Nesiotites
| Nesiotites Temporal range:
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| Size comparison of the Balearic shrew Nesiotites hidalgo (top) with a water shrew (Neomys, below) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Eulipotyphla |
| Family: | Soricidae |
| Tribe: | Nectogalini |
| Genus: | †Nesiotites Bate, 1945 |
| Species | |
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Nesiotites is an extinct genus of red-toothed shrew belonging to the tribe Nectogalini known from the latest Miocene/Early Pliocene to Holocene of the Balearic Islands of Mallorca and Menorca.
Taxonomy
Nesiotites was originally described by Dorothea Bate in 1945[1], with the type species being Nesiotites hidalgo. Originally, two species from the islands of Corsica and Sardinia (N. corsicanus and N. similis) were included in the genus, but these are now rejected, and the genus Nesiotites is now generally used exclusively for the Balearic species, as otherwise the genus would likely be polyphyletic.[2]
The genus includes the chronospecies N. rafelinensis (earliest Pliocene) (the validity of this species disputed, as some authors contend that it is not morphologically distinct from N. ponsi[3][4]) N. ponsi (Late Pliocene), N. meloussae/N. aff. ponsi (Early Pleistocene) and N. hidalgo (Middle Pleistocene-Holocene). These are largely distinguished by differences in body size and characters of the teeth. The insular species of Asoriculus from Corsica-Sardinia were formerly included in Nesiotites, but Nesiotites was later circumscribed to only include the Balearic species, as otherwise the genus would likely be polyphyletic.[5][6]
Based on a mitochondrial genome taken from the last species Nesiotites hidalgo, their closest living relative is the Himalayan shrew (Soriculus). A molecular clock analysis suggests that Himalayan shrews and Balearic shrews diveraged approximately 6.44 million years ago. Based on morphological data, it is thought that Nesiotites is closely related and perhaps descended from the extinct genus Asoriculus, known from the Late Miocene-Holocene of Europe and North Africa, which now includes the Corsican and Sardinian species formerly included in Nesiotites.[2]
Description
Members of Nesiotites generally exhibited a large body size compared to most other members of Nectogalini, an example of island gigantism, with the lineage experiencing a gradual increase in size over time, with the estimated weight of N. ponsi being 14.58 grams (0.514 oz) while the last species, N. hildalgo being estimated at 26.63–29.31 grams (0.939–1.034 oz), being exceeded in size amongst Nectogalini only by Asiatic water shrews (Chimarrogale).[7]
Evolutionary history
Nesiotites originally colonised Mallorca during the Messinian stage of the Late Miocene, when the Messinian salinity crisis caused the evaporation of the Mediterranean allowing animals from the Iberian Peninsula to disperse to the Balearics, and later spread to Menorca during the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition, when episodes of low sea level connected the two islands.[8][6] During most of its existence, it represented only one of three terrestrial mammal lineages native to the Balearic islands, alongside the giant dormouse Hypnomys and the dwarf goat-antelope Myotragus. The last Nesiotites chronospecies, N. hidalgo, became extinct shortly after human settlement of the Balearics, which occurred sometime prior to 2282 BC, with the youngest radiocarbon date for the species dating to approximately 3027 BC.[9]
References
- ^ Bate, Dorothea M.A. (1944-11). "LXIII.— Pleistocene shrews from the larger Western Mediterranean Islands". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 11 (83): 738–769. doi:10.1080/00222934408527471. ISSN 0374-5481.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b Bover, Pere; Mitchell, Kieren J.; Llamas, Bastien; Rofes, Juan; Thomson, Vicki A.; Cuenca-Bescós, Gloria; Alcover, Josep A.; Cooper, Alan; Pons, Joan (August 2018). "Molecular phylogenetics supports the origin of an endemic Balearic shrew lineage (Nesiotites) coincident with the Messinian Salinity Crisis". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 125: 188–195. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.03.028. PMID 29608962. S2CID 5010906.
- ^ Rofes, J; Bover, P; Cuenca-Bescós, G; Alcover, Ja (2013). "Proportions, characters and chronologies: their contribution to systematic paleontology. A rebuttal to Furió and Pons-Monjo". Palaeontologia Electronica. doi:10.26879/412. ISSN 1094-8074.
- ^ Furió, M; Pons-Monjo, G (2013). "The use of the species concept in paleontology. Comment on "Nesiotites rafelinensis sp. nov., the earliest shrew (Mammalia, Soricidae) from the Balearic Islands, Spain" by Rofes et al., 2012". Palaeontologia Electronica. doi:10.26879/336. ISSN 1094-8074.
- ^ Rofes, J.; Bover, P.; Cuenca-Bescós, G.; Alcover, J.A. (2012). "Nesiotites rafelinensis sp. nov., the earliest shrew (Mammalia, Soricidae) from the Balearic Islands, Spain". Palaeontologia Electronica. 15 (1): 8A. doi:10.26879/282.
- ^ a b Cardona, Josep Quintana; Agusti, Jordi (May 2019). "First evidence of faunal succession in terrestrial vertebrates of the Plio-Pleistocene of the Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 18 (3): 317–324. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2019.02.001.
- ^ Moncunill-Sole, B.; Jordana, X.; Köhler, M. (2016). "How common is gigantism in insular fossil shrews? Examining the 'Island Rule' in soricids (Mammalia: Soricomorpha) from Mediterranean Islands using new body mass estimation models". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 178 (1): 163–182. doi:10.1111/zoj.12399.
- ^ Pons-Monjo, Guillem; Moyà-Solà, Salvador; Furió, Marc (July 2012). "New data on the origin of Nesiotites (Soricidae, Mammalia) in Menorca (Balearic Islands, Spain)". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 11 (5): 393–401. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2012.03.001.
- ^ Valenzuela, Alejandro; Torres-Roig, Enric; Zoboli, Daniel; Pillola, Gian Luigi; Alcover, Josep Antoni (2021-11-29). "Asynchronous ecological upheavals on the Western Mediterranean islands: New insights on the extinction of their autochthonous small mammals". The Holocene. 32 (3): 137–146. doi:10.1177/09596836211060491. ISSN 0959-6836. S2CID 244763779.