2020 Volume 126 Issue 4 Pages 167-181
Cane rats are represented by two extant species inhabiting Sub-Saharan Africa. Previous studies have established that the earliest occurrence of the extant genus Thryonomys was the latest Miocene in eastern Africa. A Japan-Kenya Expedition team has recovered a new species of Thryonomys, T. kamulai, sp. nov., from the base of the upper Miocene Nakali Formation (~10 Ma) of northern Kenya. We describe the new species on the basis of dental specimens. The new species is characterized by features such as small dentition size, shallower and wider sinuses on the upper cheek teeth, and a well-developed crescent-shaped metalophulid I on dp4. The present findings extend the first-appearance datum of the genus to the early late Miocene (~10 Ma), suggesting that the Thryonomys lineage inhabited Africa prior to ~10 Ma.
