Florinia, Ziegler, 1989

Van Den Hoek Ostende, Lars W., Casanovas-Vilar, Isaac & Furió, Marc, 2020, Stuck in the middle. A geographical appraisal of the oldest insectivores - and a marsupial - from the Vallès-Penedès Basin (early Miocene, Catalonia, Spain), Comptes Rendus Palevol 19 (1), pp. 1-25 : 17-18

cf. Florinia

( Fig. 5 N-O)

MATERIAL AND MEASUREMENTS (in cm). — Spain. Escletxes del Papiol , 1 P4 sin., IPS86423 , 1.26 × 1.09 ; Can Martí Vell III, 1 m 1 dext., IPS90052 , 1.24 × 0.61 × 0.68 ; Sant Andreu de la Barca 1, 1 mandible with m1, m2 dext., IPS86186 , 1.33 × 0.69 × 0.72, 1.21 × 0.73 × 0.73 ; Costablanca 2, 1 P4 dext., IPS85665 , 1.18 × 1.22 .

DESCRIPTION

P4

The premolar is about as long as it is wide, and has a slight posterior emargination. The paracone looks rather gracile, with a relatively short posterocrista; its tip lies just in front of the middle of the molar. The parastylar region is damaged in both available specimens, but, based on the P4 from Escletxes del Papiol, parastyle and protocone appear to be of the same size and height. The two cusps are connected by a low ridge. A low ridge following the lingual outline of the premolar starts at the basis of the protocone. At the position of the hypocone, this ridge is somewhat thickened.

m1

The outline of the occlusal surface is subtriangular. The trigonid is clearly narrower and much longer than the talonid. The paralophid is long and the metaconid is slightly lingualposteriorly to the protoconid; the trigonid basin is widely open. The oblique cristid ends just lingually to the base of the protoconid. The entoconid is close to the metaconid, with a short entocristid. The hypolophid bends behind the entoconid and it is separated from that cusp by a wide postentoconid valley. The cingulum is well developed on the anterior and posterior sides, more narrow on the labial side.

m2

The m2 is far more rectangular than the m1. The trigonid is longer than the talonid; the trigonid basin is wide. In the other features it resembles the first lower molar.

REMARKS

The genus Florinia , including the species F.stehlini , is a regular occurrence in MN 3-MN 5 faunas in central Europe ( Ziegler 1989, 2006b; Ziegler & Mörs 2000; Klietmann et al. 2014b). Here, the genus is for the first time described from Spain, although Van der Meulen et al. (2012) did list “ Florinia ” (their quotation marks) for a number of localities in the Aragonian type area, ranging from the uppermost Ramblian (San Roque 4A, Zone A, latest MN 3) to the middle Aragonian (Las Umbrias 10, Zone Dd, MN 5).