A New Early Miocene Chinchilloid Hystricognath Rodent; an Approach to the Understanding of the Early Chinchillid Dental Evolution

Chinchilloidea is an emblematical group of caviomorph rodents characterized by euhypsodont, laminated cheek teeth. Recent molecular analyses proposed that the extant Dinomys (and implicitly its fossil allies) is also part of this group. Their relationships with fossil caviomorphs with less derived dental features are still obscured by the deficiency of the fossil record documenting its early dental evolution. The new genus and species Garridomys curunuquem, from the early Miocene deposits of the Cerro Bandera Formation, northern Patagonia, is here described. It is represented by numerous mandible and maxillary remains with dentition. This species has protohypsodont cheek teeth with three transverse crests in all ontogenetic stages arranged in a transitory S-shaped pattern, resembling putative early dinomyids. Garridomys curunuquem is here interpreted as the sister group of the clade including the living and fossil chinchillids; both chinchillas and viscaccias would have diverged from a Garridomys-like ancestor and acquired hypsodonty independently. Garridomys and other chinchilloids would have diverged from the lineage leading to chinchillids in pre-Oligocene times, suggesting a very early, still poorly documented chinchilloid radiation.