Carnivores from the Late Miocene locality of Hayranli (Hayranli, Sivas, Turkey)

WOS: 000359991700014The locality of Hayranli-Sivas is situated in the central Anatolian plateau (Sivas, Turkey) and includes many fossil remains, including carnivores collected from 2 different spots. The aim of this study is to contribute to knowledge of carnivore evolution in Turkey based on the fossil specimens in Hayranli-Sivas. The studied collection indicates the presence of the following taxa: Hyaenictitherium wongii, Hyaenictitherium intuberculatum, Lycyaena dubia, and Machairodus giganteus. L. dubia is the first record from Anatolia. The material of each taxon was described and determined by comparison with other materials from various Eurasian localities. During the Early or Middle Turolian 9-7 Ma. (MN11-12), shrubland and open savanna grassland ecosystem habitats might have contributed to rich faunal diversity in the Hayranli location. Moreover, carnivores of the area, represented by 4 taxa biochronologically, were adapted to this ecology during the evolutionary processes. M. giganteus in closed ecosystem locality HAY-91 and H. wongii, H. intuberculatum, and L. dubia in open ecosystem locality HAY-2 were probably the most dominant carnivores of the survey area.Minister of Cultural Heritage of TurkeyMinistry of Culture & Tourism - Turkey; National Science FoundationNational Science Foundation (NSF) [0321893]The excavations in Sivas were supported by the Minister of Cultural Heritage of Turkey. The Erasmus program supported visits to the Polish National Museum. The Council of Higher Education of Turkey (YOK) supported visits to the Vienna Natural History Museum, the Paris Natural History Museum, and the Madrid Natural History Museum. Special thanks go to Dr G Koufos from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Dr Stephane Peigne and Dr C Argot from the Natural History Museum of Paris, Dr Ursula Gorlich from the Natural History Museum of Vienna, Dr Jorge Morales from the Natural History Museum of Madrid, and Patricia Perez Dios for their help in searching the collections, and their warm hospitality. We thank Dr Levent Mesci for giving the positions of the localities on a geographic and a geologic map and in a stratigraphic column. Thanks also go to Dr Jan Ove R Ebbestad for providing the photos of L. dubia from the Zdansky collection. The authors also wish to thank Kutay Murat Bozca for arranging the photos, Dr Basak Koca Ozer for the logarithmic differences analysis, and Dr Cesur Pehlevan for making the casts. We would like to thank Prof Tim White and the National Science Foundation (including the Revealing Hominid Origins Initiative/HOMINID program, Grant No. 0321893) for their financial support of the field and laboratory research, and Canbolat Ozkurt for his help with the English

Microstonyx (Suidae, Artiodactyla) from the Upper Miocene of Hayranli-Haliminhani, Turkey

WOS: 000321228700014The suid remains from localities 58-HAY-2 and 58-HAY-19 in the Late Miocene Derindere Member of the Incesu Formation in the Hayranli-Haliminhani area (Sivas, Turkey) are described and referred to as Microstonyx major (Gervais, 1848-1852). Microstonyx shows changes in incisor morphology, which are interpreted as a further adaptation to rooting. This occurred probably in a short period between 8.7 and 8.121 Ma ago and possibly is a reaction to environmental change. The incisor morphology in locality 58-HAY-2 suggests that it is temporally close to this change, which would imply that this locality and the lithostratigraphically lower 58-HAY-19 belong to the lower part of MN11 and not to MN12. The findings are discussed in the regional context and contribute to the knowledge of the Anatolian fossil mammals.National Science FoundationNational Science Foundation (NSF) [0321893]; Ministerio de Ciencia y Inovacion [CGL2008-03881, CGL2009-12703-C03-01]; Unidades Asociadas Program of the CSICWe would like to thank Prof Tim White and the National Science Foundation (including the Revealing Hominid Origins Initiative/HOMINID program, Grant No. 0321893) for financial support of field and laboratory research. We would also like to thank the Sivas Archaeology Museum Directorate and all the members of Hayranli/Haliminhani Excavation team, especially Associate Prof Dr Nuretdin Kaymakci and Assistant Prof Dr Levent Mesci for valuable stratigraphic comments, as well as the sketch map of fossil localities. Finally, we thank the persons responsible for the collections listed in "Material and methods" for access to material. J. van der Made benefited from support from projects CGL2008-03881 and CGL2009-12703-C03-01 of the Ministerio de Ciencia y Inovacion and the Unidades Asociadas Program of the CSIC

Bone mineral density of ancient Anatolian populations

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