House mouse ancestor from late Pliocene Siwalik sediments of India.

Abstract

A well preserved mouse skull has been recovered from a pedogenically modified mudstone layer (c. 2 millions years (MY) old) of Pinjor Formation (Upper Siwaliks) exposed east of Chandigarh, India. Comparison of the present skull with those of the extant species of the subgenus Mus reveals its closer relationship towards the house mouse Mus musculus lineage. The present fossil evidence is very much in line with the molecular, allozymic and ecological proposals for the time and place of origin of the subgenus Mus.