Madelaine Böhme

University of Tuebingen | EKU Tübingen · Department of Geosciences

Dental remains of a medium sized beaver from the early Late Miocene Hammerschmiede locality (MN 7/8) in the Northern Alpine Foreland Basin (Southern Germany, Bavaria) are described and assigned to Steneofiber depereti. The numerous material (160 teeth) was collected in the two fossiliferous layers HAM 5 and HAM 4 and comprises beaver individuals...

The important vertebrate site Schönweg-"Brüchl" (SW St. Andrä im Lavanttal, Miocene, Lower Badenian, ~ 16 million years) yields a relatively diverse carnivore fauna with five species. While the dog bear Amphicyon cf. major and the marten-like Trocharion aff. albanense are already known in Austria, the viverride Forsythictis cf. aurelianensis, the s...

Diplocynodon levantinicum Huene & Nikoloff, 1963 was described based on few bone fragments from the West-Maritsa lignite basin of Central Bulgaria. Huene & Nikoloff, 1963 assumed a late Pliocene age, implying that this species represents the stratigraphically youngest crocodilian of Europe. In this current study, we re-evaluate the stratigraphy of...

Newsletter Uni Tübingen aktuelle Nr. 4/2022: Leute (2 pages), https://uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet/aktuelles-und-publikationen/newsletter-uni-tuebingen-aktuell/2022/4/leute/7/

The Middle Miocene (15.99–11.65 Ma) of Europe witnessed major climatic, environmental, and vegetational change, yet we are lacking detailed reconstructions of Middle Miocene temperature and precipitation patterns over Europe. Here, we use a high-resolution (∼0.75°) isotope-enabled general circulation model (ECHAM5-wiso) with time-specific boundary...

Supplemental Data 1 Detailed Descriptions

The Middle Miocene (15.99–11.65 Ma) of Europe witnessed major climatic, environmental, and vegetational change, yet we are lacking detailed reconstructions of Middle Miocene temperature and precipitation patterns over Europe. Here, we use a high‐resolution (∼0.75°) isotope‐enabled general circulation model (ECHAM5‐wiso) with time‐specific boundary...

Knowledge of the Palaeogene avifauna of East Asia is scarce, and only a few fossils have been described thus far. A tarsometatarsus from the upper Eocene Na Duong Basin represents the first Palaeogene fossil bird from Vietnam. The fossiliferous sediments in the Na Duong Basin originated from an aquatic ecosystem but also yielded terrestrial animal...

The present study deals with new material of carnivorans (Mustelidae, Mephitidae, Ailuridae, Potamotheriinae and Viverridae) from the basal Tortonian (Late Miocene, late Astaracian) hominid-bearing locality of Hammerschmiede (Bavaria, Germany). The small carnivoran fauna includes 20 species belonging to nine different subfamilies (Guloninae, Lutrin...

Herein the fossil assemblage of the Middle Miocene (12.06 Ma) locality of Markt Retten-bach (Southern Germany) is studied. The fossil-bearing sediments of the clay pit have been known for almost a century, but until now only little is known about its fauna. A small sample of fossils collected in the 1940s is housed in the collections of the Kempten...

Elasmotheres, such as the huge Siberian unicorn (Elasmotherium sibiricum), are amongst the most iconic large mammals ever to roam Eurasia. Several different elasmotheriine taxa are also known from the upper Miocene of Asia, including the large genus Parelasmotherium. Herein we present the re-examination of the holotype of its type species Parelasmo...

Tragulids, chevrotains or mouse deer, were common faunal elements during the Miocene. During that time, Dorcatherium was the most abundant genus, with D . naui being the first described species. Besides their abundance, until recently only very limited cranial material was available for investigation. Here we present a redescription of the first co...

Maomingosuchus acutirostris sp. nov. is a new tomistomine crocodile from the middle–upper Eocene deposits (late Bartonian–Priabonian age, 39–35 Ma) of the Na Duong Basin in northern Vietnam. M. acutirostris can be differentiated from the type species Maomingosuchus petrolicus by having an acute anterior tip of the premaxilla. Both species differ fr...

We describe leg bones of a larger-sized representative of the Anatidae from the Tortonian of the Hammerschmiede clay pit in southwestern Germany. Allgoviachen tortonica, n. gen. et sp. differs from most other representatives of the Anatidae in tarsometatarsus characters. The holotype is among the most substantial records of an anatid from this stra...

