Mimomys Temporal range:
Pliocene
-
Pleistocene,
| |
---|---|
Scientific classification
![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Rodentia |
Family: | Cricetidae |
Subfamily: | Arvicolinae |
Tribe: | Arvicolini |
Genus: | †
Mimomys Forsyth-Major, 1902 [1] |
Mimomys is an extinct genus of voles that lived in Eurasia and North America during the Plio-Pleistocene. It is believed that one of the many species belonging to this genus gave rise to the modern water voles (Arvicola). [2] Several other prehistoric genera of vole are probably synonymous with Mimomys, including the North American Cosomys [3] and Ophiomys. [4]
Several species are known to have survived into the Late Pleistocene, including M. pyrenaicus of France [5] and M. chandolensis of the Russian Far East, which may have survived as recently as 50,000 BP. [6]