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26-485: Graphiurinae Leithiinae Glirinae A dormouse is a rodent of the family Gliridae (this family is also variously called Myoxidae or Muscardinidae by different taxonomists). Dormice are nocturnal animals found in Africa, Asia, and Europe. They are named for their long, dormant hibernation period of six months or longer. The word dormouse comes from Middle English dormous , of uncertain origin, possibly from

52-475: A gestation period of 22–24 days. They can live for as long as five years. The young are born hairless and helpless, and their eyes do not open until about 18 days after birth. They typically become sexually mature after the end of their first hibernation. Dormice live in small family groups, with home ranges that vary widely between species and depend on the availability of food. One of the most notable characteristics of those dormice that live in temperate zones

78-644: A Cyanobacteria bloom origin resulting in the poisoning of the animals. This last one was considered to be necessary in order to explain the occurrence of excellent fossils throughout the entire sedimentary sequence (Koenigswald & others, 2004). Exhibits from the pit may be seen in the Messel town, the fossil Museum in Messel, the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt (5 km (3.1 mi) from Messel) and also

104-454: A cement factory built in the quarry failed the following year. The land was slotted for use as a landfill , but the plans came to nought and the Hessian state bought the site in 1991 to secure scientific access. In the few years between the end of mining and 1974, when the state began preparing the site for garbage disposal, amateur collectors were allowed to collect fossils. The amateurs developed

130-510: A dialectal element *dor- , from Old Norse dár 'benumbed' and Middle English mous 'mouse'. The word is sometimes conjectured to come from an Anglo-Norman derivative of dormir 'to sleep', with the second element mistaken for mouse , but no such Anglo-Norman term is known to have existed. The Latin noun glīs , which is the origin of the scientific name, descends from the Proto-Indo-European noun *gl̥h₁éys 'weasel, mouse', and

156-502: A favourable location; it is the earliest concrete sample of fungal behavioural manipulation. The diversity of species is remarkable partly as a result of the hypothesized periodic gas releases. A brief summary of some of the fossils found at the site follows: The following is only a partial list: Family Formicidae (ants) Family Apidae Family Megachilidae Describing the Messel Pit Fossil Site as 'richest geosite in

182-709: A relatively low rate of deposition, 0.1 mm (0.0039 in) per year, this provided a prime environment for the preservation of fauna and flora. The area around the Messel Pit is believed to have been geologically and tectonically active during the Eocene. Leading scientists hypothesize that events much like the 1986 volcanic gas releases at Lake Nyos , Cameroon , could account for the large deposition of non-aquatic species (Franzen & Koster, 1994). Periodic subsurface shifts possibly released large concentrations of reactive gases (such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide) into

208-626: A savoury appetizer or as a dessert (dipped in honey and poppy seeds). The Romans used a special kind of enclosure, a glirarium , to raise and fatten dormice for the table. It is still considered a delicacy in Slovenia and in several places in Croatia , namely Lika , and the islands of Hvar and Brač . Dormouse fat was believed by the Elizabethans to induce sleep since the animal put on fat before hibernating. In more recent years dormice have begun to enter

234-504: A variety of habitats. They are very agile climbers and have bushy tails. They eat invertebrates and small vertebrates . Genus Graphiurus , African dormice This article about a rodent is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Messel pit The Messel pit (German: Grube Messel ) is a disused quarry near the village of Messel ( Landkreis Darmstadt-Dieburg , Hesse) about 35 km (22 mi) southeast of Frankfurt am Main , Germany. Bituminous shale

260-458: A variety of vocalisations. Dormice are omnivorous , and typically feed on berries, flowers, fruits, insects, and nuts. They are unique among rodents in that they lack a cecum , a part of the gut used in other species to ferment vegetable matter. Their dental formula is similar to that of squirrels , although they often lack premolars : Dormice breed once (or, occasionally, twice) each year, producing litters with an average of four young after

286-399: Is hibernation. They can hibernate six months out of the year, or even longer if the weather does not become warm enough, sometimes waking for brief periods to eat food they had previously stored nearby. During the summer, they accumulate fat in their bodies to nourish them through the hibernation period. The edible dormouse ( Glis glis ) was considered a delicacy in ancient Rome , either as

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312-493: Is related to Sanskrit गिरि ( girí ) 'mouse' and Ancient Greek γαλέη ( galéē ) 'weasel'. Dormice are small rodents, with body lengths between 6 and 19 cm (2.4 and 7.5 in), and weight between 15 and 180 g (0.53 and 6.35 oz). They are generally mouse -like in appearance, but with furred tails . They are largely arboreal , agile, and well adapted to climbing. Most species are nocturnal . Dormice have an excellent sense of hearing and signal each other with

338-707: The Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt am Main (some 30 km (19 mi) from Messel). Casual visitors can park close to the pit and walk around 300 m (0.19 mi) to a viewing platform overlooking the pit. Entrance to the pit is only possible as part of a specially organized tour. The Messel Pit provides the best preserved evidence of Geiseltalian flora and fauna so far discovered, with over 1000 species identified. Most other sites are lucky to contain partial skeletons , but Messel boasts extensive preservation of structural integrity, even going so far as to preserve

364-433: The " transfer technique " that enabled them to preserve the fine details of small fossils, the method still employed in preserving the fossils today. Many of the known specimens from the site have come from amateur collectors and in 1996, an amnesty on previously collected fossils was put in effect, in the hope of getting privately owned collections back into public ownership and available to science. The current surface of

