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With my last project wrapping up, this small skull was sitting on my desk and needs to get done. Way too much of my collection is in a half done state. Eumys is a cricetid, which includes modern voles, hamsters, mice and rats. When identifying one, the primary character I use is the shape of M1 and the fact it has no premolars. It's the only White River rodent I'm aware of with 3 teeth in the maxilla, most have 4 or 5 (I am prepared to be contradicted ) . M1 is very distinctive in that it has 5 cones. My plan is to remove the matrix from the side of the skull and expose the zygomatic (if its fully there). Will leave matrix in the orbits for stability. Then cut the base of the block below the occiptals and have the nose pointing in the air. I have been doing alot of pin and vice work to get it to this current state, I'll use a MicroJack-3 to get rid of the majority of the block. Not the greatest skull, and I have some better ones, but definitely something that you don't see every day.

Looking for second opinions, confirmation, or correction on this jaw from the White River Group, Oligocene, Nebraska. These last few posts represent my first "go around" with rodent teeth. I have this one as Myomorpha cf. Eumys elegans. Of the teeth listed in "The Mammalian Fauna of the White River Oligocene: Part II. Rodentia" by Scott et al. 1937, this seemed like the best match. An old publication, but I see that this taxon is still valid. I'm sure new species have been discovered. Here is the jaw. Scale in mm. Close up of occlusal surface not to scale.