A lophocyonid carnivore (Mammalia) is reported for the first time from Miocene (lower Badenian, ca. 16 My) deposits in Austria. A single, lower first molar from Schönweg-”Brüchl” (Lavanttal, Carinthia) is assigned to Sivanasua viverroides. The species is also recognised in Germany in few faunas of similar ages.

Im ersten Halbjahr 2021 fanden eine Schubladen-Inventarisierung und eine kritische Bestandsaufnahme der Paläontologischen Sammlung in Tübingen statt. Dafür wurde sechs Monate lang ein Sammlungsmanager als Unterstützung der Kustodie angestellt. In Zusammenarbeit mit der Arbeitsgruppe Mikropaläontologie gelang es, im Team eine fundierte Basis für die...

The present paper deals with new hyaenid material from the locality of Hammerschmiede (Bavaria, Germany). The described specimens are attributed to two forms: most of the specimens belong to the species Thalassictis montadai, whereas one I3 is attributed to a large bone-cracking hyena. The material comes from the layers HAM 5 (11.62 Ma) and HAM 6 (...

Boselaphini is a tribe of early bovids belonging to the subfamily Bovinae. They contain only two extant genera, but they were very abundant and diverse during the late Miocene. During that time, they are common faunal elements all over Eurasia and occur in famous fossil localities such as Pikermi, Samos, Hadjidimovo, Maragheh, and the Siwaliks. Des...

The Neogene Burel Basin in the Western Srednogorje region of the Balkans provides rare fossil large mammals, which have importance for mammalian evolution and faunal chronology at the Miocene-Pliocene transition of the Balkan Peninsula. Here we report on new, and review published, proboscideans and perissodactyls from the Kaisiinitsa and Tranerska...

We present an updated time frame for the 30 m thick late Miocene sedimentary Trachilos section from the island of Crete that contains the potentially oldest hominin footprints. The section is characterized by normal magnetic polarity. New and published foraminifera biostratigraphy results suggest an age of the section within the Mediterranean biozo...

This study presents a new species of a large-sized lutrine from the upper Miocene hominid locality of Hammerschmiede, Vishnuonyx neptuni sp. nov., reporting the first occurrence of the genus in Europe and its most northern and western record. The new species differs from the already known members of the genus in size (intermediate between the Afric...

The present article offers a detailed review of the taxonomy, distribution and palaeoecology of the genus Semigenetta. The study is based on new craniodental and postcranial remains of the genus from the early late Miocene (Tortonian) locality of Hammerschmiede (Bavaria, Germany). Most of the new specimens are attributed to the medium-sized species...

The evolution of the present-day African savannah fauna has been substantially influenced by the dispersal of Eurasian ancestors into Africa. The ancestors evolved endemically, together with the autochthonous taxa, into extant Afrotropical clades during the last 5 million years. However, it is unclear why Eurasian ancestors moved into Africa. Here...

CHELYOPS. Berichte aus der Paläontologischen Sammlung in Tübingen

Here we report on a partial skull and isolated horn core material of the boselaphin bovid Miotragocerus monacensis Stromer von Reichenbach, 1928 from the late Miocene hominid locality Hammerschmiede in southern Germany (HAM). The partial skull comprises the most complete cranial remains of M. monacensis so far. Using µCT analysis, we demonstrate th...

The Staniantsi-Mazgoš Basin is one of several Neogene intramontane basins in NW Bulgaria. Recent fieldwork in the open pit coal mine yielded material of an exceptional diversity of vertebrates from the uppermost Miocene. In particular, skeletal remains of a large Castorinae are very numerous and well-preserved. Here we perform a comparative morphol...

Herpetological remains are not numerous in the late Early Pleistocene (Epivillafranchian) of Untermassfeld. Nonetheless, with 16 species a high diversity is documented: two species of newts (Lissotriton vulgaris, Triturus cf. cristatus), seven species of frogs (Rana temporaria, R. arvalis, R. dalmatina, Pelophylax ridibundus vel esculentus, Bufo bu...

The study of published and new fish remains from Untermassfeld reveals two species for the Epivillafranchian (late Early Pleistocene) Werra River: the anadromous Atlantic salmon (Salmo cf. salar), documented by at least six individuals, and the rare cyprinid (Gobio sp.). Both fishes characterize the hyporhithral (greyling zone) of European rivers....

