Seorsumuscardinus, a genus of European dormice identified by fossils, lived around 17 million years ago during the early Miocene. Fossils from one species, S. alpinus, have been taken from rock strata in Oberdorf am Hochegg in Austria, Karydia in Greece, and Tägernaustrasse in Switzerland. A second species, S. bolligeri, was found at a single site in Affalterbach, Germany. Identified from many isolated teeth, both species were medium-sized dormice, with flat teeth characterized by long transverse crests coupled with shorter ones. Seorsumuscardinus may be related to Muscardinus, the genus of the living hazel dormouse, which appears in the fossil record at about the same time, and the older Glirudinus. Because the two known species lived at different times, the paleontologist Jerome Prieto has suggested that the genus may be useful for biostratigraphy, the use of fossils to determine the age of deposits.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seorsumuscardinus

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1689:

Jacobite risings: Jacobite clans supporting the deposed king James VII of Scotland clashed with a government regiment of Covenanters supporting William of Orange, in the streets around Dunkeld Cathedral, Dunkeld, Scotland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dunkeld

1858:

The first of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas (both pictured), candidates for an Illinois seat in the United States Senate, was held in Ottawa, Illinois. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%E2%80%93Douglas_debates

1945:

American physicist Harry K. Daghlian, Jr. accidentally dropped a tungsten carbide brick onto a delta phase plutonium bomb core and exposed himself to a lethal dose of neutron radiation, becoming the first known fatality due to a criticality accident 25 days later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_K._Daghlian,_Jr.

1986:

A limnic eruption of a cloud of carbon dioxide from Lake Nyos in Cameroon killed up to 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock in nearby villages. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nyos

2013:

Syrian Civil War: Rockets containing sarin struck the opposition-controlled portions of the Ghouta suburbs of Damascus, resulting in at least 281 deaths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghouta_chemical_attack

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

water of crystallization: (chemistry) The water present in the crystals of the salts of certain metals; it is weakly bound by electrostatic forces and may normally be removed by heating. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/water_of_crystallization

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

All we can do is live every single day and do our best to be present with the ones that we love and with everybody that we come in contact with … The timing of everything seems too divine sometimes to ignore.   --Alicia Witt https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alicia_Witt