Faunal changes and palaeobiodiversity of Italian vertebrate assemblages during the last glacial cycles.

Phylogeny and biogeography of fossil and extant Microtus (Terricola) (Mammalia, Rodentia) of Sicily and the southern Italian peninsula based on current dentalmorphological data

Abstract The fossil record of the Savi vole, Microtus ( Terricola ) savii , is analyzed in terms of morphological and morphometrical variability of the first lower molar, in order to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships between insular and mainland populations and the dispersal events. The present work gives a contribution to better understand the phylogenetic history of this taxon in Sicily and Southern Italy during the interval Middle Pleistocene – Holocene, in an attempt to reconstruct the relationships between insular and continental voles and to clarify some paleobiogeographical aspects. The morphometrical data have been acquired by traditional measurements of the first lower molar a…

La documentazione a micromammiferi in Sicilia.

An evaluation of the micromammal faunal composition from travertines and other Pleistocene continental fossil sites

The Late Pleistocene deposits with vertebrates and molluscs at San Teodoro Cave (North-Eastern Sicily): preliminary data on faunal diversification and chronology.

Fossils in Island have still many stories to be told

The use of insular vertebrates in palaeogeographic reconstructions.

Il popolamento umano della Sicilia: una revisione interdisciplinare

Riassunto — La questione del popolamento umano pleistocenico della Sicilia e delle coste del Mediterraneo occidentale implica la ricostruzione delle rotte migratorie seguite dall’uomo e dalle faune e delle complesse dinamiche geologiche del bacino del Mediterraneo centrale. Anche se la più accreditata via di migrazione comune di faune e uomo è quella settentrionale, che prevede il superamento dell’area dello stretto di Messina, diversi autori, sulla base di dati archeologici, hanno ipotizzato un popolamento precoce ed una direttrice meridionale, dall’Africa, attraverso momenti di percorribilità del Canale di Sicilia. Questa ipotesi è stata più volte esplorata per poi essere accantonata, anc…

Pleistocene land vertebrates of Sicily.

I gliridi endemici del Pleistocene Medio della Sicilia

Biogeography of Tertiary Primates: Discussion over an updated Data Base

A preliminary taxonomic evaluation of the Tertiary Primate fossil record of the Old World is presented. The dataset has been compiled using the information and the structure presented by the NOW database (Neogene Mammalian of the Old World; Academy of Finland, 2007), strongly updated with the additional information derived from different literature sources. A quantitative methodology for compilation and analysis of the data has been applied following the methodology described in Petruso et al. (2008). The adopted numerical treatment of data is particularly effective in synthesizing and analyzing the large amount of information contained in the data set. This analysis gives a synthetic pictu…

Le faune a mammiferi della Sicilia tra il Tardoglaciale e l’Olocene

A check-list of Sicilian terrestrial mammals from Late Glacial to the Holocene has been compiled and a quantitative methodology of data analysis to calculate their occurrence and extinction rates has been adopted, in order to synthesize the temporal turnover of mammal species occurred during the last 17,5 ky. In such interval Sicily, probably passed from a fully connection (via a temporary land bridge generated by eustatic change of sea level) with Southern Calabria to the present isolation phase. To better focus the faunal turnover, this temporal interval has been subdivided into three phases: Late Glacial, ancient and recent Holocene. 28 Mammal taxa were recorded: 17 in the Late Glacial, …

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

Morphometric variability of Holocene-Late Pleistocene Savi vole (Microtus (Terricola) ex gr. savii (Mammalia, Rodentia) from Sicily

The Mammalian successions of Sicily and Sardinia: a tentative of correlation with the biochronological frame of the Italian peninsula

Ambiente e clima della Sicilia durante gli ultimi 20 mila anni

Environment and Climate in Sicily over the last 20, 000 years. (IT ISSN 0394-3356, 2010). A series of recent studies shed light on the central Mediterranean, and Sicily, climate and environment, starting from the last glacial maximum (about 20 ka cal BP). In the present paper, we examine most of these works, in order to unravel environmental changes of the past, mainly in terms of temperature, atmospheric pattern, precipitation, vegetation and faunal associations. The climate of the last glacial maximum was characterised by very low temperature and by repeated northerlies penetration, even during summer. Low precipitation values led to a steppe- or semisteppe-like vegetation pattern, domina…

