A dwarf elephant and a rock mouse on Naxos (Cyclades, Greece) with a revision of the palaeozoogeography of the Cycladic Islands (Greece) during the Pleistocene

Abstract

a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oDuring the Late Pleistocene, Naxos and adjacent areas, including Delos and Paros, constituted a mega-island, here referred to as palaeo-Cyclades. The extensive low-lying plains with lakes and rivers provided a suitable habitat for elephants. Due to long-term isolation from the mainland and mainland populations, these elephants evolved miniature size. The species found on Naxos had a body size of about ten percent of that of the mainland ancestor, Palaeoloxodon antiquus. During the glacial periods of the Late Pleistocene, P. antiquus may have migrated eastwards and southwards in search of better conditions and reached the islands. The dwarf species of the various Southern Aegean islands (e.g. Crete, Tilos, Rhodos, palaeo-Cyclades) are each the result of independent colonisation events. The very small size of the Naxos species respective to the dwarf elephants from Crete is explained as due to the lack of competitors. The only other elements of the contemporaneous fauna were a rock mouse (Apodemus cf. mystacinus) and a shrew (Crocidura sp.). Submergence of the area, climate change, volcanism, hunting by humans or a combination of these factors during the terminal Pleistocene may have caused the extinction of this endemic fauna.

Brain Changes during Phyletic Dwarfing in Elephants and Hippos

“…The same name has been extensively used for the larger-sized dwarf elephant of Sicily. However, the specific status of the Sicilian material (Puntali Cave) has been questioned [Ferreti, 2008;Herridge, 2010;van der Geer et al, 2014], and probably a new species should be erected to accommodate the Sicilian material (Palaeo loxodon sp. nov. in Herridge [2010]).…”

Why are there no giants at the dwarves feet? Insular micromammals in the eastern Mediterranean

“…Paramount in these are the examples of dwarfed hippopotami, such as Hippopotamus minor, the smallest hippo that ever lived (Forsyth Major, 1902;Bate, 1906;Boekschoten and Sondaar, 1972). Other large mammals follow suit, with the world's smallest mammoth Mammuthus creticus appearing on Crete (early Pleistocene; Herridge and Lister, 2012), dwarf elephants on, e.g., Cyprus, Naxos and Tilos (Palaeoloxodon cypriotes, P. lomolinoi, P. tiliensis; late Pleistocene; Bate, 1903Bate, , 1904Bate, , 1905Theodorou et al, 2007;Sen et al, 2014;Van der Geer et al, 2014;Athanassiou et al, 2015;Mıtsopoulo et al, 2015) and a radiation of the endemic deer Candiacervus with eight species on Crete (De Vos, 1979). These islands were not connected to the mainland at any time during the geological period considered here (Marra, 2005), and were colonised by the focal taxa by sweepstake (chance) dispersal .…”

“…This population was tentatively attributed to a mainland species and classified as A. cf. mystacinus (Van der Geer et al, 2014). These authors even pointed out that the Naxos assemblage has characters that link it to the western subspecies A. m. epimelas.…”

“…These authors even pointed out that the Naxos assemblage has characters that link it to the western subspecies A. m. epimelas. Nevertheless, the Naxos murid was found together with a proboscidean that showed clear insular characteristics, the dwarfed elephant Palaeoloxodon lomolinoi ( Van der Geer et al, 2014). Therefore, we must assume isolation for the mammal faunas of Naxos.…”

Cranial evidence for the presence of a second endemic elephant species on Cyprus

“…The Mediterranean insular endemic elephants are found in Pleistocene to early Holocene cave or open-air sites on more than a dozen islands of the Central (Sardinia, Sicily, Malta) and Eastern Mediterranean (N axos, P aros, Kýthnos, S erifos, D elos, Mílos, Astyp alaea, K asos, Crete, Tílos, Rhodes, Cyprus) (Kotsakis et al, 1980;Dermitzakis and de Vos, 1987;Kotsakis, 1990;Caloi et al, 1996;Doukas and Athanassiou, 2003;Theodorou et al, 2007a;Palombo et al, 2012;Sen et al, 2014;van der Geer et al, 2014). With the exception of the Sardinian Mammuthus lamarmorai (Forsyth Major, 1883) and the Cretan Mammuthus creticus (Bate, 1907), Mediterranean insular dwarf elephants most likely derive from founding populations of the large-sized Palaeoloxodon antiquus (Falconer and Cautley, 1847).…”