Quaternary eustatic fluctuations and biochronology of vertebrate-bearing deposits correlated with marine terraces in Sicily

BIOGEOGRAPHY OF TERTIARY PRIMATES: DISCUSSION OF AN UPDATED DATABASE

Bio-chronology of pleistocene vertebrate faunas of sicily and correlation of vertebrate bearing deposits with marine deposits

The rich Pleistocene fossil record of Sicily allowed the construction of a fairly detailed bio-chronological frame that is dated by correlation of vertebrate bearing deposits with marine deposits by geochemical and radiometric dating too. Actually, an important category of deposits is representative of transitional and neritic environments, frequently associated with a lagoon or swamp. Limnic deposits related to small freshwater basins also occur, often in relation to coastal and fully marine deposits. Numerous relationships have been found between the vertebrate bearing deposits and marine deposits, which can be correlated with the δ18O isotopic record and the main palaeogeographic events …

THE GARGANO TERRE ROSSE INSULAR FAUNAS: AN OVERVIEW

After forty years from its discovery, the history of the field surveys and of the researches on the fossiliferous deposits on Gargano is briefly reported. The Gargano fauna belongs to the Abruzzo-Apulian Palaeobioprovince (including also Scontrone and Palena, Abruzzo). The fossil assemblage comprehends all the classes of terrestrial vertebrates: Reptilia, Amphibia, Aves and Mammalia. The faunal composition is unbalanced and presents the features of a typical insular endemic fauna. The bulk of the assemblage is composed of small mammals and birds. Based on literature, we report the most characteristic features, phylogenetic relationships, and evolutionary remarks on a list of mammals, focusi…

Campagna di scavo 2003 alla Grotta di San Teodoro (Acquedolci - Messina): primi dati faunistici e stratigrafici

Osgillazioni eustatiche, biocronologia dei depositi continentali quaternari e neotettonica nella Sicilia nord-occidentale (penisola di San Vito lo Capo - Trapani)

Vengono presentati i risultati di uno studio interdisciplinare condotto nella Penisola di San Vito lo Capo, Sicilia nord - occidentale. In questa area i terreni quaternari sono rappresentati da depositi marini e di spiaggia distribuiti a varie quote e da depositi continentali contenenti resti di vertebrati. Questi terreni si rinvengono all'interno di solchi e grotte marine, dove sono state riconosciute anche fasce a fori di litodomi, o costituiscono corpi sedimentari che giacciono sopra superfici di abrasione marina. Le associazioni a mammiferi presenti in tali terreni appartengono al complesso faunistico a Elephas falconeri del primo Pleistocene medio, al complesso a Elephas mnaidriensis d…

Pedostratigraphic notes on the middle - late pleistocene of capo san vito peninsula (NW sicily)

The available data about Quaternary pedostratigraphic of North-Western Sicily are mainly obtained when fossil vertebrate assemblages are studied. These are often found in caves or in other morphological "traps", where the products of the erosion of soils developed outside these features are redeposited. Soils that may have originated these deposits were found on the marine terraces that are typical of the coast areas of Sicily. Two sequences, called "K22" and "Isolidda", that crop out in the North-Western side of the San Vito lo Capo peninsula -to the West of Palermo -are examined in this work. The first one is a karstic cave infilling, situated near the eastern rim of the old falaise that …

Una valutazione tassonomica quantitativa preliminare della documentazione di vertebrati del Quaternario della Sicilia.

A preliminary taxonomic evaluation of the Quaternary vertebrate fossil record of Sicily. A compilation of a dataset concerning the Quaternary vertebrates of Sicily, based on information from literature sources, is presented. A quantitative methodology for compilation and analysis of the data is described. The adopted numerical treatment of data is particularly effective in synthesizing and analyzing the large amount of information contained in the data set. The paper gives a synthetic picture of the consistence of the Sicilian fossil record during the considered time interval. The compilation fully confirms that the fossil record of Sicily is an important source of information on the divers…

Vertebrate biological events and Pleistocene biogeographic history of Sicily

Migration and extinction patterns in central Western Mediterranean islands.