[The fossil record of the Eurasian Neogene insectivores (Erinaceomorpha, Soricomorpha, Mammalia) : Part I / L.W. van den Hoek Ostende, C.S. Doukas and J.W.F. Reumer (editors)]: Poland

Introduction Despite the 19th century tradition of mammalian palaeontology in the present territory of Poland, the oldest records of insectivores are found in the papers of Andreae (1904), Schlosser (in Zittel, 1911) and Wegner (1913), who described the fauna from the Middle Miocene (MN 6) locality of Opole 1 in Silesia. The insectivores were represented in this locality by Metacordylodon schlosseri (Andreae, 1904) (Dimylidae), Talpa minuta Blainville, 1838 (Talpidae), and Erinaceus sansaniensis Lartet, 1851 (Erinaceidae). According to Wegner (1913) the latter form was similar to the Miocene hedgehog found at Sansan in France. The later revision of the Sansan material showed that it was not uniform. Part of it was transferred to the genus Lantanotherium Filhol, 1888, and another part to Amphechinus Aymard, 1849 (Baudelot, 1972). As the material from Opole 1 (except the holotype of the Metacordylodon schlosseri) disappeared during the Second World War, it is difficult to assess the taxonomy of the hedgehog from Opole 1. Before the Second World War only one paper mentioned (most probably Pliocene) insectivores from Polish territory: Sorex sp., Talpa sp., and Erinaceus sp. from the Poludniowa Cave near Wojcieszów in Silesia (Zotz, 1939). In the 1950s and 1960s some Pliocene and Pleistocene small mammal faunas were studied by Kowalski (1956, 1958, 1960) and Sulimski (1959, 1962a, b). Both authors described several new species, mostly shrews. The studied localities were situated in the Cracow-Wieluń Upland, a belt of Upper Jurassic limestones, well known for accumulations of fossil-bearing deposits, especially in caves and karst fissures.