ANNALS OF CARNEGIE MUSEUM VoL. 72, Number 3, Pp. 203-213 27 August 2003 RODENTS OF THE FAMILY ANOMALURIDAE (MAMMALIA) FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA (MIDDLE EOCENE, PONDAUNG FORMATION, MYANMAR) Mary R. Dawson Curator, Section of Vertebrate Paleontology Takehisa Tsubamoto* Masanaru Takai^ Naoko Egi^ SoE Thura Tun^ Chit Sein^ Abstract Latest middle Eocene deposits in the Pondaung Formation of Myanmar have yielded specimens representing the rodent family Anomaluridae. This is the geologically oldest record of the family. There appear to be two or three species of Pondaung anomalurids, the most completely represented taxon of which is described as a new genus and species, Pondaimgimys anomaluropsis. The anomalurids from the Pondaung Formation are characterized by a complex folding pattern on the occlusal surfaces of the cheek teeth, as well as the basically anomalurid pentalophodont condition. Undescribed anomalurids have been reported from the late Eocene of Thailand and Oligocene of Pakistan and the Arabian Peninsula. Their Neogene distribution is only African. This occurrence in the Pondaung Formation adds new evidence to previously reported similarities between Southeast Asian and North African Paleogene mammalian faunas. Key Words: Rodentia, Anomaluridae, Pondaiingimys, Middle Eocene, Myanmar Introduction The richly fossiliferous Pondaung Formation of Myanmar has long been known for its record of middle Eocene terrestrial mammals (Pilgrim and Cotter, 1916; Tsubamoto et ah, 2000, 2002), including a diversity of Primates, Perissodactyla, and Artiodactyla. Along with the more recently discovered late Eocene fauna from the Krabi Basin of Thailand (Chaimanee et ah, 1997; Ducrocq et aL, 1997), the Pondaung fauna provides an important record of Paleogene evolutionary and paleogeographic events in southeastern Asia. Increasingly, these faunas show some interesting similarities with others from the Paleogene of northern Africa (Ducrocq et aL, 2000). Recently field teams from Kyoto University and the Myanmar Government have discovered the rodent specimens that are the subject of this report. While rodents have been mentioned in faunal lists from the Pondaung Formation, previously these specimens were not examined in detail and were given only a questionable familial assignment of ’ Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan. ^ Department of Geology, University of Yangon, Yangon, Myanmar. Submitted 14 February 2003. 203