Article

A new late Pleistocene vertebrate faunal complex from Sicily (San Teodoro Cave, North-Eastern Sicily, Italy)

June 2001
Bollettino della Societa Paleontologica Italiana 40(2):149-158

Authors:

Gabriella Mangano

Università degli Studi di Messina

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March 2022 · Geomorphology

In steady-state tectonic-climate systems, the fluvio-karst processes attain a stable base level, whether it be local or global. In contrast, in an uplifting region, relative base-level changes force river incision processes and a concurrent lowering of the karst water-table. Even at local scales (e.g., single fault-controlled valley), combined tectonically- and climatically-driven base-level ... [Show full abstract] drops induce geomorphic and hydrogeological disequilibrium. Thus, the karst system develops vertically and the water-table lowers trying to attain the new local base level. Conversely, the paleo-karst network dries, and becomes abandoned as a hanging relic with aligned karst morphologies. They are exhumed by the entrenchment of the fluvial network, as base-level fall related knickpoints migrate upstream. We propose a geomorphic approach to build fluvio-karst age models, based upon the analysis of river long-profiles. This approach is complementary to altimetric correlation between karst horizons and coastal paleo-sea level markers. Our approach is useful for an inland study area that is far from the marine terraced coast or where active faulting cuts off the coastal area from the inland landscape. We tested the approach in the eastern sector of the Hyblean Plateau (Sicily, Italy), where a carbonate sequence experienced Middle-Late Pleistocene tectonic uplift combined with active faulting. Specifically, we investigated the Cassibile River basin, at the footwall of the active Cassibile-Noto Fault. By reconstructing river paleo-long profiles we fixed time-space reference lines, connecting the abandoned and hanging fluvio-karst levels to the correlative marine strandlines carved along the fault-controlled coastal landscape.

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Pleistocene bats (Mammalia, Chiroptera) from Grotta dei Pipistrelli (southeastern Sicily, Italy). Pr...

November 2017

Seven species of bats (Mammalia, Chiroptera) have been identified in the fossil assemblage from the Grotta dei Pipistrelli (Sortino, Sicily, Italy): Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, R. euryale, R. mehelyi, Myotis myotis, M. blythii, M. capaccinii and Miniopterus schreibersii. All the recognized species are presently part of the Italian bat fauna; currently, they occur in Sicily and probably still live ... [Show full abstract] in the cave today. In Sicily, fossils of Chiroptera are poorly known and this work is the second study of a Pleistocene bats assemblage. In this paper, the first instance of R. euryale in Sicily, and of M. myotis and M. blythii for the central Mediterranean islands from Pleistocene are reported. Siete especies de murciélagos (Mammalia, Chiroptera) han sido identificadas en la asociación fósil de Grotta dei Pipistrelli (Sortino, Sicilia, Italia): Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, R. euryale, R. mehelyi, Myotis myotis, M. blythii, M. capaccinii y Miniopterus schreibersii. Todas las especies identificadas forman parte de la fauna italiana actual de murciélagos, están presentes en Sicilia y probablemente a día de hoy habitan la cavidad. Los fósiles de quirópteros son poco conocidos en Sicilia, siendo éste el segundo estudio relacionado con una asociación de murciélagos del Pleistoceno. En este artículo se muestra, por primera vez, la presencia en el Pleistoceno de R. euryale en Sicilia y de M. myotis y M. blythii en las islas del Mediterráneo central.

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New stratigraphic and taphonomic data from the late Pleistocene deposits of the San Teodoro Cave (No...

October 2005 · Annali dell'Università di Ferrara, Sezione di Museologia Scientifica e Naturalistica

In previous excavations at the San Teodoro Cave (North-Eastern Sicily) the Authors distinguished an upper Late Glacial sedimentary unit (Unit A) and a lower sedimentary unit (Unit B) containing Upper Pleistocene endemic mammal remains. New data collected during 2002 and 2003 excavations come from a trench located on the eastern side of the cave at a distance of 30-34 m from the entrance. In the ... [Show full abstract] new trench the composition and taphonomic characters of the faunal assemblage of the Unit B deposits are similar to those recognized in 1998 in a trench located on the eastern side of the cave at a distance of 9-13 m from the entrance. The Unit B contains a highly diversified assemblage of vertebrates, invertebrates and vegetal remains. Damages on bones and abundant coprolites testify to intense hyena activity. Complete and undamaged remains of elephant and deer are actually a novelty from a taphonomic point of view. A new sterile sedimentary unit (Unit C) has been brought to light. The characters of the new sedimentary Unit C suggest a correlation with the older lacustrine deposits located at the base of the vertical cliffs where the San Teodoro cave is located.

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The Quaternary Hippopotamus records from Italy

August 2021 · Historical Biology

The genus Hippopotamus dispersed from Africa to Europe during the Pleistocene and the taxon is testified from different Italian localities. Despite the large number of available specimens, Hippopotamus is mainly documented by fragmentary remains and detailed stratigraphic and/or geographic data are often absent or uncertain. In Italy, hippopotamuses are recorded in at least 100 fossiliferous ... [Show full abstract] localities spanning from the late Early Pleistocene to the Late Pleistocene. At present, three different Pleistocene species are recognised: H. antiquus from Early to Middle Pleistocene, H. amphibius from Middle to Late Pleistocene and H. pentlandi from late Middle-early Late Pleistocene Sicilian localities. Upper Valdarno basin (Tuscany), Chiusi basin (Tuscany), Colfiorito basin (Umbria), Sant’Oreste (Latium), Puntali Cave (Sicily) and Acquedolci (Sicily) are just a few fossiliferous Italian sites where significative findings of Hippopotamus were collected during the 19th and 20th centuries.

