Search results for "Early Pleistocene"

A catalogue of the vertebrate fossil record from the Guadix-Baza Basin (SE Spain)

2020

In this paper, a catalogue of the vertebrate content of the Guadix-Baza Basin is presented. A total of 93 localities have been reviewed, providing more than 300 vertebrate species. These localities have been included in 11 biochronological units, ranging in age from the late Miocene (MN 13) to the Middle Pleistocene (MmQ 4), including also two MN 10 localities. The best-represented epoch in the Guadix-Baza Basin is the Pliocene (MN 14 to MN 16), with 41 sites. This is followed by the Early Pleistocene (MN17 and MmQ1 to MmQ3) with 30 sites. The vertebrate classes represented in the basin are Actinopterygii, Amphibia, Aves, Reptilia and Mammalia, this last one being the best represented. Amon…

The rodents of the Pirro Nord fauna (Foggia, Southern Italy)

2013

The rodent fauna of various fissure fillings of the Pirro Nord karstic complex are examined here. They have been collected during several field caingns starting from the 70’s until 2006 and are here examined in a comprehensive matter. Hundreds of specimens of arvicolids, murids and, in much lower amount, Glirids have been recovered from several of these fissures. They belong to the species Allophaiomys ex gr. ruffoi, Myodes sp. Apodemus flavicollis and Muscardinus sp.

The response of calcareous nannoplankton to sea surface variability at Ceara Rise during the early Pleistocene glacial-interglacial cycles

2019

The Ceara Rise lies just beyond the edge of the Amazon River Fan and sediments from this site may record the complex interplay of different climatic systems and processes, including past changes in southern America monsoon activity, Intertropical Convergence Zone setting, different Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) strength and phytoplankton blooming triggered by Amazon River plumes. Here we investigate early Pleistocene calcareous nannoplankton at Ceara Rise, between about 1150 and 850 kiloyears ago. Our investigation shows abrupt variations in water column dynamics across glacial/interglacial cycles or, even better, linked with different AMOC modes. Dominant placoliths in…

Phylogeography ofSyringa josikaea(Oleaceae): Early Pleistocene divergence from East Asian relatives and survival in small populations in the Carpathi…

2015

Tertiary relict plant species of Europe have had a large distribution range before the Pleistocene but today are confined to small refugial areas. Syringa josikaea of the largely East Asian genus Syringa is a shrub of temperate forests in the Carpathians, restricted to altogether 25 small populations in two disjunct areas, the Apuseni Mountains (Romania) and the Ukrainian Carpathians. Miocene and Pleistocene fossil remains indicate the long-term presence of the species in Central Europe; hence S. josikaea has been considered a Tertiary relict. We aimed at clarifying the historical biogeography of S. josikaea by estimating the divergence time between S. josikaea and its Asian relatives, and …

Coping with arid environments: A critical threshold for human expansion in Europe at the Marine Isotope Stage 12/11 transition? The case of the Iberi…

2020

Abstract Archaeological remains have highlighted the fact that the interglacial Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 11 was a threshold from the perspective of hominin evolution in Europe. After the MIS 12 glaciation, considered one of the major climate-driven crises experienced by hominins, the archaeological records show an increasing number of occupations, evidence of new subsistence behaviors, and significant technical innovations. Here, we used statistical and geographic techniques to analyze the amphibian- and reptile-based paleoclimate and habitat reconstructions generated from a large data set of the Iberian Peninsula to (1) investigate if temperature, precipitation, and/or forest cover may h…

Chronology for the Cueva Victoria fossil site (SE Spain): Evidence for Early Pleistocene Afro-Iberian dispersals

2014

Cueva Victoria has provided remains of more than 90 species of fossil vertebrates, including a hominin phalanx, and the only specimens of the African cercopithecid Theropithecus oswaldi in Europe. To constrain the age of the vertebrate remains we used paleomagnetism, vertebrate biostratigraphy and (230)Th/U dating. Normal polarity was identified in the non-fossiliferous lowest and highest stratigraphic units (red clay and capping flowstones) while reverse polarity was found in the intermediate stratigraphic unit (fossiliferous breccia). A lower polarity change occurred during the deposition of the decalcification clay, when the cave was closed and karstification was active. A second polarit…

A reappraisal of the Early to Middle Pleistocene Italian Bovidae

2013

Abstract During the Quaternary, bovids are common elements in the Italian local faunal assemblages (LFAs). Representatives of Bovini tribe are continuously present, albeit with different lineages. Caprini are sporadically recorded by several genera, and Antilopini are less represented, only during the Early Pleistocene in the middle and early late Villafranchian local faunal assemblages (LFAs). Diversity and ecological role of continental representatives of Italian Bovidae varied with LFAs as well as in faunal units (FUs) throughout the Early and Middle Pleistocene. Species richness and diversity peaked during the early late Villafranchian land mammal age (LMA) and then decreased in the pos…

The late Pleistocene origin of the Italian and Maltese populations of Potamon fluviatile (Malacostraca: Decapoda): insights from an expanded sampling…

2017

Evidence available for most inland water and terrestrial organisms highlights the significant role played by southern Italy, Sicily and the Maltese islands as refuges during Pleistocene climatic fluctuations. However, to date, the hypothesis that these areas may have acted as Pleistocene refugia for the freshwater crab Potamon fluviatile has not been explicitly tested, and a recent origin of local P. fluviatile populations was proposed on the basis of a small set of analysed molecular data. We have thus expanded the currently available data set on the population genetic structure of P. fluviatile through dedicated samplings in Sicily (Italy, 18 specimens), the Maltese Islands (Malta, 15 spe…

An outline of Italian Leptobos and a first sight on Leptobos aff. vallisarni from Pietrafitta (early Pleistocene, Perugia)

2005

Uneven Data Quality and the Earliest Occupation of Europe—the Case of Untermassfeld (Germany)

2017

AbstractThe database regarding the earliest occupation of Europe has increased significantly in quantity and quality of data points over the last two decades, mainly through the addition of new sites as a result of long-term systematic excavations and large-scale prospections of Early and early Middle Pleistocene exposures. The site distribution pattern suggests an ephemeral presence of hominins in the south of Europe from around one million years ago, with occasional short northward expansions along the western coastal areas when temperate conditions permitted. From around 600,000-700,000 years ago Acheulean artefacts appear in Europe and somewhat later hominin presence seems to pick up, w…