The use of the malacofaunistic method for reconstructing the palaeoecological conditions of the late late pleistocene to holocene based on material from the Tetyukhinskaya Cave Site, Southern Far East, Russia

Abstract

Results of the study of terrestrial mollusc shells from the unconsolidated deposits of the Tetyukhinskaya Cave, Dalnegorsk, Primorsky Krai, Russia are presented. Brief species descriptions of the molluscs and their images complete the scarce information on the fossil Quaternary mollusc fauna of the region. With the help of malacological analysis, characteristic zones and malacological complexes were identified, which were used as indicators of the habitats near the cave entrance and in the adjacent territory. The data concerning the palaeoecological conditions of individual mollusc species confirm the development of broad-leaved and mixed forests, alongside open meadows with herbage vegetation in the region near the cave, towards the end of the Late Pleistocene and in the Holocene.