1,721,003 research outputs found
Meles meles from Middle Pleistocene to Early Holocene of the Italian Peninsula within the evolution of European badgers in the Quaternary of Eurasia
No full textAlthough many studies have focused on the description of fossil Meles, the taxonomic status of the European Pleistocene badger is currently uncertain. Even though the fossil record of the badger is relatively poor and represented by isolated remains, several species/ subspecies were established over time. Recently, the late Villafranchian to Aurelian badgers have been referred to Meles meles, whereas those from Middle Villafranchian were attributed to Meles thorali. Nevertheless, no general consensus was reached among scholars, especially regarding the classification of Meles dimitrius as valid species. Herein, the craniodental material from several Italian Peninsula sites chronologically referred to Middle Pleistocene to Early Holocene is presented. Morphological comparisons and statistical analysis of fossils from Eurasian Pleistocene sites are carried out. In the present work several topics are discussed, including a revision of the diagnostic features of the M. meles lineage and its evolutionary history. Furthermore, the morphological and biometric analyses allow reassessing the status of other fossil species. Following the new scenario, the earliest occurrence of the European badger is probably from the end of Epivillafranchian, consistent with the large mammal faunal turnover that occurred at 1.2 – 0.9 Ma
The Hippopotamus remains from the latest Early Pleistocene site of Cava Redicicoli (Rome, central Italy)
Full text linkThe Quaternary record of hippopotamuses is extremely abundant, yet there are still conflicting opinions about their systematics and evolution. The main diagnostic characters of fossils and extant hippopotamuses are recorded in the skulls, while the distinct morphological features between species are less evident in dental and postcranial remains. When hippopotamus skulls are not available, taxonomic identification is often chronologically-based. Herein are described for the first time the hippopotamus remains of the historical museum collections from the latest Early Pleistocene site of Cava Redicicoli, housed in the Museo Universitario di Scienze della Terra, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Sapienza Università di Roma and Istituto Italiano di Paleontologia Umana, Anagni. This material, although formally never morphologically studied, has been referred in the literature either to Hippopotamus antiquus (considering Hippopotamus major as a synonym of H. antiquus) or to Hippopotamus ex gr. antiquus. Morphological and biometric comparisons with other Pleistocene hippopotamuses permit to attribute the studied material to Hippopotamus cf. antiquus. Biometric analysis of teeth and complete postcranial bones shows that the size of fossil hippopotamuses is quite variable, with the largest dimension for the European fossils recorded from the Villafranchian and the Epivillafranchian. The rich sample from the Cava Redicicoli provides new data regarding the morphological and biometric variability of this group during the large faunal renewal that occurred during the Early-Middle Pleistocene transition
The Late Pleistocene Canis lupus (Canidae, Mammalia) from Avetrana (Apulia, Italy). Reappraisal and new insights on the European glacial wolves
No full textThe modern Wolf, Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758, has one of the largest ranges amongst carnivorans, and for this reason it shows local and regional differences for adaptation to a great variety of habitats, ranging from the arctic tundra to the Arabian desert. These differences are particularly evident as wolves follow the Bergmann's ecogeographical rule, with low latitude populations being generally smaller than those living at high latitudes. The fossil record of the modern Wolf dates back to the second half of the Middle Pleistocene. The earliest records come from the French site Lunel-Viel 1 and are ascribed to the subspecies Canis lupus lunellensis Bonifay, 1971, and from the Italian Polledrara di Cecanibbio. These Middle Pleistocene forms were generally small in size, slightly larger than the last representative of Canis mosbachensis Soergel, 1925. During the last 400 kyr, European continental environments were profoundly affected by the glacial/interglacial cycles and much evidence suggests a trend toward a size increase for C. lupus. In particular, a number of these European large-sized wolves seem to be typical of cold phases, for example, Canis lupus maximus Boudadi-Maligne, 2012 from the OIS 3-2. The aim of the present study was to describe the morphological and morphometric variability of C. lupus from Avetrana bed 8 in comparison to other populations from northern and southern Italy, as well as from other localities in Europe, to obtain a better understanding of the biochronology, palaeobiogeography and evolution of this large carnivore in the last 125 kyr. The morphological and morphometric analyses pointed out the difference of C. lupus of Avetrana compared to the "Apulian" and to the Northern Italian wolves but also identified a marked affinity with the C. lupus of the glacial site Cardamone (Apulia), referred to OIS 2. This similarity support the idea of the dispersal of large morphotypes ("glacial" wolves) during cold phases
Beware of the “Wolf event”. Remarks on large mammal dispersals in Europe and the Late Villafranchian faunal turnover
