The Small Sized Galericini from F32 “Terre Rosse” fissure filling (Gargano, Southeastern Italy) and its biochronological implications.

Deinogalerix is by far the better known Galericinae (Galericini according toVan den Hoek Ostende, 2001) from the Gargano fissure filling thanks to very careful description of Butler 1980. However, another moon rat, very small sized, belonging to the Galericini tribe, is virtually present in all the assemblages from the “terre rosse” fissure filling of the Gargano. It was first mentioned in the pioneering report of Freudenthal (1971) and by Butler (1980) in his study of the “gigantic” Deinogaleri and it has been quoted in several faunal lists. It has been ascribed to Parasorex by Van den Hoek Ostende (2001), and to Galerix (Apulogalerix) by Fanfani (1999). Van den Hoek Ostende (2001) considered it and the large Deinogalerix as derived from a common ancestor. Up to date, however, a detailed description of the characters of this gymnure has never been presented to the scientific community. Indeed, only De Giuli et al. (1987) used the size of the mandible in six selected samples to describe the variation along their proposed biochonology of the terre rosse. We present here the morphological description of a sample from Fissure Filling F32, that is considered to represent the youngest phase of population of the Gargano Paleoarchipelago. This sample has been chosen since it is very rich and is not affected by taphonomic biases. The philogenetic relationships of the Gargano Galericini are discussed. The description of a new very primitive species of Deingalerix from Pirro 12 fissure filling (Villier, 2011) opens new perspectives to investigate the relationships between the small and the gigantic Galericine of the Gargano.