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The Rumena flank margin cave and its implications in support of the paleogeographic evolution of the...

January 2012 · Rendiconti online della Società Geologica Italiana

An Early Pleistocene benthic community, discovered inside the Rumena Cave in NW Sicily, Italy, was studied. Analysis of the community led to the recognition of several encrusting species – notably scleractinians, bryozoans, serpuloideans, cirripeds, foraminifera and brachiopods – and borings mostly referable to the ichnogenus Gastrochaenolites. All fossils detected are typical of the present-day ... [Show full abstract] hard-surface submarine cave biota, at both high taxonomic rank and species level. The biogenic crust, restricted to a few sectors of the cave but locally up to few centimetres thick, largely consist of scleractinians, mainly represented by dendrophylliids. Bryozoans and serpuloideans are also present with Hippaliosina depressa and Spiraserpula massiliensis, locally forming multi-layered sheets and dense specimen aggregates, respectively. Basing mostly on the composition of the encrusting community and on morphological/ morphometric features of some species, it has been hypothesized that at least part of the cave was blind when the crust formed, possibly at relatively shallow depth in a sheltered setting or, more probably, at higher depths, below the fair weather swell zone. Encrustations and borings on the rocky cave ceiling and on occasional speleothems broken surfaces document subsequent phases of cave submersion/colonization separated by emersion/erosion phases. The importance of the Early Pleistocene fossils of the Rumena Cave for the knowledge of submarine cave communities through time and for the understanding of sea-level variations and the uplift of the area has been remarked.

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Was the dwarfed Palaeoloxodon from Favignana Island the last endemic Pleistocene elephant from the w...

June 2020 · Historical Biology

This paper re-apprises the scant elephant remains belonging to a dwarf Palaeoloxodon of uncertain taxonomy collected during the 1980s from a cave on Favignana Island (Aegadian Archipelago, western Sicily). The elephant was recently ¹⁴C-dated to the Last Glacial Maximum (20,350–19,840 cal. BP), indicating that the Favignana elephant is likely the most recent insular endemic Palaeoloxodon species ... [Show full abstract] thus far reported from the Western Mediterranean. Dimensionally the remains are smaller than the late Middle-Late Pleistocene P. ex gr. P. mnaidriensis from Puntali Cave (Palermo), and similar in size to the P. ex gr. P. mnaidriensis individual from San Teodoro Cave (Messina) post-dating a flowstone U-Th dated to ca. 32 ka. Accordingly, the possibility that relict populations of Palaeoloxodon persisted on Sicily longer than previously believed remains an intriguing possibility. None the less, the available data do not clearly indicate whether or not the small dimensions and recent age of the Favignana elephant may reflect a Late Pleistocene colonisation of Favignana Island by small P. ex gr. P.mnaidriensis. Our palaeogeographic reconstruction of the Aegadian Islands does however demonstrate that Favignana was connected to Sicily during most of the Late Pleistocene, allowing elephants to disperse freely between Sicily and Favignana during the Last Glacial (MIS 4-MIS2).

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Pleistocene mammals from Sa Cona Cave (Teulada, south-western Sardinia, Italy)

April 2019 · Journal of Mediterranean Earth Sciences

Quaternary fossil vertebrates are reported from numerous deposits of Sardinia and can be a suitable tool to correlate localities in different depositional contexts (e.g. fissure fillings, caves, aeolian deposits). Here, a mammal assemblage collected from a deposit within Sa Cona Cave (Teulada, southwestern Sardinia, Italy) is described. The sample is primarily represented by small mammal remains ... [Show full abstract] and a few, badly preserved remains of large mammals. The following taxa have been identified: Cynotherium sardous, Praemegaceros cazioti, Prolagus sardus, Microtus (Tyrrhenicola) henseli, Rhagamys orthodon, and "Asoriculus" similis. Similar faunal assemblages, known from some localities of Sardinia and Corsica, have been generally regarded as Late Pleistocene in age (Dragonara Faunal Sub-Complex). The sequence of Sa Cona Cave represents to date one of the most rich Quaternary mammal deposits known from the extreme southwestern Sardinia.

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Revision of Cervus elaphus siciliae Pohlig, 1893, late Pleistocene endemic deer of the Siculo-Maltes...

January 1993

The osteological and biometrical revision of the small Pleistocene deer of Sicily Cervus elaphus siciliae Pohlig is proposed, based on a large amount of fossil remains from different Sicilian caves, preserved in several Museums of Italy. Comparisons have been made with living and fossil species. Discussions have been made about the taxonomical interpretation of the Sicilian deer, on its ... [Show full abstract] distribution in the Siculo-Maltese district and on its coexistence with the Sicilian megacerine P. (N.) carburangelensis. -from Authors

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( Crocidura esui n.sp. (Soricidae, Insectivora) from the Pleistocene of Spinagallo, eastern Sicily,...

January 1984

Tassos Kotsakis

Among the Upper Pleistocene vertebrate remains which accompany the dwarf elephant E. (P.) falconeri from the cave of Spinagallo (Syracuse, eastern Sicily, Italy) is a shrew which has elongated posterior paws. In addition to the cranial structure, the structure of the limbs enables this mouse-shrew to be separated to a specific level from a known species and to establish it as a new species, ... [Show full abstract] Crocidura esui n.sp. -J.McManus

A new late Pleistocene vertebrate faunal complex from Sicily (San Teodoro Cave, North-Eastern Sicily, Italy)

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