Les faunes de grands mammifères de la Caune de l'Arago (Tautavel) dans le cadre biochronologique des faunes du Pléistocène moyen italien

“…Three different mammal assemblages are recognised in the mentioned site, and the rhinoceros remains come from the upper levels, being chronologically younger than or close to 0.400 Ma ( Finally, the occurrence of S. hemitoechus at the site of Caune de L'Arago, confirmed by Guérin (1980) and Lacombat (2005), is referable to approximately 0.450 Ma, MIS12 (Moigne et al 2006). In agreement with Fortelius et al (1993), the latter seems to be, at present, the most ancient record of the species in Europe.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

The skull of Stephanorhinus hemitoechus, paleobiogeography, biochronology, Middle Pleistocene, Campagna Romana, Sabatini Volcanic District

Pandolfi¹,

Gaeta²,

Petronio³

2012

Bull. Geosci.

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A fragmentary rhinoceros skull from the "Campagna Romana" was analysed. The results of morphometrical and morphological analysis identify the skull as Stephanorhinus hemitoechus. The petrography and geochemistry of the volcanoclastic sediments containing the rhinoceros skull indicate that its geographic provenance is the northern area of Rome (between the Tiber River and the southern area of the Sabatini Volcanic District). The textural and geochemical features of white pumice indicate that the volcanoclastic sediments were deposited at ca 500 ka during the MIS13. A revision of the earliest records of S. hemitoechus in Europe reveals that the skull from Campagna Romana is the earliest record of the species. The time and spatial collocation of this occurrence postdate the diffusion of S. hemitoechus in the Mediterranean Basin, most likely due to the favourable climate. Successively, the species becomes common in the rest of western and northern Europe and reached its maximal geographic extension during MIS5.•

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“…When C. tologoijensis spread for the first time into Eastern and Central Europe (during MIS 12), S. hemitoechus retreated to Western Europe and survived there (e.g. Ensemble III of Tautavel, Pyré nees-Orientales; Moigne et al, 2006). Both species co-occurred at the sites of La Fage (layer 5, MIS 10 or 8) and Weimar-Ehringsdorf (Upper Travertine I and II, MIS 7 or 5).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The earliest immigration of woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta tologoijensis, Rhinocerotidae, Mammalia) into Europe and its adaptive evolution in Palaearctic cold stage mammal faunas

Kahlke¹,

Lacombat²

2008

Quaternary Science Reviews

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a b s t r a c tThe cold adapted larger mammal faunas of Pleistocene Eurasia (the so-called Mammuthus-Coelodonta faunas) were mainly composed of autochthonous Palaearctic elements. Whereas the history of the immigration and evolution of European woolly mammoths has been exhaustively studied, comparable investigations for woolly rhinoceroses are lacking. Referring to the remains of European and Asian Coelodonta in general and the first skull to be found of a European woolly rhinoceros of early Middle Pleistocene age (from Bad Frankenhausen, Germany) in particular, the occurrence, dispersal, morphological evolution and ecological adaptation of early Coelodonta are reviewed. Coelodonta originated around 2.5 Myr BP north of the Himalayan-Tibetan uplift. The genus was restricted in its range to different types of steppe landscapes of continental Asia for more than two million years and it wasn't until MIS 12, when extended phases of low temperature and aridity prevailed in western Eurasia that woolly rhinoceroses comparable to Coelodonta tologoijensis spread westward towards Central Europe for the first time. Coelodonta entered Central and, in several cases, Western Europe during all of the subsequent Middle to Late Pleistocene cold stages. Morphological evolution, in particular, the elongation and narrowing of the head and successively its lower and more inclined posture, the shift of the orbits towards the rear of the skull, and changes in the position and morphology of the tooth row concurrently indicate progressive adaptations to an efficient grazer. During the course of their Plio-/ Pleistocene evolution, Coelodonta rhinoceroses changed strikingly from cursorial mixed feeders of central Asian origin to graviportal, highly specialised grazers, inhabiting huge belts of tundra-steppe-like environments during dry and cool to cold periods, and thus becoming the only rhinocerotid to join the Eurasian mammoth faunas. The Bad Frankenhausen Coelodonta record dates the initial formation of a pan-Eurasian Mammuthus-Coelodonta faunal complex to about 460 kyr BP.

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Les faunes de grands mammifères de la Caune de l'Arago (Tautavel) dans le cadre biochronologique des faunes du Pléistocène moyen italien

Cited by 92 publications

References 13 publications

L’homme de Tautavel. Un Homo erectus européen évolué. Homo erectus tautavelensis

L’homme de Tautavel. Un Homo erectus européen évolué. Homo erectus tautavelensis

The skull of Stephanorhinus hemitoechus, paleobiogeography, biochronology, Middle Pleistocene, Campagna Romana, Sabatini Volcanic District

The earliest immigration of woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta tologoijensis, Rhinocerotidae, Mammalia) into Europe and its adaptive evolution in Palaearctic cold stage mammal faunas

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