Late Miocene (Early Turolian) vertebrate faunas and associated biotic record of the Northern Caucasus: Geology, palaeoenvironment, biochronology

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Late Miocene continental deposits overlying the Khersonian marine sediments near the city of Maikop bordering the Belaya River (North Caucasus) yielded a diverse biotic record including palynology, ostracods, fresh-water and terrestrial molluscs, fishes, amphibians and reptiles, birds, and mammals. The obtained data indicate predominantly wooded landscapes along the banks of a large fresh-water estuarine or lagoonal basin with occasional connection with the sea. The basin existed in a warm temperate to subtropical climate with a high humidity and an estimated mean annual precipitation above 800 mm. The mammalian assemblage with <jats:italic>Hipparion</jats:italic> spp., <jats:italic>Alilepus</jats:italic> sp., <jats:italic>Paraglirulus schultzi</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Eozapus intermedius</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Parapodemus lugdunensis</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Collimys caucasicus</jats:italic> sp. nov., <jats:italic>Neocricetodon</jats:italic> cf. <jats:italic>progressus</jats:italic>, etc. is referable to the early Turolian, MN 11. The data regarding composition and stage of evolution of the small mammal content combined with mostly normal polarity of the fossiliferous deposits, and the age estimates of the upper Khersonian boundary as between 8.6 and 7.9 Ma indicate a plausible correlation with Chron C4n and an age range between 8.1–7.6 Ma.</jats:p>

The end of the Great Khersonian Drying of Eurasia: Magnetostratigraphic dating of the Maeotian transgression in the Eastern Paratethys

“…In light of a much younger age for the base of the Pontian (6.1 Ma instead of 7.5 Ma) we re-evaluate this normal polarity pattern of the Khersonian and correlate it with chron C4n. This would bring it in agreement with the recent correlation of the Khersonian/Maeotian boundary in the north Caucasus region (Tuapse highway bridge, Gaverdovsky and Volchaya Balka in the Blinov and Gaverdovsky formations near the city of Maikop) to the base-C3Br/top-C4n interval at an age of~7.5 Ma (Tesakov et al, 2017).…”

“…The ages attributed to the Khersonian/Maeotian boundary in these terrestrial records strongly depended on previous (widely varying) age estimates of the overlying Pontian deposits and consequently arrive at a broad range of ~9 Ma, Pevzner and Vangengeim (); 9.4 Ma, Vangengeim, Lungu, and Tesakov () and a radio‐isotopic age of 9.3 Ma; 9.6 Ma, Vangengeim and Tesakov (); 6.4 Ma, Tesakov, Titov, Syromyatnikova, Danilov, and Frolov (); 7.8/8.2 Ma, Tesakov et al. (). The magnetic polarity patterns of the continental sections do, however, contain some recurrent patterns: the Khersonian is commonly dominated by a long normal polarity interval (sections Poksheshty, El'Dari, Starya Kubanka, Yurievka, Tiaginka, Krivoj Rog, Tiaginka and Kajnary in Pevzner and Vangengeim (); El'Dari section, in Vangengeim et al.…”

Systematics and phylogeny of Vasseuromys (Mammalia, Rodentia, Gliridae) with a description of a new species from the late Miocene of eastern Europe

“…The new finds of probable Vasseuromys (originally determined as ‘ Ramys vel Vasseuromys ’) from the early Turolian of Gaverdovsky and Volchaya Balka localities in Northern Caucasus of Russia (Tesakov et al . ), demonstrate its occurrence over a wider area of eastern Europe during the late Miocene, thus supporting the hypothesis of an eastern origin for V. tectus .…”

Phylogeny and evolutionary history of birch miceSicistaGriffith, 1827 (Sminthidae, Rodentia): Implications from a multigene study

“…The references to Sicista spp . are as follows: 1—Rytovka Formation, Biteke Formation (Zykin, ); 2—Podpusk‐Lebyazhie (Zazhigin, ); 3—Kopaly (Tjutkova & Kaipova, ), Isakovka 4 (Tesakov et al., ); 4—(Tesakov, ; Topachevsky et al., ); 5—Gaverdovsky Formation (Tesakov et al., ); 6—Yushe (Qiu, )…”

“…During the mid‐Late Miocene, the group reached the Caucasus with Sicista sp . showing a morphologically primitive first lower molar (Tesakov et al., ). The emergence of multiple fossil lineages in the Late Miocene correlates well with nearly bush‐like radiation among the five major recent lineages estimated to occur in the latest Miocene–earliest Pliocene.…”