Palaeoenvironments of the MIS 15 site of Cava di Breccia - Casal Selce 2 (central Italian Peninsula) and niche occupation of fossil ungulates during Middle Pleistocene interglacials

Strani, Flavia; Bellucci, Luca; Iannucci, Alessio; Iurino, Dawid A.; Mecozzi, Beniamino; Sardella, Raffaele

doi:10.1080/08912963.2021.1935920

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 61 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The only site of this period for which detailed information on NISP and MNI is available is Poggio Rosso (Upper Valdarno), where suid remains account for a mere 4% of the total [49]. Despite this percentage being quite modest, the abundance of suid remains in the rest of the Early Pleistocene is even lower (Figure 7)-and, for completeness, it is worth mentioning that the situation does not change substantially in the early Middle Pleistocene, when S. scrofa is present [13,92].…”

Section: Abundance and Frequency Of Suids In The Early Pleistocene Of...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Occurrence of Suids in the Post-Olduvai to Pre-Jaramillo Pleistocene of Europe and Implications for Late Villafranchian Biochronology and Faunal Dynamics

Iannucci

2024

Quaternary

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

It has been proposed that suids were absent from Europe during the post-Olduvai to pre-Jaramillo Early Pleistocene (from less than 1.8 to more than 1.2 Ma) and that their “re-appearance” in the late Early Pleistocene would mark the end of the late Villafranchian and the beginning of the Epivillafranchian. Arguments enumerated in favor of this “suid gap” are the lack of suid remains from extensively sampled fossil localities of this age and the high reproductive potential (r-strategy) of suids, which would translate in a high commonness of their remains in the fossil record. However, here it shown that while suids’ reproductive potential is certainly exceptional within artiodactyls, there is no direct relationship between the reproductive strategy and preservation rate of a taxon in the fossil record. In Early Pleistocene localities of Europe and adjoining areas, where suids are present in a fossil assemblage, they are always rare. In terms of number of occurrences (frequency), suids range from being moderately common (~2.0–1.8 Ma) to moderately rare (~1.1–1.0 Ma). Suid material is also described herein from Peyrolles (Issoire, France; reference locality for MNQ 19), a site dated at 1.47 Ma, providing direct evidence for the presence of suids within the purported “suid gap”. The case of suids underlines an important source of caveat in inferring faunal dynamics of the late Early Pleistocene of western Europe—including the dispersal of hominins—i.e., the unequal geographical distribution of the paleontological sites of post-Olduvai to pre-Jaramillo age. Indeed, Peyrolles is the only large mammal site in western Europe located outside the Iberian and Italian Peninsulas reliably dated around 1.5 Ma. In the post-Olduvai to pre-Jaramillo period, there is a paucity of radiometric estimates (or they have too coarse a resolution) and of paleomagnetic excursions detectable in continental deposits. Basically, for this time span, there is a high dependence on biochronological correlations, although, at the same time, these correlations are less reliable—because these are based on a few sites not covering the entire spectrum of environments present in Europe and the sites are not independently dated with methods that outperform biochronology—than those for other periods.

show abstract

Section: Abundance and Frequency Of Suids In The Early Pleistocene Of...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Occurrence of Suids in the Post-Olduvai to Pre-Jaramillo Pleistocene of Europe and Implications for Late Villafranchian Biochronology and Faunal Dynamics

Iannucci

2024

Quaternary

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Of course, species that are genuinely rare in nature might be disproportionally affected by all the aforementioned factors. On the other hand, "rarity" in the fossil record does not necessarily imply a low demographic density, rather it can result from a taphonomic bias, which in turn can relate to several factors, for instance body size or environmental preferences [58,[61][62][63][64][65][66]. These biases can affect the representation of a taxon within a specific geographic area due to its biological and ecological characteristics, but also between areas that hosted different ecosystems A striking example is the paucity of the fossil record concerning the evolution of African great apes (chimpanzees and gorillas) in comparison to that of East African hominins [67].…”

Section: Quaternary Large Mammal Biochronologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Basically, the age of a FU is of course linked to that of its representative local fauna, but the latter, as aforementioned, should be ideally a "snapshot" of the fauna inhabiting a certain area at a certain time, and necessarily, it cannot cover all the FU. To clarify, for instance, the Middle Pleistocene site of Fontana Ranuccio yielded an important archeological and paleontological record, including hominin remains (e.g., [66,[75][76][77][78]) and its mammal fauna is representative of the Fontana Ranuccio FU. This fauna has long been referred to MIS 12 (e.g., [79]), following the 40 K/ 39 Ar age of 458 ± 12 ka obtained by Biddittu et al [80].…”

Section: Quaternary Large Mammal Biochronologymentioning

confidence: 99%

What Does the “Elephant-Equus” Event Mean Today? Reflections on Mammal Dispersal Events around the Pliocene-Pleistocene Boundary and the Flexible Ambiguity of Biochronology