Full text linkThe “Wolf event” is a prominent concept in large mammal biochronology of western Europe. It was defined in the 1980s as an intercontinental “dispersal event”, best represented by the arrival of a “primitive wolf”, Canis etruscus, but also involving other species. The Wolf event denoted the late Villafranchian faunal turnover, first expressed in Italy in the Olivola Faunal Unit. This event was also considered approximately coincident with the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary adopted prior to 2009 (~1.8 Ma, Gelasian-Calabrian transition), hence indicating important environmental changes and representing a relevant tool for correlation. Whilst it became soon clear that sporadic finds of modern canids (and, to some extent, other species) pre-dated the age assumed for the Wolf event, several authors continued to use the term and to associate it to the late Villafranchian, referring to the “massive expansion” of the species involved, rather than their first appearance in the European fossil record. Several bioevents traditionally included in the Wolf event and others that have been considered to occur later are today already documented in middle Villafranchian faunas. The “Pachycrocuta brevirostris event”, proposed as a replacement term for the Wolf event, based on current evidence would be characterized by the arrival in Europe of the giant hyena P. brevirostris and Panthera gombaszoegensis, and the increase in the documentation of other species traditionally included in the Wolf event. However, this does not correspond to a sharp faunal turnover as traditionally envisioned for the Wolf event and it is possibly heralded in faunas slightly older than Olivola at ~2.0 Ma. In other terms, available evidence highlights the rather diachronic nature of large mammal dispersal occurred in the late middle and early late Villafranchian (late Gelasian, ~2.2–1.8 Ma), pushing to critically evaluate the biochronological, paleoecological, and paleobiogeographical significance of each bioevent. For instance, the arrival of Hippopotamus in Europe is now attested since ~2.2 Ma, documenting an African dispersal of a species linked to humid conditions in a context that is generally deemed to denote the spread of open-adapted faunal elements of mainly Asian affinitie
Late Early to late Middle Pleistocene medium-sized deer from the Italian Peninsula. Implications for taxonomy and biochronology
Full text linkThe taxonomy of Quaternary medium-sized deer from Europe rests mainly on antler morphology, while adequate dental and postcranial diagnostic features are lacking. When complete antlers are not available, the taxonomic identifications are often attempted on chronological ground. A considerable number of mostly unpublished craniodental and postcranial remains of fallow deer from selected Italian sites from the late Early Pleistocene to the late Middle Pleistocene is here presented and discussed. The aim of this work is to test the validity of the diagnostic characters proposed in literature and to explore the variability of the fallow deer taxa. In addition, the analysis of the two reference samples from Riano and Ponte Molle allows to refine the features of Dama clactoniana. Finally, biometric comparison has been performed in order to investigate possible oscillations across time and/or differences among taxa
An overview of the Middle Pleistocene in the North Mediterranean region
Full text linkThe Middle Pleistocene was a crucial stage for the evolution of European mammals, a time when the majority of the modern taxa appeared in the continent for the first time. It is also in this interval that periodicity and intensity of glacial-interglacial cycles changed, an event that strongly impacted on Mediterranean marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and on vertebrate commu-nities. This area can thus be considered an important laboratory to investigate how major climatic events influenced mammals’ communities (among which also hominin populations) and the habitats they occupied. The state of art of the Middle Pleistocene palaeontological, archaeological and palaeoanthropological record of north Mediterranean region, and of the Italian Peninsula in particular, is here discusse
Equids from the late Middle Pleistocene to Early Holocene of the Apulia Peninsula (southern Italy). Reassessment of their taxonomy and biochronology
No full textThe Apulian Peninsula represents a key-region for the study of climatic changes and paleoenvironmental dynamics during the Quaternary. Both large and small-sized horses are well documented in this region during the Pleistocene and are frequently found associated. The caballoid horses from Middle to Late Pleistocene of Europe show a large intraspecific ecomorphological variation, emphasizing a strong link between skeletal adaptations and specific aspects of the palaeoenvironment. This large variability led to an extended debate concerning the taxonomy of equids and their evolutionary history. In the Italian Peninsula, fossils from the Middle to the Late Pleistocene have been historically referred to several species (or even subspecies), emphasizing the uncertainty of the taxonomic attribution. Here, a large craniodental sample of Equidae fossils from late Middle Pleistocene to the Early Holocene localities of the Apulia Peninsula are described for the first time. The comparison of the protocone index allowed us to determine the first occurrences of Equus mosbachensis von Reichenau, 1903 in the Apulian Peninsula, from a few localities chronologically referred to late Middle Pleistocene. Most of the material from the late Middle to the end of the Late Pleistocene is instead attributed to Equus ferus Boddaert, 1785. The results of this work thus add novel information on the biochronology of Italian fossil equids and their evolutionary history through the Middle and Late Pleistocene
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
- …