The dispersal of Crocodylus from Africa to Europe during the Miocene is not well understood. A small collection of cranial fragments and postcranial elements from the latest Miocene (6.2 Ma) site of Venta del Moro (Valencia, Spain) have previously been referred to Crocodylus cf. C. checchiai Maccagno, 1947 without accompanying descriptions. Here we...

We describe a partial skull of a very large crane from the early late Miocene (Tortonian) hominid locality Hammerschmiede in southern Germany, which is the oldest fossil record of the Gruinae (true cranes). The fossil exhibits an unusual preservation in that only the dorsal portions of the neurocranium and beak are preserved. Even though it is, the...

We report fossils of the darter Anhinga pannonica Lambrecht, 1916 from two late Miocene (Tortonian, 11.62 and 11.44 Ma) avifaunas in Southern Germany. The material from the hominid locality Hammerschmiede near Pforzen represents the most comprehensive record of this species and includes most major postcranial elements except for the tarsometatarsus...

Die Tongrube Hammerschmiede, die erste Menschenaffen-Fundstelle aus Bayern, kann als wichtigste paläontologische Entdeckung Deutsch-lands in den letzten Jahrzehnten ange-sehen werden. Das liegt zum einen an den spektakulären und sehr gut erhal-tenen Funden einer bisher unbekannten Menschenaffen-Art, Danuvius guggen-mosi, die nahezu alle Bereiche de...

This article deals with the fossil tortoises of one of the most iconic fossil localities of the Neogene of the Old World, the upper Miocene locality of Pikermi, near Athens, Greece. We describe the type, previously published, and new material of the fossil tortoises from Pikermi, along with new material from the coeval Azmaka 6 locality in Bulgaria...

Many ideas have been proposed to explain the origin of bipedalism in hominins and suspension in great apes (hominids); however, fossil evidence has been lacking. It has been suggested that bipedalism in hominins evolved from an ancestor that was a palmigrade quadruped (which would have moved similarly to living monkeys), or from a more suspensory q...

Osmundales is the most ancient of all extant groups of leptosporangiate ferns, with an extensive fossil record from Permian to Cenozoic deposits worldwide. The group was particularly diverse during the late Palaeozoic and early Mesozoic, whereas nearly all records of fossil Osmundales from the mid-Cretaceous onwards can be assigned to the sole surv...

During systematic paleontological surveys in the Na Duong Basin in North Vietnam between 2009 and 2012, well-preserved fossilized cranial and postcranial remains belonging to at least 29 individuals of a middle to late Eocene (late Bartonian to Priabonian age (39-35 Ma)) alligatoroid were collected. Comparative anatomical study of the material warr...

We studied 4 Ma old isolated pharyngeal teeth from lake sediments of C ¸ evirme (Tekman Palaeolake, Erzurum Province). Based on shape characters defined for 3D models of modern species, we found that the Pliocene lake constitutes sympatric occurrence of four Capoeta species (C. cf. umbla, C. cf. baliki, C. cf. sieboldi and C. sp. sevangi/capoeta),...

Frequency distribution of recorded shape classes in the Ҫevırme sample (n = 247). (TIF)

The frequency (in % of all studied teeth, n = 247) of the tooth positions for isolated fossil pharyngeal teeth from Ҫevırme. (TIF)

The distribution of the extant ten Capoeta species, used for comparison. (PDF)

Background Testudinoidea is a major clade of turtles that has colonized different ecological environments across the globe throughout the Tertiary. Aquatic testudinoids have a particularly rich fossil record in the Tertiary of the northern hemisphere, but little is known about the evolutionary history of the group, as the phylogenetic relationships...

The earliest Miocene (Aquitanian, 23–21 Ma) Hang Mon Formation at Hang Mon in Northern Vietnam has yielded a rich assemblage of terrestrial gastropods. Four species from this assemblage belong to the land caenogastropod superfamily Cyclophoroidea. Three of these are assigned to genera with Recent representatives in Southeast Asia and are described...

The Palaeontological Collection Tübingen is one of the oldest and richest university collections of the world. Famous researchers such as von Quenstedt, von Huene, Schindewolf and Seilacher were active in Tübingen and donated their collections. Highlights are comprehensive synapsid, marine reptile and ichnofossil collections and fossils from the Sw...

The formation of dental caries is mainly caused by dietary habits and therefore, may contain information for dietary reconstructions of fossil hominids. This study investigates the caries lesion in the 12.5 Ma old type specimen of Dryopithecus carinthiacus Mottl 1957 (Primates, Hominidae) from St. Stefan (Austria). Potential food sources are identi...

