© Te Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Te Linnean Society of London. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com Received 1 April 2022; revised 6 February 2023; accepted 25 March 2023 Original Article A new framework of the evolution of the ctenodactylids (Mammalia: Rodentia) in Asia: new species and phylogenetic status of distylomyins Adriana Oliver 1,2,* , Patricia M. Carro-Rodríguez 2,3,4 , Paloma López-Guerrero 2 , Gudrun Daxner-Höck 5 1 Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural Sciences-Spanish National Research Council (MNCN-CSIC), C/ José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain 2 Association Mujeres con los Pies en la Tierra, C/ Jose Antonio Novais, 12, 28040 Madrid, Spain 3 Department of Geodynamics, Stratigraphy and Palaeontology (GEODESPAL), Universidad Complutense de Madrid, C/ Jose Antonio Novais, 12, 28040, Madrid, Spain 4 Sedimentary Geology and Environmental Change, Geosciences Institute (CSIC, UCM), C/ del Dr Severo Ochoa, 7, 28040, Madrid, Spain 5 Geological-Paleontological Department, Natural History Museum Vienna, Burgring 7, 1010 Vienna, Austria [Version of record, published online 24 August 2023; htp://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:995541BE-533A-479B-8ED8-955F5EF30A0E] * Corresponding author. Adriana Oliver. Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural Sciences-Spanish National Research Council (MNCN-CSIC), C/ José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain E-mail: aoliverp5@gmail.com ABSTRACT Two new species of ctenodactylid rodents, Prodistylomys taatsinius sp. nov. and Prodistylomys mongoliensis sp. nov., are described from the Valley of Lakes, Central Mongolia. Tey represent the frst record of this genus in Mongolia. Prodistylomys is characterized by a simple dental patern and high hypsodonty, refecting an adaptation for tough vegetation in a dry environment, which is congruent with the aridifcation event that took place during the Late Oligocene and Early Miocene. We performed the most complete phylogenetic analysis combining the largest sampling in the family Ctenodactylidae and the best-represented stratigraphical distribution for the sample. Tis allowed us to propose that the origin of ctenodactylids lies in East Asia during the Eocene, and afer that, the group dispersed through western Asia, Europe, and Africa. Te presence of several similar rodent taxa in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and China confrms that these areas were part of a large bioprovince covering most of central Asia during the Oligocene and Early Miocene. Keywords: Ctenodactyloidea; Miocene; new taxa; Oligocene; phylogeny; Prodistylomys; small mammals; taxonomy INTRODUCTION Ctenodactyloidea Tullberg, 1899 has a rich and interesting evolutionary history. Teir frst occurrence was in Central Asia during the Earliest Eocene (Li et al. 1979; Dashzeveg 1990; Tong and Dawson 1995; Meng and Li 2010; Li and Meng 2015). Troughout the Oligocene, this superfamily diversifed and be- came one of the dominant rodent groups in Asia, particularly in China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan (Flynn et al. 1986; Gomes Rodrigues et al. 2014; Oliver and Daxner-Höck 2017; Oliver et al. 2017a, b). Te suprageneric classifcation of the superfamily Ctenodactyloidea included only the family Ctenodactylidae Zitel, 1893 comprised of extant African genera following Simpson (1945). Within this superfamily, four extinct fam- ilies were later included: Chapatimyidae, Cocomyidae, Tamquammyidae, and Yuomyidae (Tong 1997; Wang 1997; Wible et al. 2005). Diferent molecular phylogenetic proposals (Marivaux et al. 2002; Huchon et al. 2007) have supported the monophyly of this superfamily and defned close relationships between Histricognathi and Ctenodactylidae. Diferent taxo- nomical proposals regarding the family Ctenodactylidae have appeared and the authors evaluate these. Traditionally, the family has been split into four subfamilies: Ctenodactylinae Gervais, 1853; Distylomyinae Wang, 1994; Kakaromyinae Wang, 1994; and Tataromyinae Lavocat, 1961. Most authors follow this classifcation (Wang 1988, 1994, 1997; Wang and Qi Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2023, XX, 1–23 htps://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad030 Advance access publication 24 August 2023 Original Article Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/advance-article/doi/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad030/7250090 by guest on 26 August 2023