Late MioceneMauremys(Testudines, Geoemydidae) from Tuscany (Italy): Evidence of terrapin persistence after a mammal turnover

Abstract

ABSTRACT-The occurrence of freshwater turtle remains in the late Miocene lignites of southern Tuscany (Montebamboli and Casteani, Italy) has been known since the nineteenth century. Three chelonian species were recognized by Ristori in 1891: Emys depressa, E. campanii, and E. parva. Revision of their type material, together with the study of new fossils from a different but correlated locality, Pian Calcinaio (Scansano), allows one to state that they can be referred to the genus Mauremys and that they belong to one single species. The new combination M. campanii (Ristori, 1891) is here proposed. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that M. campanii is closely related to the modern post-Miocene group of Mauremys species and shows a sister-group relationship with the Plio-Pleistocene M. gaudryi. The remains of M. campanii come from an insular setting which progressively lost its endemic mammal fauna, defined as the Oreopithecus Zone Fauna, enabling us to compare the pattern of survival of the chelonians with that of the mammals. In contrast to the radical turnover suffered by mammals, softshell turtles (Trionyx sp.) and terrapins (M. campanii) are present both in the pre-Messinian V1-V2 and Messinian V3 assemblages. Terrestrial tortoises (Testudo amiatae Pantanelli, 1893, Testudo s.l.) show a different pattern, because they appear only in the V3 assemblage, possibly because they apparently dispersed into Italy as recently as the Messinian. M. campanii represents the southernmost evidence of the genus Mauremys in the uppermost Miocene of Europe, filling a gap in the palaeogeographic and chronological distribution of this genus.

The chelonians from the Latest Miocene–Earliest Pliocene localities of Allatini and Pylea (East Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece)

“…from San Giovanni di Sinis, Italy (Chesi et al, 2007), the Allatini turtle shows a deeper and narrower anal notch. Compared to the Late Miocene Mauremys campanii (new combination in Chesi et al, 2009), the Allatini specimen has a more posteriorly located humero-pectoral sulcus. Among the measurements and ratios used by Chesi et al (2009), only ratio of the length of the humerals to that of the entoplastron can be confidently assessed in the Allatini specimen (HuL/Ent = 8.38 mm/21.42 mm = 0.391).…”

“…Compared to the Late Miocene Mauremys campanii (new combination in Chesi et al, 2009), the Allatini specimen has a more posteriorly located humero-pectoral sulcus. Among the measurements and ratios used by Chesi et al (2009), only ratio of the length of the humerals to that of the entoplastron can be confidently assessed in the Allatini specimen (HuL/Ent = 8.38 mm/21.42 mm = 0.391). The calculated value of 0.391 is similar to those previously obtained for M. campanii (0.132 < x < 0.5), M. gaudryi (0.352) and M. sarmatica (0.164 < x < 0.586), but significantly lower than the value for M. portisii (0.613) (from Chesi et al, 2009).…”

Late Messinian mollusks and vertebrates from Moncucco Torinese, north-western Italy. Paleoecological and paleoclimatological implications

“…cannot be reliably identified (Colombero et al, 2014a). Mauremys was relatively common in Italy from at least the late Miocene to the end of the Pleistocene (Delfino and Bailon, 2000;Chesi et al, 2007Chesi et al, , 2009Chesi, 2009) when it became extinct along with other thermophilous taxa. Based on the available evidence the Mauremys material from MCC cannot be reliably related to Mauremys portisi from the Pliocene of Valleandona (Sacco, 1889).…”

A new species of the genus <i>Ocadia</i> (Testudines: Geoemydidae) from the middle Miocene of Tanegashima Island, southwestern Japan and its paleogeographic implications

“…In addition, MTE1 has four informative character states for genus level taxonomy (Table 1): (1) second and third vertebrals nearly rectangular, as long as wide (modified from Hirayama et al 2007), (2) absence of serration on the posterior margin of the carapace (e.g., Ernst and Barbour 1989;Yasukawa et al 2001), (3) medial length of the gular shorter than the interhumeral sulcus , and (4) the plastral buttresses moderately developed, extending to half way of the costals . Of these, the character (3) and (4) are known as diagnostic characters for the genus Ocadia ), but variably seen in several comparative taxa ( (2) is informative for discriminating Ocadia from several species of Mauremys as well as a few Palaeochelys (P. laurenti), and Siebenrockiella (Sacco 1889;Ernst and Barbour 1989;Claude et al 2007;Chesi et al 2009). Among the comparative genera, all of these four character states seen in MTE1 are exclusively shared with the genus Ocadia ( Table 1).…”