390-540: The Messel pit is roughly 60 m (200 ft) below the local land and is about 0.7 km (0.27 sq mi) in area. The oil-shale bed originally extended to a depth of 190 m (620 ft). 47 million years ago in the Eocene when the Messel deposits formed, the area was 10° further south than it is now. The period was very close to the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum and the climate and ecology of

416-563: The earliest and most primitive glirid taxon; the oldest species, Eogliravus wildi , is known from isolated teeth from the early Eocene of France and a complete specimen of the early middle Eocene of the Messel pit in Germany. They appear in Africa in the upper Miocene and only relatively recently in Asia. Many types of extinct dormouse species have been identified. During the Pleistocene , giant dormice

442-452: The early evolution of mammals and birds are still being made at the Messel pit, and the site has increasingly become a tourist site as well. Brown coal and later oil shale was actively mined from 1859. The pit first became known for its wealth of fossils around 1900, but serious scientific excavation only started around the 1970s, when falling oil prices made mining the quarry uneconomical. Commercial oil shale mining ceased in 1971 and

468-449: The fur, feathers and "skin shadows" of some species. Unusual preservation has sparked some closely reasoned interpretations. The symptomatic "dumb-bell"-shaped bite marks on either side of the leaf vein on a fossilised leaf have been identified as the death-grip of a carpenter ant terminally parasitized by the fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis , that, apparently then as today, commandeered its behavior, in order to release its spores from

494-606: The lake and adjoining ecosystems, killing susceptible organisms. During these releases, birds and bats might have fallen in if near the lake surface and terrestrials could be overwhelmed when near the lake shore. Since the lake was very deep, animals that fell in it drifted downwards into oxygen- and bacteria-poor water, where they were preserved remarkably well, being overlaid by successive layers of mud that petrified later, thus producing an aggregation of fossils of exceptional quality, quantity, integrity, and variety. However, other hypotheses have been postulated as well, and have suggested

520-443: The lake most certainly supported a variety of organisms, but the bottom was subject to little disturbance by current, spawning a very anoxic environment. This prevented many epifaunal and infaunal species from inhabiting this niche and thus bioturbation was kept at a minimum. Overturn of the lake layers (caused by seasonal variations) lowered oxygen content near the surface and led to a periodic "die-off" of aquatic species. Combined with

546-626: The pet trade, though they are uncommon as pets and are considered an exotic pet . The woodland dormouse ( Graphiurus murinus) is the most commonly seen species in the pet trade. Asian garden dormice ( Eliomys melanurus ) are also occasionally kept as pets. The Gliridae are one of the oldest extant rodent families, with a fossil record dating back to the early Eocene . As currently understood, they descended in Europe from early Paleogene ischyromyids such as Microparamys ( Sparnacomys ) chandoni . The early and middle Eocene genus Eogliravus represents

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572-612: The site were very different, characterised by a mean annual temperature of 22°C and a large series of maar lakes surrounded by lush sub-tropical forests that supported an incredible diversity of life. The Messel lake bed was probably a center point for drainage from nearby rivers and creeks. The pit deposits were formed during the Eocene Epoch of the Paleogene Period about 47 million years ago, based on dating of basalt fragments underlying fossilbearing strata. Oil shale , formed by

598-1217: The size of rabbits, Leithia melitensis , lived on the islands of Malta and Sicily . The family consists of 29 extant species, in three subfamilies and (arguably) nine genera: Cladogram of most living and recently extinct dormice genera based on mitochondrial DNA after Petrova et al. 2024: Graphiurus (African dormice) Glirulus (Japanese dormouse) Glis (edible dormice) Muscardinus (hazel dormouse) Myomimus (mouse-tailed dormice) Selevinia (desert dormouse) Dryomys (woolly and forest dormice) Eliomys (garden dormice) † Hypnomys (Balearic dormice) Family Gliridae – Dormice † indicates an extinct species. Graphiurinae Graphiurus angolensis Graphiurus christyi Graphiurus crassicaudatus Graphiurus johnstoni Graphiurus kelleni Graphiurus lorraineus Graphiurus microtis Graphiurus monardi Graphiurus murinus Graphiurus nagtglasii Graphiurus ocularis Graphiurus platyops Graphiurus rupicola Graphiurus surdus Graphiurus walterverheyeni The African dormice ( genus Graphiurus ) are dormice that live throughout sub-Saharan Africa in

624-422: The slow anoxic deposition of mud and dead vegetation on the lake bed, is the primary rock at the site. Its sediments extend 13 m (43 ft) downward and lie atop an older sandstone foundation. The fossils within the shale show a remarkable clarity and preservation due to the unique depositional characteristics of the lake and so the Messel pit represents a Konservat-Lagerstätte . The upper stratifications of

650-558: The world for understanding the living environment of the Eocene, as it includes exceptionally well-preserved fossils', the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) included the site's Eocene record in its list of 100 'geological heritage sites', published in October 2022. The organisation defines an IUGS Geological Heritage Site as 'a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as

676-534: Was mined there. Because of its abundance of well-preserved fossils of the Messel Formation dating from the middle of the Eocene , it has significant geological and scientific importance. Over 1000 species of plants and animals have been found at the site. After almost becoming a landfill, strong local resistance eventually stopped these plans and the Messel pit was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 9 December 1995. Significant scientific discoveries about

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