Early Pliocene Spalacinae from the locality of Afşar, western Turkey

Spalacinae are an unusual component of the fossil record around the world with a limited geographical distribution . The revisited section of Afşar includes one of the richest collections of Spalacinae in Turkey. From Afşar 1, near the base of the section we recovered Pliospalax cf. macoveii while in Afşar 2, at the top of the section we distinguish the species P. tourkobouniensis . The current research includes the first record of the last-mentioned species outside of Europe. Both spalacines indicate a dry and open space environment and, in accordance with the Arvicolinae , suggest that Afşar 1 can be attributed to MN 15 while Afşar 2 is correlated to MN 16.