New insular taxa from the oldest Terre Rosse fissure filling (Gargano, Southeastern Italy).

A rich amount of fossil remains of a highly diversified vertebrate fauna, known as “Mikrotia fauna”, has been retrieved from the red soil deposits (Terre Rosse) which fill the extensive palaeokarst network that affects the Mesozoic limestone along the north-western slopes of Mount Gargano (Southern Italy). The faunal assemblages reveal a rather complex history of bioevents such as dispersals and extinctions, which occurred when the area was isolated. These reconstructions were based on the materials collected during the seventies and the eighties of the last century. Forty years after its discovery, the Gargano Terre Rosse finally yielded evidence of an older faunal settlement. The peculiar…

Le Faune insulari delle “terre rosse” del Gargano: una panoramica

Phylogenetic relationships of genus Stertomys (Gliridae) from the “Terre Rosse” fissure filling (Gargano, Apulia)

Stertomys is an endemic genus of Gliridae commonly found in the Late Miocene “Terre Rosse” fissure fillings from Gargano (southern Italy). The taxonomy of this genus have been recently reconsidered and, up to date, five new species have been described beside the giant Stertomys laticrestatus Daams & Freudenthal 1985. The species have different biochronological range and may be assigned to two groups according to their size and complexity of the dental pattern. The smaller and morphologically simpler group includes Stertomys simplex Martín-Suárez & Freudenthal 2007, Stertomys daamsi Freudenthal & Martín-Suárez 2006 (occurring in the older fissures) and Stertomys degiulii Rinaldi & Masini 200…

A new small mammal assemblage from the Pirro 12 “Terre Rosse” fissure filling (Gargano, Southeastern Italy).

The Pirro 12 fissure filling has been discovered and sampled by a team of the University of Torino during the 2005 field survey in the Dell’Erba Quarry (Apricena, Foggia). The occurrence of a very small Deinogalerix and of a very simple Mikrotia supported, at a first glance, the very old position of Pirro 12 in the biochronological succession of endemic faunal settlements of Gargano (Villier, 2011). In this communication the preliminary result of taxonomic studies of the small mammal assemblage of the Pirro 12 filling is presented. The Gliridae is by far the most common family in this site. Two species of the endemic genus Stertomys have been identified: the small-sized Stertomys cf simplex…

How, when and where from of the Abruzzo-Apulian palaeofauna.