Late Pleistocene and Holocene small mammal (Lipotyphla, Rodentia, Lagomorpha) remains from Medvezhyi Klyk Cave in the Southern Russian Far East

Abstract

Late Pleistocene-Holocene faunal complexes of small mammals (Lipotyphla, Rodentia, and Lagomorpha) from the Russian Far East are described for the first time. We used material from the Medvezhyi Klyk Cave, located in Southern Sikhote-Alin. The numerous fossil findings from the cave display a remarkable taxonomic diversity and high degree of preservation. AMS 14C dating used for determination of deposits age. The Holocene sediments were divided into three periods: Early, Middle, and Late. The Pleistocene deposits age was not exactly determined, but under approximately estimation it can reach 50–60 ka. Thirty-nine species were found, including one member of the extinct genus of arvicolins. There are six faunal complexes identified from the studied Late Pleistocene and Holocene deposits. In general, the faunal complexes characterized by the dominance of Craseomys rufocanus within rodents, Sorex caecutiens within lipotyphlans; and relatively stability composition of most number of the dominant, codominant and subdominant species. Accordingly, the faunal complexes were described by means of two determining criteria only: relative number of species; and presence or absence of certain species. The dominant species are eurytopic and so they cannot use for reconstruction of the paleoenvironment.

Late Quaternary shrews (Soricomorpha: Soricidae) from Priamurye (Russian Far East) according to data from Koridornaya Cave: species diversity and stratigraphical aspects

“…Above 0.6 m, in layers 2 and 1, the remains of this species are absent. In the southern Sikhote-Alin, it had lived until the Middle Holocene (Omelko et al, 2020).…”

“…It has become known that in the Late Pleistocene, the territory of modern Primorsky Krai was inhabited by Urocitellus undulates (Pallas, 1778) (Tiunov et al, 2022), Lemmus amurensis Vinogradov, 1924 , Rhinolophus nippon Temminck, 1835, Myotis rufoniger Tomes, 1858, and Eptesicus pachyomus Tomes, 1857 (Tiunov, 2022). Myospalax psilurus (Milne-Edwards, 1874) was substantially more widespread (Tiunov & Vinokurova, 2016), as were voles of the genus Alexandromys Ognev, 1914 (Voyta et al, 2019), Myopus schisticolor Miller, 1910 (Omelko et al, 2020), Tscherskia triton (de Winton, 1899), Cricetulus barabensis (Pallas, 1773) (Omelko et al, 2020;Alekseeva, 1986), and Ochotona hyperborea (Pallas, 1811) (Tiunov, 2022).…”

“…It has been established that the species pro le of shrews during the second half of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene in the Southern Sikhote-Alin did not change much; 12 species have been found, and three of them -Sorex roboratus Hollister, 1913, S. daphaenodon Thomas, 1907, and S. tundrensis Merriam, 1900 -had been more widespread up until the Middle Holocene than they are at present (Nesterenko et al, 2002;Omelko et al, 2020). During periods of climate cooling, some heat-loving species disappeared from this territory and later repopulated it (Omelko et al, 2020). Koridornaya Cave is the rst Late Quaternary zoogenic site of mammalian remains in Priamurye.…”

Ancient DNA of the Don-Hares Assumes the Existence of Two Distinct Mitochondrial Clades in Northeast Asia

“…To date, the evolution of the late Pleistocene megafauna species has been described in depth, while the population structure and demographic history of lagomorphs are poorly understood. Moreover, the systematic status of almost all small mammals of the Late Pleistocene on the territory of Russia is almost unexplored [ 1 , 2 , 3 ].…”

Late Pleistocene and Holocene remains of carnivorous mammals (Carnivora) from the Bliznets Cave in southern part of the Russian Far East

“…Выше по разрезу видовой состав хищных млекопитающих уже не отличается от современного; природные условия были, очевидно, близки к нынешним. Мелкие млекопитающие (насекомоядные и грызуны), судя по находкам в пещере Медвежий Клык в Приморском крае, в раннем голоцене еще сохраняли сходство с плейстоценовой ассоциацией видов (одинаково представлены северные и южные виды), но в среднем и позднем голоцене наблюдается уже преобладание южных видов над северными (Omelko et al 2020).…”