Le Faune a Mammiferi della Sicilia tra il Tardoglaciale e l'Olocene

Excavation of 2003 at the S. Teodoro Cave (North Eastern Sicily, Italy): Preliminary Faunistic and Stratigraphic data

The Grotta Grande of Scario (Salerno, Italy): a spot on the archaeology and the environment durino the last interglacial (OIS 5) of the Mediterranean Region.

New data on Pleistocene endemic Sicilian - Maltese dormice (Gliridae, Mammalia).

The Grotta Grande of Scario (Salerno, Italy): Archaeology and environment during the last interglacial (MIS 5) of the Mediterranean region

Abstract Archeological and paleo-environmental researches carried on the Grotta Grande site illustrate the importance of a multidisciplinary approach among archeologists, palynologists and paleontologists. The archaeology, fauna, pollen and micro-charcoal recovered in two short sedimentary successions (trenches A, F) located close to the entrance of the cave are discussed. The cave opens directly on the Tyrrhenian Sea, 2 km from Scario (Salerno, Campania, Southern Italy). The morphology of the cave and sedimentary processes were controlled by eustatic fluctuations during the late Middle Pleistocene and the early Late Pleistocene. The sea repeatedly occupied the cave. The cave was frequented…

Origin and Diet of the Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers on the Mediterranean Island of Favignana (Ègadi Islands, Sicily)

Hunter-gatherers living in Europe during the transition from the late Pleistocene to the Holocene intensified food acquisition by broadening the range of resources exploited to include marine taxa. However, little is known on the nature of this dietary change in the Mediterranean Basin. A key area to investigate this issue is the archipelago of the Ègadi Islands, most of which were connected to Sicily until the early Holocene. The site of Grotta d'Oriente, on the present-day island of Favignana, was occupied by hunter-gatherers when Postglacial environmental changes were taking place (14,000-7,500 cal BP). Here we present the results of AMS radiocarbon dating, palaeogenetic and isotopic ana…

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

La Terricola (Mammalia, Rodentia) fossile della Sicilia: tassonomia e biogeografia

New data on the morphological variation of extant and fossil European populations of Arvicola (Mammalia, Rodentia)

The effects of Middle – Late Pleistocene climatic change on mammalian diversity in the islands of Sicily and Sardinia

Gli inumati di Cozzo Sorbo. Nota Paleobiologica

Pylogenetic history and biogeographic aspects of fossil and extant Terricola (Mammalia, Rodentia) of Southern Italy: a case study

La Sicilia

Une base de donnée sur les primates du Miocene

La recherche porte l’attention sur la question complexe liée à la cohérence des évaluations quantitatives de l'ancien record des fossiles des primates du Miocène. L'ensemble des données ici présentés a été rempli avec les informations et le format de la base de données propre à NOW (Néogène mammifères de l'Ancien Monde), ainsi que avec les informations supplémentaires auprès de sources diverses. La compilation et l'analyse des données a été conduite avec une méthode quantitative. Le traitement numérique des données adoptées a été particulièrement efficace dans la synthèse et l'analyse de la grande quantité d'informations contenues dans la base de données. Cette recherche montre une image sy…

Isole e Clima nel Quaternario: I mammiferi fossili della Sicilia e della Sardegna.

Grotta Grande di Scario (Salerno, Italia): variazioni ambientali e archeologia durante l’ultimo interglaciale (MIS 5)

A review of Sandelzhausen’s Gliridae (Mammalia, Rodentia).

OLD WORLD NEOGENE PRIMATES: DISCUSSION OVER AN UPDATED DATABASE

Capo San Vito Peninsula (Stops 4.1 – 4.4).

