Taxonomic and palaeoecological review of the Soricidae (Mammalia) fauna from the late Early Pleistocene Somssich Hill 2 locality (Villány Hills, Southern Hungary)

Abstract

Th e present paper is the concluding part of the series describing the Soricidae fauna of the late Early Pleistocene Somssich Hill 2 locality, Southern Hungary. Th e assemblage includes 9 shrew forms: 3 Sorex, 2 Crocidura, 2 Beremendia, 1 Asoriculus, and 1 Neomys species. Th e taxonomic results of the study are summarized, and some new ecological conclusions drawn from the layer-bylayer overview of the specifi c composition of the fauna are presented here. Th e forms of cold grassy vegetation dominate in most of the strata, but the indicators of warm grasslands also appear in some layers. Th e appearance of forest species in most layers correlates with the presence of aquatic shrews. Th e ratio of cold and warm-indicating species varies in the layers, but dominance of cold indicators decreases in the second half of the succession, while the number of forest and warm indicators increases. With 2 fi gures and 2 tables.

Stratigraphic and Paleoecological Significance of the Early/Middle Pleistocene Vertebrate Fauna of the Süttő 21 Site

“…In the case of small mammals, the ecological requirements of the species were based on recent analogies [37,38], our previous research [6,39], and the results of similar paleoecological studies [40]. We classified taxa into four categories: open habitat indicator taxa, forest-shrub indicator taxa, mesophilous taxa, and taxa with unknown ecological preferences or opportunistic species (Table 4).…”