New finds from San Teodoro Cave: an updating of the Middle Pleistocene fossil record from Acquedolci (north-eastern Sicily)
| Autor: | Gabriella Mangano, Laura Bonfiglio, Gianni Insacco, Paul Mazza |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
010506 paleontology
Global and Planetary Change geography.geographical_feature_category Fossil Record Ecology Pleistocene biology Palaeoloxodon Biodiversity Paleontology Geology 010502 geochemistry & geophysics biology.organism_classification 01 natural sciences Archaeology language.human_language Geography Hippopotamus pentlandi Insular endemism Mammalia Palaeobiogeography Cave language Ursus Sicilian Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics 0105 earth and related environmental sciences |
| Zdroj: | Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments. 100:1065-1076 |
| ISSN: | 1867-1608 1867-1594 |
| Popis: | Excavations conducted in 2006 inside San Teodoro Cave (north-eastern Sicily) retrieved remains of Hippopotamus pentlandi; of a medium-sized, dwarf Palaeoloxodon; and of Ursus cf. arctos. The specimens were found under a blackish phosphatic crust, dated to about 120 ky. This stratigraphic position sets an important constraint on the arrival time of the ancestors of both H. pentlandi and Palaeoloxodon elephants in Sicily. The elephant has a size compatible with that of a female individual of the Puntali Cave representatives. By providing insights into its dimorphism, the finds contribute important new information on this still undescribed Sicilian dwarf elephant species. More in general, the San Teodoro elephant adds clues to the possible timing of the arrival of palaeoloxodon proboscideans in Sicily in the course of the second half of the Pleistocene. On the other hand, the presence of Hippopotamus pentlandi confirms that the species survived at least to the late Middle Pleistocene. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|
Full text from SpringerLink