SMALL RODENTS AND A LAGOMORPH FROM THE EARLY MIOCENE BUKWA LOCALITY, EASTERN UGANDA

Recent screen washing at Bukwa, Uganda, has produced a deciduous lower premolar, a deciduous upper premolar, and three other upper cheek teeth of tiny thryonomyoid rodents and a single fragmentary ochotonid cheek tooth. Bukwa is early Miocene in age and has a provisional radiometric date of 22 Ma. The deciduous lower premolar, deciduous upper premolar, and two upper molars are assigned to a new taxon, Ugandamys downsi, gen. and sp. nov. The deciduous lower premolar is morphologically distinct from a phiomyid deciduous lower premolar previously recovered from Bukwa. The deciduous upper premolar and two upper molars are very small, elongate, and have strong mesolophs. The two molars have a distinct metaconule. One molar and the deciduous upper premolar have short but distinct metalophs. The remaining upper cheek tooth has four lophs (lacks a mesoloph) and is referred to the Family Thryonomyidae. It is incomplete and heavily abraded, and thus tentatively referred to Paraphiomys sp. The Bukwa ochotonid is an incomplete cheek tooth that cannot be assigned confidently to genus. It is significant in being one of only a few fossil lagomorphs recovered from Uganda.