Neha Patil (Editor)

Ochotona spanglei

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Class
  
Mammalia

Family
  
Ochotonidae

Rank
  
Species

Phylum
  
Chordata

Order
  
Lagomorpha

Genus
  
Ochotona

Ochotona spanglei is an extinct species of pika (mammal in the family Ochotonidae), known from Late Miocene or Early Pliocene fossil from Oregon (USA). Fossils were also found in Nebraska referred to as Ochotona cf. spanglei.

Ochotona spanglei is the earliest known pika, which inhabited North America. Pika came at the Miocene-Pliocene boundary from Eurasia. Extinction of O. spanglei was followed by an approximately three-million-year-long gap in the known North American pikas record.

Fossil distribution

  • McKay Reservoir, Oregon, McKay Formation, Hemphillian (10.3 - 4.9 Ma), Ochotona spanglei, the species was discovered here (described from a lower jaw with complete cheek dentition)
  • Honey Creek, Nebraska, Hemphillian (10.3 - 4.9 Ma), Ochotona cf. spanglei
  • Mailbox Prospect, Antelope County, Nebraska, Late/Upper Hemphillian (10.3 - 4.9 Ma), Ochotona cf. spanglei

    • References

    Ochotona spanglei Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA