Tusk Paleohistology as a tool in the discrimination of fossil tusks from Greece

En aquest estudi intentam discriminar entre les defenses de Mammuthus meridionalis, Elephas antiquus i les dels elefants nans de l'illa de Tilos, en base a les característiques histològiques de la dentina. El tret mesoscòpic examinat és el Patró d'Schreger, en relació a l'angle, -la longitud d'ona i l'aparença qualitativa, i els trets microscòpics són la mida dels túbuls de dentina i la seva densitat. Les mostres de defenses de mamut es diferencien clarament de les d'elefants. A més, trobam una petita variança en l'aparença qualitativa del Patró d'Schreger entre les mostres d' Elephas antiquus i les defenses dels elefants nans. Finalment, la mida dels túbuls de dentina de les defenses dels elefants endèmics és, clarament, la major.In the current study, we have attempted to distinguish between the tusks of Mamrnuthus meridionalis, Eiephas antiquus and the dwarf elephants from the island ofTilas, based on the tusk dentine's histological characteristics. The mesoscopic feature examined is the Schreger Pattern, in respect to its angle, wavelength and qualitative appearance, and the microscopic features are the dentinal tubule's size and density. The mammoth samples strongly discriminate against the elephant tusks. In addition, we were able to find a small variance in the Schreger Pattern's qualitative appearance, between the samples of Elephas antiquus and the tusks of the dwarfs. Finally, the size of the dentinal tubules is clearly greatest in the tusks of the endemic elephants

Investigation of the plio-pleistocene eastern Mediterranean ichthyofauna and paleoenvironmental representations on Rhodes and Crete islands

This study targets to reconstruct the Plio-Pleistocene eastern Mediterranean ichthyofauna and estimate the paleoenvironmental parameters in the study area. In order to accomplish this goal, three intermediate aims must be achieved: the identification of the fossil fish otoliths contained in the study areas’ sediments, the assemblage paleoecological analyses, and a thorough paleobiogeographic overview incorporating the new data. Ο σκοπός της παρούσας διατριβής είναι η ανασύνθεση της ιχθυοπανίδας του Πλειοκαίνου και του Πλειστοκαίνου της Ανατολικής Μεσογείου και η περαιτέρω χρήση των δεδομένων αυτών για να εκτιμηθούν οι παλαιοπεριβαλλοντικές συνθήκες στις περιοχές μελέτης. Τρεις επιμέρους στόχοι πρέπει να επιτευχθούν για το σκοπό αυτό. Αρχικά, ο προσδιορισμός των απολιθωμένων ωτολίθων των ιχθύων που βρίσκονται στα Πλειο-Πλειστοκαινικά ιζήματα των περιοχών μελέτης θα επιτρέψει την ανασύνθεση της πανίδας. Στη συνέχεια, οι συναθροίσεις αυτές θα αναλυθούν ώστε να εκτιμηθούν οι παλαιοοικολογικές παράμετροι. Μέσα από την σύγκριση με τα δημοσιευμένα δεδομένα για τις Νεογενείς και Τεταρτογενείς πανίδες ιχθύων της Μεσογείου, καθώς και με τις σύγχρονες εξαπλώσεις των ειδών παγκοσμίως, θα καθοριστεί η γεωγραφική και στρωματογραφική εξάπλωση των προσδιορισμένων ειδών και η εξέλιξη της πανίδας της ανατολικής Μεσογείου από το κατώτερο Πλειόκαινο έως σήμερα

TELEOST OTOLITHS FROM THE AQUITANIAN (EARLY MIOCENE) OF THE FELLI SECTION IN GREECE: THE ROOTS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN GOBY STOCK (GOBIIDAE, GOBIIFORMES)

Fish otoliths have been obtained from the early Miocene (Aquitanian) Pentalofos Formation of the Mesohellenic Basin in northern Greece. These specimens represent the earliest Miocene shallow marine otolith records from the Mediterranean. Here, we describe the goby otoliths of the assemblage, which are the most common group at this location. They represent the earliest recognized species of two of the three main extant Atlantic-Mediterranean goby groups, the Pomatoschistus lineage and the Aphia lineage. The taxa are interpreted as being phylogenetically positioned near the base of their respective lineages. The new taxa described are Hellenigobius praeschismatus n. gen. et n. sp. and Plesiogobius felliensis n. gen. et n. sp. A third species is tentatively related to Nematogobius in open nomenclature

