Ştefan Vasile

• Ph.D., University of Bucharest, 2012
• Lecturer at University of Bucharest

Madtsoiidae are a group of archaic snakes, widely distributed in the Upper Cretaceous of Gondwanan landmasses (South America, Madagascar, India, Africa), but otherwise reported outside Gondwana based only on scarce material from a few southern European localities. Here, we describe associated snake remains from uppermost Cretaceous (Maastrichtian)...

Here we report on the taphonomy and paleoecological implications of the first record of a small madtsoiid snake (Nidophis insularis) closely associated with a megaloolithid dinosaur egg nest. Taphonomic and sedimentologic evidence suggest that the snake was buried autochthonously within or nearby the egg nest, with at least partially articulated sk...

This paper describes the first early Pleistocene freshwater fish assemblage fromthe Dacian Basin, Romania. The fossil sample, consisting mainly of isolated teeth, sup-ports the presence of a rich and taxonomically diverse fish assemblage: 17 taxa wereidentified, belonging to 10 genera of the families Cyprinidae, Salmonidae, Siluridae,Esocidae, and...

This paper describes an Early Pleistocene amphibian and squamate assemblage from the Dacian Basin, southern Romania. The fossil sample allows for the identification of a moderately diverse assemblage, which includes representatives of 13 genera of the families Salamandridae (Lissotriton vulgaris, Triturus sp.), Bombinatoridae (Bombina sp.), Hylidae...

The neighbouring sites of Berești and Mălușteni (Eastern Carpathian Foreland, eastern Romania) have yielded the most abundant and taxonomically diverse Pliocene vertebrate assemblages described so far from the entire country. Some of the small mammals found here were described as new taxa, and occasionally reassessed during the past one hundred yea...

This paper performs a revision of teleost fish and squamate reptile material from the Early Pliocene sites of Berești and Mălușteni (eastern Romania), found in old collections, but never described in detail. The fish assemblage includes a few cyprinid species (Rutilus robustus, Rutilus cf. R. frisii, Scardinius ponticus, Barbus sp., Tinca sp.), Sil...

Spread over an area of 56m2, the Vârghiș Gorges include more than 124 caves that are located on four levels of karstification, formed during the Quaternary period, starting with the Middle Pleistocene (Cosac et al., 2018; Cosac, 2023). Considered by Cosac et al. (2021) as one of themost easily accessible and visible caves, Abri 122 is located on th...

Recent work at the Upper Cretaceous vertebrate locality near the town of Tran, western Bulgaria, brought to light a diverse assemblage of plant mesofossils and other microfossils of uncertain systematic affinities. Here we briefly report on 18 problematic specimens that share a striking morphological similarity to the Late Cretaceous Knoblochia cre...

The genus Vulpes is represented in the Upper Pleistocene deposits from Europe by fossil remains belonging to three taxa: Vulpes lagopus (arctic fox), Vulpes corsac (corsac fox), and Vulpes vulpes (red fox) (Kurtén, 2007). Following the excavations carried out in the late 1950s, the Upper Pleistocene fossil-bearing sediments from La Adam Cave (south...

The Middle and Upper Palaeolithic sites in the Carpathians and Danube lowlands constitute key contexts for tracing the dispersal of Homo sapiens into central‐western Europe and the replacement of Homo neanderthalensis . Surprisingly, the Romanian archaeological inventory lacks transitional technologies and only a few sites have been systematically...

Paleontology

The superfamily Cercopithecoidea had a broad spatial distribution and occupied a wide variety of habitats across Europe from the Late Miocene until the Middle Pleistocene. Cercopithecines, such as macaques, showed more flexibility in habitat preferences, whereas colobines tended to be more sensitive to environmental differences. In Romania, only a...

The present work deals with the carnivorans found in five Neogene localities in eastern Romania: the Vallesian locality of Păun, the Turolian localities of Pogana 1 and Creţeşti 1, and the Ruscinian localities of Bereşti and Măluşteni. The presented material includes cranial and postcranial specimens, some of which are herein described for the firs...

The Miocene deposits of the Carpathian Foreland yielded marine vertebrate remains in numerous fossil localities. Various authors have described a fauna composed of pinnipeds, sea birds, turtles, bony fish, and cetaceans. This fauna is characteristic to the Paratethys epicontinental sea. The family Cetotheriidae appears to have included most baleen...

