Palaeoenvironment of the Late Pleistocene – Holocene interval in the Tanalyk river valley of the Southern Trans-Ural region (Russia)

Surrounded by Kindred: Spermophilus major Hybridization with Other Spermophilus Species in Space and Time

“…The lack of S. pygmaeus mtDNA introgression traces of this time could be explained by the faster sorting of mitochondrial lines compared to nuclear ones, such in the spiral-horned antelopes Tragelaphus [ 89 ]. It is known that the russet ground squirrel inhabited the Urals [ 90 ] and the east of it [ 88 ] as early as the Pleistocene. In the paleontological records of the Cis-Ural region, russet ground squirrels were found throughout the middle-late Pleistocene but disappeared in this area by the end of the Pleistocene—beginning of the Holocene [ 91 ], probably due to afforestation and/or the swamping of the steppe habitats.…”

“…Therefore, the westward expansion of S. major could not have occurred earlier than the first third of the Holocene which occurred around 6000 years ago, when a continuous latitudinal strip of steppes was formed [85]. The migration routes of S. major must have passed through the territories inhabited by S. pygmaeus, the first finds of which in the South Urals were dated around 8,500 years ago [90,92]. During the S. major invasion into the S. pygmaeus range, rare events of their hybridization could have occurred in the Southern Urals, Mugodzhar Hills, or Poduralsky Plateau, with further westward dispersal of the hybrids along with the pure S. major.…”

Quaternary interconnections in Eurasia: Focus on Eastern Europe

“…Stratigraphic and climatic signals are clearly shown by these materials. Kosintsev (2013) published a multi-method biostratigraphic description of the Tanalyk River valley in the southern transUrals. The section embraces Late Pleistocene to Holocene interval.…”