NEW SCIURIDS FROM THE MIOCENE SHANWANG FORMATION,LINQU, SHANDONG

<正>Three forms of Sciuridae, Tamiops asiaticus (Qiu, 1981) , Sciurus lii sp. nov. , and Oriensciums linquensis gen. et sp. nov. are described from the early-middle Miocene Shanwang Formation at Linqu, Shandong Province. Comparisons of Tamiops asiaticus with Meinia asiatica Qiu, 1981 suggest that neither the size nor the morphology of the bodies and dentition allows the two genera to be distinguished. The genus name Meinia Qiu, 1981 is therefore considered a junior synonym of Tamiops Allen, 1906. S. lii is one of the earliest records for the genus Sciurus . Some isolated teeth from the early Miocene locality Sihong, previously referred to Shuanggouia lui show similarities to S. lii and are assigned to the genus Sciurus in this paper. Redetermination of Shuanggouia argues convincingly for its assignment to Sciurinae rather than Petauristinae. Oriensciurus linquensis exhibits some characters similar to Sciurus in the upper cheek teeth, and to Spermophilinus in the lower ones. The overall dental features, however, group the new genus with tree squirrels. The Shanwang fossil sciurid association highly suggests the Shanwang area was a forest biotope during the Miocene, and indicates an obviously "Transitional Zone" between the modem Oriental Region and the Palearctic Region.