New insectivores (Lipotyphla, Mammalia) from the Late Miocene of the Sivas Basin, Central Anatolia

Abstract

The ages of the rich Central Anatolian Late Miocene mammal sites Hayranlý 1 and Düzyayla are only approximately known. One of the main reasons for the age uncertainties is the substantial faunal difference between Anatolia and Europe during this time slice, hampering correlations to the European MN system. Previously, a MN 10 or MN 11 age has been assigned to Hayranlý 1 (Anatolian Zone J) and a MN 12 age to Düzyayla (Zone K) based on rodents. Here we studied the fossil insectivores from these two Turkish Miocene localities. We found an almost identical faunal content of the two localities, including one erinaceid (Schizogalerix sinapensis), five soricids (Paenelimnoecus sp., Amblycoptus oligodon, Petenyia dubia, Soricinae indet. and Crocidurinae/Crocidosoricinae indet.), and two talpids (Desmanella aff. cingulata and Desmanodon larsi sp. nov.). With the only difference being the absence of Paenelimnoecus in Düzyayla, the insectivore fauna suggests that the sites are not significantly different in age. The presence of A. oligodon is indicative of MN 12 in Europe. The rest of the assemblage is in complete agreement with a Turolian (MN 11-13) age. Our results also imply that D. larsi sp. nov. represents the youngest record of Desmanodon, extending the biostratigraphical range of this genus significantly. •

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

“…These morphological features, but also the size of the examined dental elements, fit well with those reported for P. hungarica (Reumer, 1984;Rzebik-Kowalska, 1989, Marchetti et al, 2000Popov, 2003;Siori et al, 2014). The size of the teeth is larger than that of Petenyia dubia, a species reported in several Miocene and Pliocene localities of Europe (Bachmayer and Wilson, 1970;Furió et al, 2014), whereas Petenyia katrinae is only documented in the early Yushean (early Pliocene) of Eastern Asia (Qiu and Storch, 2000). If confirmed, this would be the oldest Italian record of this soricid.…”

Carnivores from the Late Miocene locality of Hayranlı (Hayranlı, Sivas, Turkey)

“…Thus, there is a significant faunal exchange from forest dwellers to ground-dwelling species, which is characterized by the increase in Myomimus finds from a number of localities during the Late Miocene, probably attributable to the vegetational shift from predominating forested wetland environments to open woodland and steppe-like environments. Furthermore, Furio et al (2014) found an almost identical faunal content of the localities from Hayranlı (58-Hay/80-82-83-84-85), including 1 erinaceid (Schizogalerix sinapensis), 5 soricids (including Paenelimnoecus sp., Amblycoptus oligodon, Petenyia dubia, Soricinae indet., and Crocidurinae/Crocidosoricinae indet. ), and 2 talpids (Desmanella aff.…”

“…The insectivore assemblage is typical for the Late Miocene. It points to an Early or Middle Turolian (MN11-12) age (Furio et al, 2014). Additionally, during this time-span, a significant number of hominoids appeared, representing Ankarapithecus meteai and Ouranopithecus turkae in Anatolia.…”

“…The other fauna members discovered at the Hayranlı locality, such as Suidae (Made et al, 2013), Gliridae (Kaya and Kaymakçı, 2013), Bovidae (Bibi and Güleç, 2008), and Lipotyphla (Furio et al, 2014) describe the existence of shrubland and savanna-like grassland geography when evaluated as a whole. The average hypsodonty value, according to the big mammal findings of herbivoreomnivores that were discovered at the Hayranlı locality, supports this finding (Kaya and Kaymakçı, 2013).…”

“…Sivas fossil Bovidae show the typical characteristics of the Greek-Iranian and Afghanistan paleobiological area and can be compared with the classical Turolian lands of Samos, Pikermi, and Maragheh (Bibi and Güleç, 2008). Microstonyx major (Made et al, 2013), Gliridae (Kaya and Kaymakçı, 2013), and Lipotyphla fossils (Furio et al, 2014) give an Early or Middle Turolian (MN11-12) age for Hayranlı. Figure 1 gives the map and position of the locality, as well as the Neogene deposits and stratigraphy of the area.…”