Iannucci

Sardella

2023

Quaternary

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The dispersal of primitive elephantines and monodactyl equids in Eurasia has long been regarded as representative of a substantial turnover in mammal faunas, denoting the spread of open environments linked to the onset of cold and dry conditions in the Northern Hemisphere. During the 1980s, this event was named the “Elephant-Equus event” and it was correlated with the Gauss-Matuyama reversal, today corresponding to the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition and the beginning of the Quaternary, dated at ~2.6 Ma. Therefore, the Elephant-Equus event became a concept of prominent biochronological and paleoecological significance, especially in western Europe. Yet, uncertainties surrounding the taxonomy and chronology of early “elephant” and “Equus”, as well as conceptual differences in adopting (or understanding) the Elephant-Equus event as an intercontinental dispersal event or as a stratigraphic datum, engendered ambiguity and debate. Here, we provide a succinct review of the Elephant-Equus event, considering separately the available evidence on the “elephant” and the “Equus”. Elephantines dispersed out of Africa during the Pliocene (Piacenzian). Their earliest calibrated occurrences from eastern Europe date at ~3.2 Ma and they are usually referred to Mammuthus rumanus, although the allocation of several samples to this species is tentative. Available dating constraints for other localities do not resolve whether the dispersal of Mammuthus was synchronous across Eurasia, but this possibility cannot be ruled out. The spread of Mammuthus was part of an intercontinental faunal exchange between Africa and Eurasia that occurred during the Piacenzian, but in this scenario, Mammuthus is quite unique in being the only genus of African origin dispersing to western Eurasia. The arrival of monodactyl equids from North America coincides with the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition, with several occurrences dated or calibrated at ~2.6 Ma and no compelling evidence prior to this age. In Europe, early monodactyl equids are often aligned to Equus livenzovensis, but the material from the type locality of this species is chronologically time-averaged and taxonomically heterogeneous, and western European samples are seldom abundant or informative. Regardless, this does not diminish the biochronological significance of the “Equus event”. Indeed, while the term “Elephant-Equus event” should no longer be used, as the appearance of elephantines in the European fossil record markedly precedes that of monodactyl equids, we endorse the use of the “Equus event” as a valid alternative to refer to the intercontinental dispersal event that characterizes the middle Villafranchian faunal turnover, epitomized by but not limited to monodactyl equids.

show abstract

“…The first occurrence (FO) of the modern wolf is one of the defining bioevents of the faunal turnover that took place during the transition between the Galerian and Aurelian European Land Mammal Ages (ca. 400 ka), characterized by the earliest dispersal of several modern mammal taxa in Europe 14 – 17 . Despite being intensively investigated from taxonomic, morphological and biochronological perspectives, European Middle Pleistocene wolves have been attributed either to C. mosbachensis or C. lupus mainly due to their size 4 , 13 , 18 – 21 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Middle Pleistocene wolf from central Italy provides insights on the first occurrence of Canis lupus in Europe

Iurino

Mecozzi

Iannucci

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Here, we describe a partial cranium of a large canid dated at 406.5 ± 2.4 ka from the Middle Pleistocene of Ponte Galeria (Rome, Italy). The sample represents one of the few Middle Pleistocene remains of a wolf-like canid falling within the timeframe when the Canis mosbachensis–Canis lupus transition occurred, a key moment to understand the spread of the extant wolf (Canis lupus) in Europe. CT-based methods allow studying the outer and inner cranial anatomy (brain and frontal sinuses) of a selected sample of fossil and extant canids. Morphological and biometric results allowed to: (I) ascribe the cranium from Ponte Galeria to an adult Canis lupus, representing the first reliable occurrence of this taxon in Europe; (II) provide the content for a biochronological revision of the Middle Pleistocene record of European wolves.

show abstract

Palaeoenvironments of the MIS 15 site of Cava di Breccia - Casal Selce 2 (central Italian Peninsula) and niche occupation of fossil ungulates during Middle Pleistocene interglacials

Cited by 15 publications

References 61 publications

The Occurrence of Suids in the Post-Olduvai to Pre-Jaramillo Pleistocene of Europe and Implications for Late Villafranchian Biochronology and Faunal Dynamics

The Occurrence of Suids in the Post-Olduvai to Pre-Jaramillo Pleistocene of Europe and Implications for Late Villafranchian Biochronology and Faunal Dynamics

What Does the “Elephant-Equus” Event Mean Today? Reflections on Mammal Dispersal Events around the Pliocene-Pleistocene Boundary and the Flexible Ambiguity of Biochronology

A Middle Pleistocene wolf from central Italy provides insights on the first occurrence of Canis lupus in Europe

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About