Morphometric variability of Holocene- Late Pleistocene Savi vole (Microtus (Terricola) ex gr. savii (Mammalia, Rodentia) from Sicily

Osservazioni preliminari sulla tassonomia e la biogeografia di Microtus (Terricola) (Mammalia, Rodentia) fossile della Sicilia

Biogeographia vol. )O(X - 2011 (Pubblicato il 23 dicembre 2011) La Biogeografia del/a Sicilia Osservazioni preliminari sulla tassonomia e la biogeografia di Micmtus (Terricola) (Mammalia, Rodentia) fossile della Sicilia ELISA LOCATELLP‘, FEDERICO MASINl**, DARIA PETRUSO**, BENEDETTO SALA*, GIOVANNI SURDI** * Dzpartimento di Biologzkz ed E2/oluzione, Univerritd degli Studi, 6.50 Ercole I d’Este 32, 44100 Fermm (Italy); e—mzzz'[: eZim.[ocate[[z'@unzfi. it; benedettoyzla @umfe. it *q‘ Dzpzzrtimento di Scienze dellzz Yerm e delMare, Universitzi degli Studi, z1z'czArc/Jimfi 22, 90123 Palermo (Italy) e—mai[: federico. masini @unz]m. it; dzzrizz._petru5o @um;mz. it; gz'0wmnz'.:um&#…

HUMAN PEOPLING OF SICILY DURING QUATERNARY

ABSTRACT The early human peopling of Sicily and Western Mediterranean shores is one of the debated topic in the archaeological and anthropological literature over the twentieth century. This discussion involves not only the specific issue of the peopling of the continental island, but fundamentally the reconstruction of human migration routes and dispersals across the Mediterranean area during Early and Middle Pleistocene. Even if the common route of faunal and human movement is considered from North, and relative to the Messina strait crossing, several authors, on the base of archaeological evidences, hypothesized an early peopling and an African provenance through the Sicilian Channel. Th…

Nuovi dati sulla Grotta Grande di Scario (Salerno, Italia): L’associazione a micromammiferi Pre-Eemiana del settore C

Late Pleistocene vertebrate - bearing deposits at San Teodoro Cave (North-Eastern Sicily): Preliminary data on faunal diversification and chronology

Abstract This paper deals with the chronology and the possible correlations among levels of different excavated areas in the Pleistocene vertebrate-bearing deposits at the large San Teodoro Cave (North-Eastern Sicily). Two trenches have been excavated along the eastern side of the cave, located at a distance from the entrance, respectively, of 8 m ( α trench) and 28 m ( β trench) and at different depths. Lithological features, biometrical data from small mammals and ecological data from molluscs point to similar environmental conditions for the α trench deposits and those located along the eastern wall of the cave in the eastern part of the β trench. The same evidence, and the taphonomic fe…

S. Teodoro cave Stop 2.3.

Origination and extinction patterns of mammals in three central Western Mediterranean islands from the Late Miocene to Quaternary

Abstract An overview of the population histories of three insular realms (Gargano palaeo-archipelago, Sardinia–Maritime Tuscany palaeo-bioprovince and the Sicilian insular complex) during the Late Miocene and Quaternary are here presented. The complexity of biodiversity changes in the islands is analysed to propose an interpretation of origination and extinction patterns. The study highlighted several important aspects of insular faunas. Evolutionary radiations were found to contribute significantly only to the Gargano faunal diversity, likely because the area was an archipelago at the time. Another interesting result is that large and small mammals do not disperse and become extinct all at…

Sicilian Palaentological geosites: Knowledege, protection and exploitation of the palaentological heritage

Pleistocene Calabrian and Sicilian bioprovinces

During the Pleistocene, southern Calabria was the area through which several mammalian taxa dispersed into the Sicilian island via the Straits of Messina. The rich fossil record of Sicily allowed for the construction of a fairly detailed bio-chronological frame that is dated by correlation of vertebrate bearing deposits with marine deposits. At present five Faunal Complexes (F.C.), characterised by the occurrence of different taxa, have been recognised. The two older Faunal Complexes (Monte Pellegrino F.C.'xes Elephas falconeri F.C.) include taxa with differently marked endemic features denoting the occurrence of an insular system made up of geographically isolated small islands, with very …