Large- and small-mammal distribution patterns and chronostratigraphic boundaries from the Late Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene of the Italian peninsula

Abstract

Over the last 50 years the studies on terrestrial mammals of the Italian peninsula have provided a large volume of data and a more detailed knowledge of faunal events during the Late Pliocene and Quaternary. Moreover geological, sedimentological, palynological and magnetostratigraphical investigations on the Pliocene-Pleistocene continental sedimentary basins have yielded the possibility of a detailed calibration of the faunal successions. Thus, palaeontologists have been able to reconstruct faunal sequences and to propose biochronological scales based on large and small mammals, respectively. In the present contribution an integration of the two biochronological scales is proposed, and the successions of bioevents are carefully compared. This integrated approach allows the constraint of the sequence of large-and small-mammal events in a more reliable way, and therefore it results in a more detailed and consistent chronological use of mammalian assemblages. Particular attention is paid to the faunal changes that correspond to the Middle-Late Pliocene (2.6 ma), Pliocene-Pleistocene (1.8 ma) and Early-Middle Pleistocene (Gauss-Matuyama transition) chronostratigraphical boundaries. r

Evolutionary history and biogeography of the genus Crocidura (Mammalia, Soricidae) in Europe, with emphasis on Crocidura kornfeldi

“…North European pollen stages follow Zagwijn (1998). Mammalian biostratigraphy follows Masini & Sala (2007). Horizontal dashed line shows the Plio-Pleistocene limit according to Aguirre & Pasini (1985), which is the one that we follow in this paper.…”

Pannonictis nestii(Galictinae, Mustelidae), a new element in the vertebrate association of the human site of Pirro Nord (Italy, Early Pleistocene)

“…Thus the Pirro Nord sediments can be referred to the Matuyama reverse polarity epoch, post Olduvay event, from 1.78 to 0.79 Ma (Napoleone et al 2003;Tema et al 2009;Pavia et al 2012). Some authors (Arzarello et al 2007(Arzarello et al , 2009Pavia et al 2012) stated that the age of Pirro Nord should be between 1.3 and 1.7 Ma, but others (Masini & Sala 2007;Bertini et al 2010) suggest an age comprised between 1.2 and 1.5 Ma. Clearly, this debate is beyond the scope of our work.…”

Revisiting the ESR chronology of the Early Pleistocene hominin occupation at Vallparadís (Barcelona, Spain)

“…The Colle Curti Colle faunal unit (FU) is usually taken as one of the references (together with the locality of Untermassfeld, Kahlke, 2009) for the Early Galerian (¼ Epivillafranchian) and has a chronology that has been correlated to the Jaramillo subchron (1.07e0.99 Ma) (e.g. Coltorti et al, 1998;Masini and Sala, 2007;Palombo, 2007). However, as highlighted by Madurell-Malapeira et al (2010), the large mammal record at Vallparadís significantly extends the time range covered many Villafranchian carnivore taxa (e.g.…”