New Pliocene sites from SE Romania, and the first small vertebrate remains reported from these sites

New insights into the age of the fossil vertebrate site from Stăuceni

Deep-sea hydrothermal vent communities, revealing patterns of niche partitioning, live in a limited area characterised by sharp physico-chemical gradients. In this study, we investigated carbon, sulfur, nitrogen stable isotopes as well as arsenic (As) speciations and concentrations for two snails (Alviniconcha sp. and Ifremeria nautilei) and a crus...

This paper describes the first fossil remains discovered in the detritic deposits that crop out along the Burdea River, at Albeşti (Teleorman County). The specimens described in this paper are assigned to proboscideans (Mammuthus meridionalis) and to cervids (Megaloceros giganteus). Along with the specimens from Albeşti, two other specimens are pre...

Late Pliocene continental fauna of the Dacian Basin (southern Romania)

The latest Cretaceous kogaionid multituberculates from Transylvania (western Romania) were part of an endemic European clade of mammals that underwent an insular radiation at the end of the Cretaceous and then survived the end-Cretaceous mass extinction that extinguished many groups of contemporary therians. Transylvanian kogaionids lived on what w...

A palynological and organic geochemical study of the Upper Cretaceous deposits cropping out in the southwestern part of the Transylvanian Basin (Petreşti section) has been carried out. The samples were collected from the marine Bozeş as well as from the overlying continental Sebeş formations, with main focus on the Bozeș Formation. The recovered pa...

The deposition of tephra, such as volcanic ash and other pyroclastics, can provide important chronological context in archaeological records where standard geochronometers are ambiguous. An example of this are the caves in the Vârghiș (Vargyas) Gorges, close to the volcanic massif of Ciomadul (Csomád) where human presence has been documented since...

Recent (2006-2009) excavations at the Palaeolithic site from La Adam Cave (central Dobrogea, southeastern Romania) yielded numerous fossil remains, that were analysed in order to obtain more information on the Late Pleistocene faunal assemblage from the area of the cave, on the animal and anthropic contributions to bone accumulation in the cave, an...

The Vârghiș Gorges karst system (Perșani Mountains, Eastern Carpathians) constituted a point of interest for speleologists, paleontologists and archaeologists since the second half of the 19th century. Their efforts succeeded in highlighting the notable archaeological potential of the area, although the actual research results were not always thoro...

Kogaionids form a peculiar, European endemic radiation of the derived cimolodontan multituberculates, a radiation that populated this continent during the latest Cretaceous-Paleocene. The first members of this clade have been discovered in Paleocene sites of Western Europe, although their true identity was not recognized at that time given the natu...

The Asiatic wild dog (Cuon alpinus), restricted today largely to South and Southeast Asia, was widespread throughout Eurasia and even reached North America during the Pleistocene. Like many other species, it suffered from a huge range loss towards the end of the Pleistocene and went extinct in most of its former distribution. The fossil record of t...

The Upper Palaeolithic site from Buda (Bacău County) has been known since 1952 for the large amount of animal bones discovered alongside Gravettian tools. The revision of the osteological material from the old excavations (1958-1960), as well as the study of newly discovered specimens excavated in the 2012-2014 field seasons was carried out. The fa...

This paper describes associated proboscidean remains found in the left bank of the Vedea River, northwest of Brebina (Teleorman County). The specimens include an almost complete mandible, bearing second and third molars, three thoracic vertebrae, two large fragments of the sacrum, and part of the pelvis. Tooth morphology and measured parameters con...

The evaluation of the archaeological materials resulting from older excavations is indisputably conditioned by the standard to which the information regarding their collection was archived, and the absence of a rigorous record irreversibly vitiates the interpretation of the data. The training and experience of the person performing the archaeologic...

The microvertebrate fossil sites of the Hațeg Basin are essential in understanding the composition of the continental Maastrichtian fauna of western Romania, and its temporal evolution. This paper describes additional fossil vertebrate remains discovered at the „Pui Swamp locality”, one of the geologically oldest Maastrichtian localities in the Haț...

Early Pleistocene freshwater fish fauna of Copăceni

Fossil assemblages recovered from microvertebrate bonebeds (MvBB; i.e., attritional accumulations of isolated and small-sized skeletal remains, derived mainly from small, < 10 kg body size vertebrates) are among the most important contributors to our understanding of past diversity and abundance in different palaeoecosystems. This is also the case...