LATE MIOCENE–EARLY PLIOCENE EVOLUTION OF MEDITERRANEAN GOBIES AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTAL AND BIOGEOGRAPHIC SIGNIFICANCE

The Lago Mare phase at the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) in the Mediterranean has long been known for the Paratethyan affinities of its biota. The taxonomic level of these affinities and their origin, however, is subject to divergent interpretations. Here, we have studied otoliths of the Gobioidei from late Miocene and early Pliocene deposits from Italy and Greece and revised earlier studies including time-equivalent data from Romania and NW Turkey. Nowadays, gobies constitute the most speciose marine fish family in Europe and the most diverse endemic family in the Ponto-Caspian region. Furthermore, they are highly adapted to nearshore shallow marine, brackish, and freshwater environments, which makes them excellent candidates to explore short-term connections of waterways of different nature.             The normal marine late Tortonian and pre-evaporitic Messinian deposits of the studied Italian and Greek locations contained a rich and diverse goby assamblage, but species with Paratethyan affinities were very rare and possibly originated from connections during the early Serravallian (late Badenian) and early Messinian (early Meotian). A rare fauna from a paralic environment from Cessaniti, Calabria, similar to the mangrove environments found in the present-day Guinea coastal area, revealed two species of the family Eleotridae and no gobies with Paratethyan affinities. Cessaniti provides a unique opportunity to recognize the presence of this type of environmental context with a unique gobioid assemblage in the Neogene of Europe. The shallow-water brackish-influenced sediments of Strada degli Archi just below the MSC show an increasing influence of Paratethyan gobiid taxa (Proterorhinus yigitbasi, Zosterisessor exsul n. sp.), which are not present in time-equivalent normal marine environments, but have also been identified in the Dacic Basin of Romania. Sediments of the stage 3 ot the MSC, especially those that accumulated during the Lago Mare event, were dominated by a diverse goby assemblage with Paratethyan affinities, while indigenous Mediterranean goby taxa disappeared probably because of the lack of suitable conditions for neritic demersal stenohaline fishes, except for the nektonic Aphia minuta. The sediments of the stage 3 of the MSC also included in one particular location and level the unusual Enigmacottus socialis n. gen., n. sp., a putative member of the family Psychrolutidae of uncertain origin, which constitutes about 70% of all otoliths obtained from that interval in Italy. Beginning with the Zanclean, the goby assemblage of the Mediterranean shows an almost exclusively Atlantic-Mediterranean composition.             A total of 15 new species are described, 12 in the family Gobiidae, two of the Eleotridae, and one putative Psychrolutidae. The new taxa are: Eleotris omuamuaensis n. sp., Eleotris tyrrhenicus n. sp., Lesueurigobius stazzanensis n. sp., Gobius peloponnesus n. sp., Proterorhinus cretensis n. sp., Zosterisessor exsul n. sp., Benthophilus aprutinus n. sp., Benthophilus labronicus n. sp., Caspiosoma lini n. sp., Caspiosoma paulisulcata n. sp., Thorogobius petilus n. sp., Buenia pisiformis n. sp., Hesperichthys gironeae n. sp., Knipowitschia etrusca n. sp., and Enigmacottus socialis n. gen. et n. sp

Fish otoliths from the Pliocene Heraklion Basin (Crete Island, Eastern Mediterranean)

The Pliocene Eastern Mediterranean fish record is revealed through the study of a 60-m thick stratigraphic sequence near the village Voutes (Heraklion, Crete). Forty-two species belonging to twenty families are identified. Calcareous nannoplankton biostratigraphy places the studied sequence within the biozone MNN16a (latest Zanclean). The stratigraphic distribution of 31 species is modified. Among these, 12 species are reported for the first time in the Eastern Mediterranean Zanclean, while 19 species are first reported outside the Ionian Sea. The Voutes fish fauna presents a diversified benthic and benthopelagic assemblage filling a significant gap in the fossil record