose that this fossil is indeed a fragment of a tooth of a water-mole of the genus Archaeodesmana, which is a much more parsimonious hypothesis.
期刊介绍：
Palaeoworld is a peer-reviewed quarterly journal dedicated to the study of past life and its environment. We encourage submission of original manuscripts on all aspects of palaeontology and stratigraphy, comparisons of regional and global data in time and space, and results generated by interdisciplinary investigations in related fields. Some issues will be devoted entirely to a special theme whereas others will be composed of contributed articles. Palaeoworld is dedicated to serving a broad spectrum of geoscientists and palaeobiologists as well as serving as a resource for students in fields as diverse as palaeobiology, evolutionary biology, taxonomy and phylogeny, geobiology, historical geology, and palaeoenvironment.
Palaeoworld publishes original articles in the following areas:
•Phylogeny and taxonomic studies of all fossil groups
•Biostratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, chronostratigraphy
•Palaeoecology, palaeoenvironment and global changes throughout Earth history
•Tempo and mode of biological evolution
•Biological events in Earth history (e.g., extinctions, radiations)
•Ecosystem evolution
•Geobiology and molecular palaeobiology
•Palaeontological and stratigraphic methods
•Interdisciplinary studies focusing on fossils and strata
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