Paraphiomys simonsi

Antoñanzas, Raquel López, Sen, Sevket & Mein, Pierre, 2004, Systematics and phylogeny of the cane rats (Rodentia: Thryonomyidae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 142, pp. 423-444 : 429

PARAPHIOMYS SIMONSI WOOD, 1968

Synonymy: Neosciuromys simonsi ( Wood, 1968) .

The holotype and single published specimen of this species (CGM 26908, Fig. 4E) is a badly damaged lower jaw with d4-m3 and the incisor. It comes from the Oligocene Jebel el Qatrani Formation at ‘Yale Quarry I’, Fayum Province, Egypt ( Wood, 1968). The casts of three unpublished specimens, a fragment of maxilla with P4-M2 (CGM 80-17) and two mandibular fragments, one of them with d4-m2 (CGM 40428) and the other with m1-m2 (CGM 40478) are available in the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris). CGM 80-17 shows that the upper molars of this species have a three-lophed morphology. According to Patterson & Wood (1982: 520), this species should be included in the genus Neosciuromys because of the high hypsodonty, the simplification of the occlusal pattern, and the large size of the m2 and m3. However, according to the cladistic analysis conducted below, the high hypsodonty of Neosciuromys africanus and P. simonsi is homoplastic. Paraphiomys simonsi is much bigger than all other extinct species of thryonomyids, except Neosciuromys africanus , P. occidentalis and P. pigotti . It differs from P. occidentalis and P. pigotti in lacking the metalophulid II on the lower molars and from Neosciuromys africanus in the absence of the mesoloph in the upper molars.