The Villafranchian carnivoran guild of Greece: implications for the fauna, biochronology and paleoecology

Abstract

Knowledge on the Villafranchian faunas of Greece was limited for a long time, but over the past 3 decades several new fossiliferous sites have been discovered and new material has been unearthed. The carnivores constitute a remarkable part of this material and their study has provided useful information for the taxonomy, chronology and palaeoecology. The Villafranchian carnivoran guild includes numerous taxa belonging to various families. Some of them are interesting as they are differentiated from the other Eurasian families. They cover the entire Villafranchian but the mass is known from the Middle to the Epi-Villafranchian (EVC). Despite the discontinuous data, they provide useful biochronological results. The coexistence of Pliocrocuta perrieri and Pachycrocuta brevirostris in the locality of Gerakarou 1 is strong evidence for the Middle Villafranchian (MVC)/Late Villafranchian (LVC) boundary. The composition of the Villafranchian carnivores suggests that the canids predominate, while the felids, hyenids and mustelids are well represented; the ursids are represented by a single taxon, the well-known Ursus etruscus, which seems to be common during the entire Villafranchian. The carnivoran guild structure and the multivariate analysis of the Greek Villafranchian carnivoran assemblages (MVC, LVC and EVC) in comparison with modern assembalges from open and closed environments indicate a relatively open landscape, which is in agreement with previous results for the Villafranchian of Greece. During the EVC there is a faunal renewal that is related to a more open and dry environment, like savannah bushland/grassland.

Crocidura (Mammalia, Soricidae) remains from the late Early Pleistocene Somssich Hill 2 locality (Villány Hills, Southern Hungary).

“…kornfeldi is fi rst reported in the European mainland at the boundary of the MN16 and MN17 zones from Tourkobounia 3 and 5 localities (Greece, Reumer & Doukas 1985, Koufos 2001. It disappeared from the continent in the Middle Pleistocene.…”

“…According to Reumer (1984), Crocidura prefers dry terrains, hence these forms are good (1985), Koufos (2001) Hungary Osztramos 3/2 cf. Jánossy & Kordos (1977), Reumer (1984), Jánossy (1986), Montuire (1995), Pazonyi (2011) Villány 3 + Reumer (1984), Jánossy (1986), Mon tuire (1995), Pazonyi (2011) Beremend 16 + Jánossy (1996) Nagyharsány-hegy 2 cf.…”

The Wolf From Dmanisi and Augmented Reality: Review, Implications, and Opportunities

“…This fossil comparative sample includes specimens of Canis arnensis Del Campana, 1913 and C. etruscus from the Italian sites of Olivola, Upper Valdarno Basin, Coste San Giacomo, and Pantalla (Cherin et al, 2014); Canis apolloniensis Koufos and Kostopoulos (1997) from Apollonia-1 (Koufos, 2018); Canis chihliensis and Canis palmidens from Yushe Basin (Rook, 1993(Rook, , 1994; remains of C. mosbachensis Soergel, 1925from Cueva Victoria, Vallparadís (Bartolini Lucenti et al, 2017, Pirro Nord (Petrucci et al, 2013), 'Ubeidiya (Martínez-Navarro et al, 2009), Untermassfeld (Sotnikova, 2001), and Zhoukoudian (Jiangzuo et al, 2018). The relevant literature on the late Villafranchian canids was inspected (Del Campana, 1913;Crusafont Pairó, 1950;Thenius, 1954;Torre, 1967Torre, , 1974Torre, , 1979Bonifay, 1971;Kurtén, 1974;Pons-Moyà and Moyà-Solà, 1978;Pons-Moyà, 1981; Koufos and Kostopoulos, 1997;Wang et al, 1999;Sotnikova, 2001;Garrido and Arribas, 2008;Lacombat et al, 2008;Tedford et al, 2009;Petrucci et al, 2013;Cherin et al, 2014;Koufos, 2014Koufos, , 2018Bartolini Lucenti and Rook, 2016;Amri et al, 2017;Mecozzi et al, 2017;Jiangzuo et al, 2018). Extant specimens housed at the AMNH, MZUF, ICP, and MG-GNM (see abbreviation below) were also used for morphological and morphometrical comparisons.…”

Paleontology and evolution‐part II

“…The paper by Koufos (2014) examines the evolutionary dynamic of the Greek Villafranchian carnivores, a group that constitutes a remarkable part of the Greek Early Pleistocene fauna and provides some valuable information on biochronology and paleoenvironmental evolution in this region. The paper by Koufos (2014) examines the evolutionary dynamic of the Greek Villafranchian carnivores, a group that constitutes a remarkable part of the Greek Early Pleistocene fauna and provides some valuable information on biochronology and paleoenvironmental evolution in this region.…”

“…The influence of climate and environmental changes on appearance, disappearance and dispersal bieovents and on the evolution of palaeocommunities can be studied at different geographic and temporal scales by analyzing either a large variety of taxa or focusing on a particular guild or lineage. The paper by Koufos (2014) examines the evolutionary dynamic of the Greek Villafranchian carnivores, a group that constitutes a remarkable part of the Greek Early Pleistocene fauna and provides some valuable information on biochronology and paleoenvironmental evolution in this region. The comparison of the structure of the Greek Villagranchian carnivoran guild, dominated by canids, with that of the modern ones inhabiting open (Serengeti) and closed (Guyana) environments suggests, for instance, that during most of the Villafranchian, open environments were already widespread in Greece, although grassland savanna and bushlands progressively extended from approximately 1.1 Ma to the end of the Early Pleistocene.…”