Ungulate dietary adaptations and palaeoecology of the Middle Pleistocene site of Fontana Ranuccio (Anagni, Central Italy)

Strani, Flavia; DeMiguel, Daniel; Bona, Fabio; Sardella, Raffaele; Biddittu, Italo; Bruni, Luciano; Castro, Adelaide De; Guadagnoli, Francesco; Bellucci, Luca

doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.01.041

Cited by 25 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 50 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The findings obtained using MicroWeaR are thus consistent with those obtained by Strani et al. () where a larger, more indicative sample of C. e. eostephanoceros studied using both LMM and dental mesowear analysis, indicated a mixed feeder diet for this species.…”

Section: Application Of the Microwear Procedures Using Real Case Studiessupporting

confidence: 90%

“…A high number of pits and scratches with a prevalence of finely textured features indicates that C. e. eostephanoceros fed on a variety of plant types (both soft and abrasive), as commonly observed in modern mixed feeders (Solounias & Semprebon, 2002). The findings obtained using MicroWeaR are thus consistent with those obtained by Strani et al (2018) where a larger, more indicative sample of C. e. eostephanoceros studied using both LMM and dental mesowear analysis, indicated a mixed feeder diet for this species.…”

Section: Case Studies Interpretationsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…We also provide MicroWeaR R code (R Development Core Team, ) along with the description of the application procedure. To illustrate the effectiveness of MicroWeaR , we further examined two case studies belonging to different taxonomic groups and different methodological procedures to obtain microwear information: a molar of the Miocene great ape Anoiapithecus brevirostris (see DeMiguel, Alba, & Moyà‐Solà, ) and a molar of the Pleistocene cervid Cervus elaphus eostephanoceros (Strani et al., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

MicroWeaR: A new R package for dental microwear analysis

Strani

Profico

Manzi

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mastication of dietary items with different mechanical properties leaves distinctive microscopic marks on the surface of tooth enamel. The inspection of such marks (dental microwear analysis) is informative about the dietary habitus in fossil as well as in modern species. Dental microwear analysis relies on the morphology, abundance, direction, and distribution of these microscopic marks. We present a new freely available software implementation, MicroWeaR, that, compared to traditional dental microwear tools, allows more rapid, observer error free, and inexpensive quantification and classification of all the microscopic marks (also including for the first time different subtypes of scars). Classification parameters and graphical rendering of the output are fully settable by the user. MicroWeaR includes functions to (a) sample the marks, (b) classify features into categories as pits or scratches and then into their respective subcategories (large pits, coarse scratches, etc.), (c) generate an output table with summary information, and (d) obtain a visual surface‐map where marks are highlighted. We provide a tutorial to reproduce the steps required to perform microwear analysis and to test tool functionalities. Then, we present two case studies to illustrate how MicroWeaR works. The first regards a Miocene great ape obtained from through environmental scanning electron microscope, and other a Pleistocene cervid acquired by a stereomicroscope.

show abstract

Section: Application Of the Microwear Procedures Using Real Case Studiessupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Case Studies Interpretationsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

MicroWeaR: A new R package for dental microwear analysis

Strani

Profico

Manzi

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In species that feed on more abrasive plant resources the higher level of tooth-to-food contact produces blunter cusps and a lower occlusal relief (Fortelius and Solounias, 2000). Traditional mesowear is limited to upper second molars (M2), but it can be extended to other tooth positions (Kaiser and Solounias, 2003;DeMiguel et al, 2010DeMiguel et al, , 2012Strani et al, 2015Strani et al, , 2018a.…”

Section: Dental Wear Patterns and Isotopes In Paleoecology Dental Mesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Importantly, both localities have yielded abundant fossil mammal material, among which equid remains are wellrepresented (Segre and Ascenzi, 1984;Bellucci et al, 2012Bellucci et al, , 2014Strani et al, 2018a). Fossil human teeth were also unearthed in FR (Rubini et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dietary Adaptations of Early and Middle Pleistocene Equids From the Anagni Basin (Frosinone, Central Italy)

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The intermontane Anagni Basin (Frosinone, central Italy) is an important region for Italian biochronology and paleoecology due to the presence of two rich fossil assemblages dated to the Early (Coste San Giacomo) and Middle Pleistocene (Fontana Ranuccio). These sites have yielded a vast collection of large fossil mammals with a well-documented presence of fossil equids in both localities (represented mostly by isolated teeth). Coste San Giacomo is dated to around 2.1 Ma, thereby having recorded the effects of the onset of the Quaternary glacial cycles, which led to a gradual trend toward colder and more arid conditions in the Northern Hemisphere. The fossil equids of this site belong to the first group of grazing stenonid equids of the genus Equus that spread to the Italian Peninsula during the so called "Elephant-Equus" event, which marked the appearance of new large mammals living in herds in open and arid environments. The site of Fontana Ranuccio is dated to around 400 ka, close to the MIS 12-11 succession (the "Mid-Brunhes event"), which marked the end of the Middle Pleistocene Transition. The fossil horses from Fontana Ranuccio represent one of the oldest caballoid (or "true horses") populations of the Italian Peninsula. The Anagni Basin, thus, provides important data to investigate paleoecological adaptations of these groups of equids in response to two critical environmental and climatic shifts of the Pleistocene. We explore their niche occupation by examining long-term dental wear patterns and tooth enamel carbon and oxygen stable isotopic composition. Both taxa appear to have exhibited a narrow dietary niche, displaying a clear abrasive (highly specialized) grass-rich diet. In particular, caballoid equids from Fontana Ranuccio show a more abrasion-dominated mesowear signature. Stenonid equids from Coste San Giacomo exploited broader and more diverse landscapes during the Early Pleistocene, whereas caballoid horses from Fontana Ranuccio appeared to have limited their dietary adaptations to a stricter grazing behavior in more closed environments.

show abstract

Mammals as Palaeoenvironmental Indicators

Louys¹,

O’Regan²

2023

Handbook of Archaeological Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ungulate dietary adaptations and palaeoecology of the Middle Pleistocene site of Fontana Ranuccio (Anagni, Central Italy)

Cited by 25 publications

References 50 publications

MicroWeaR: A new R package for dental microwear analysis

MicroWeaR: A new R package for dental microwear analysis

Dietary Adaptations of Early and Middle Pleistocene Equids From the Anagni Basin (Frosinone, Central Italy)

Mammals as Palaeoenvironmental Indicators

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About