Counting of caries cavity types in permanent and deciduous teeth of Pan troglodytes verus SCHWARZ 1934, from the Senckenberg skull collection of Liberian chimpanzees. (DOCX)

Potential melliferous plants of the Lavanttal flora. (DOCX)

We study the sedimentology, palaeontology and palaeomagnetism of the 500 m thick sedimentary sequence in the Gorna Sushitsa gorge in the Sandanski Basin (southwest Bulgaria), which is exceptionally rich in fossil mammals of Pikermian type. Magnetostratigraphy indicates that this section was deposited within 2 myrs, between 8.5 Ma and 6.5 Ma (late T...

Schmieder et al. (2018) suggest an impact age for the Ries crater in Southern Germany that is at odds with paleomagnetic systematics and thus geologically impossible, even within its external 2-sigma error. Paleomagnetic systematics allow for only two alternative impact ages that are both tightly constrained by orbital tuning. The relative differen...

Capoeta is a herbivorous cyprinid fish genus, widely distributed in water bodies of Western Asia. Recent species show a distinct biogeographic pattern with endemic distribution in large fluvial drainage basins. As other cyprinids, the species of this genus are characterized by the presence of the pharyngeal bone with pharyngeal teeth. Despite this,...

The Neogene snake fauna from the central and eastern regions of Eurasia is still largely unknown. This paper reports on a unique snake fauna from the late middle Miocene of the Baikadam and Malyi Kalkaman 1 and 2 localities, northeastern Kazakhstan, which represents the best-documented Miocene snake assemblage in Central Asia. Previous studies admi...

Current scientific knowledge of Tertiary fossils from south of the Ailao Shan-Red River shear zone is extremely poor, in sharp contrast with the situation nowadays, as the area of Laos and Vietnam is regarded as a global hotspot of biodiversity. In this context, the few localities that yielded fossil assemblages are of first importance for the unde...

Objectives: The Lesvos Petrified Forest (western Lesvos, Greece) has been famous for its plant fossils for more than one century. The first animal fossil from the early Miocene subtropical forest was found in the locality Gavathas, in 1999, and was identified as the proboscidean Prodeinotherium bavaricum by Koufos et al. (2003). More recently, a se...

Skeletal remains of a new early Miocene (Ottnangian, MN 4 mammal zone) monitor lizard, Varanus mokrensis sp. nov., are described from two karst fissures in the Mokrá-Western Quarry (1/2001 Turtle Joint; 2/2003 Reptile Joint), Czech Republic, providing the first documented example of a European varanid for which osteological data permit a well-support...

Skeletal remains of a new early Miocene (Ottnangian, MN 4 mammal zone) monitor lizard, Varanus mokrensis sp. nov., are described from two karst fissures in the Mokrá-Western Quarry (1/2001 Turtle Joint; 2/2003 Reptile Joint), Czech Republic, providing the first documented example of a European varanid for which osteological data permit a well-suppo...

The late middle Miocene vertebrate fauna from northeastern Kazakhstan (Baikadam, Malyi Kalkaman 1 and 2; ~12.7‒12.1 Ma) provided the best documented Miocene snake assemblage in central Asia. In total 10 taxa belonging to three families have been reported including: Boidae: Albaneryx cf. volynicus, Boinae gen. et sp. indet.; Colubridae: Coluber cf....

The Middle Miocene Upper Freshwater Molasse sediments represent the last cycle of clastic sedimentation during the evolution of the North Alpine Foreland Basin. They are characterized by small-scale lateral and temporal facies changes that make intra-basin stratigraphic correlations at regional scale difficult. This study provides new U–Pb zircon a...

The Lesvos Petrified Forest (western Lesvos, Greece) has long been famous for its plant fossils. Recently, one proboscidean (from the Gavathas locality) and seven micromammalian species (from the Lapsarna locality) were described; these were the first animals to be found in the Early Miocene subtropical forest. For the first time, a fauna of gastro...

The split of our own clade from the Panini is undocumented in the fossil record. To fill this gap we investigated the dentognathic morphology of Graecopithecus freybergi from Pyrgos Vassilissis (Greece) and cf. Graecopithecus sp. from Azmaka (Bulgaria), using new μCT and 3D reconstructions of the two known specimens. Pyrgos Vassilissis and Azmaka a...