Figure 1. Location of Stoieni Cave in Mehedinți County, southwestern Romania. The cave "Peștera Seacă din Ogașul Stoienilor", referred to as Stoieni Cave, is located in the Mehedinți Mountains, SW Romania (Fig. 1). It is 50 m long 2 and 8 m deep, and consists of a single passage ending with a 30 m chamber (Fig. 2), where an excavation was conducted...

Figure 1. Location of Stoieni Cave in Mehedinți County, southwestern Romania. The cave "Peștera Seacă din Ogașul Stoienilor", referred to as Stoieni Cave, is located in the Mehedinți Mountains, SW Romania (Fig. 1). It is 50 m long 2 and 8 m deep, and consists of a single passage ending with a 30 m chamber (Fig. 2), where an excavation was conducted...

Until recently, the cave-based Middle Palaeolithic in Romania offered almost exclusively archaeological collections without chronological control, the limited number of radiocarbon samples reported usually lacking a precise archaeological context. In an effort to improve such limitations, we initiated an interdisciplinary research of the archaeolog...

The rich accumulation of bovid remains found at Buda (Bacău County, eastern Romania) is unique among the Upper Palaeolithic sites in the region. The morphological analysis of postcranial remains, which dominate the assemblage by far, shows they belong to Bison priscus, the steppe bison. The body parts representation is biased towards distal limbs,...

Deep-sea vent communities live on a limited area characterised by sharp physico-chemical (temperature, salinity, pH) gradients. Around the vent, the fauna is distributed accordingly, showing characteristic niche partitioning for different groups of animals. In this study we investigate shell microstructure, minor elements and stable isotope composi...

Large mammal fossil remains recently discovered in Quaternary fluvial deposits at Peretu, Teleorman County, are here described and assigned to the early Pleistocene elephantid species Mammuthus meridionalis. The fossil assemblage includes jaw fragments, dental remains (both upper and lower molars, one premolar, tusk fragments), but also postcranial...

The complex geological structure of Romania comprises a great variety of rocks ranging from Precambrian to Quaternary. It includes many geological sites that are of great importance, due either to their spectacular morphology (e.g. caves, mud volcanoes, basalt columns), or to their scientific interest (exceptional fossil or mineral occurrences). In...

The description of the only known marine vertebrate remains from the Late Cretaceous from the Republic of Moldova. Plesiosaur teeth assigned to ”Poliptychodon interruptus” and a possible elasmobrachian vertebra are described from Otaci, and lamniform shark teeth assigned to Cretoxyrhina sp. are described from Soroca.

Uppermost Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) continental deposits in the Transylvanian region of western Romania contain a diverse and important assemblage of fossil vertebrates, including lissamphibians. Bones of anurans (frogs) and albanerpetontids are abundantly represented at multiple vertebrate microfossil localities in the region, but there continues...

The Hateg and Rusca Montana basins (South Carpathians, Romania) yield a rich Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) compressive megafloral assemblage represented by ferns, conifers, onocotyledons and dicotyledons. This paper focuses on the dicotyledons of these basins, based on recently collected material as well as on historical collections of the Univer...

The latest Cretaceous continental vertebrate faunas of the wider Transylvanian area figured prominently in discussions concerning the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary (K-Pg) events when they were first described by Nopcsa between 1897 and 1929, because they were assumed to be late Maastrichtian in age. Subsequently their age was reconsidered as early...

In this study we investigated morphologically and geochemically a skull from an open pit situated on the Călineasa-Şesu Gârzii Plateau, Bihor Mountains. The study presents the first 14C dating and stable isotope composition of bison skeletal remains from the Romanian Carpathians. The result of 14C determination yielded two relevant maxima: one is a...

The Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) formations of the Rusca Montană and Haţeg basins (Romania) yield a compressive fossil flora including the genera Sabalites and Pandanites. The Rusca Montană and Haţeg basins represent very important areas for Cretaceous palms, due to the remarkable density of foliar material and to their palaeogeographic signifi...

We present a detailed morphological description of the type-locality cranial material of Theriosuchus sympiestodon Martin, Rabi, and Csiki, 2010 from the Maastrichtian Densus -Ciula Formation of the Hat xeg Basin, Romania together with new material of isolated cranial elements and teeth from various sites of the same general area. The recognition o...

This paper describes the first fossil proboscidean remains found in the Pleistocene deposits of Copăceni (Ilfov County). A large number of both dental and postcranial fossil remains were recently discovered at this locality. On the basis of their morphometrical parameters the discovered molars are assigned to the species Mammuthus meridionalis, whe...