Some insectivore (Mammalia) remains from the Late Miocene locality of Alsótelekes (Hungary)

Six Insectivora species (Plesiosorex sp., Florinia ef. stehlini, Allosorex ef. stenodus, Crusafontina endemica, Miosorex sp., Soricinae gen. et sp.) were found in the Alsótelekes Late Miocene fossil material. The incectivores allow for an allocation into the Early Vallesian MN 9 Zone. The fauna is indicative of humid, forested vegetation. The taphonornic features of the teeth suggest long transport by water before the lacustrine accumulation of the remains

Two Crusafontina (Mammalia, Insectivora) fossils from the Miocene of the Transdanubian Central Range (Hungary)

Two isolated teeth of Anourosoricini shrews, Crusafontina (Mammalia, Insectivora, Soricidae) are present in this paper. A complete left maxillary molar was found in the Sarmatian (Middle Miocene) locality of Várpalota Lignite Mine, Pit III. The species is different from all known Crusafontina species in its smaller size and less reduced talone of this tooth, so we described it as Crusafontina sp. On the basis of its less evolved morphology, the here described form seems the most ancient known species of the genus. A fragmented upper molar of Crusafontina kormosi (Bachmayer & Wilson 1970) came from the Late Miocene locality of Tihany, Fehér-part. The most probable age of the remain is Early Turolian. It might have been transported by flowing water to the Late Miocene lacustrine basin and indicates well watered, wooded environment in the surroundings

Uppermost Pleistocene shrews (Mammalia, Soricidae) from Vaskapu Cave (N-Hungary)

Three shrew species (Sorex araneus LINNAEUS1758, Sorex minutus LlNNAEUS1766 and Sorex alpinus SHINZ1837) were found in the fossiliferous sediments of Vaskapu Cave, near Felsötárkány. The probable stratigraphical position of the sample is Upper Pleistocene, Pilisszántó Horizon (Upper Würm), about 15,000 years B.P. A cold period of the Late Pleistocene with wooded environment is indicated by the soricid assemblage

Kordosia, a new genus for some Late Miocene Amblycoptini shrews (Mammalia, Insectivora)

A very rich and weil preserved Late Turolian soricid material (formerly named Amblycoptus topali JÁNOSSY 1972) is described, which have been found in Polgárdi quarry, Locality 5. Detailed anatomical studies of these remains constituted the basis for description of the new genus Kordosia and for drawing some phylogenetical and ecological conclusions. Morphological characters suggest this genus to be closer relatived to Anourosorex than Amblycoptus. On the basis of Mediterranean occurrence of Kordosia ? jessiae (DOUKAS1995), an other member of this genus, a relatively warm elimate is indicated

Palaeogeography and environment of the Late Miocene Soricidae (Mammalia) faunae of the Pannonian Basin

The article presents the palaeobiogeographical and palaeoecological results of the examinations of eleven Vallesian and Turolian shrew faunae found in the Pannonian Basin. While in the MN 9-ll Zones of the Late Miocene in the greater part of Europe a subtropical clirnate was dominant, the Soricidae and other vertebrate fauna elements in the Pannonian Basin's northern and western areas which had become lands reflect much more extreme conditions; forests and grassland plains alternated with each other, and in places desert tracts may have appeared. Probably the wind-sheltering effect of the Alps and Carpathians, which by the MN 9 Zone already had profiles of high mountain ranges, created the drier and, from the point-of-view of temperature, more extreme climate. This is supported by the fact that the migrations and evolutionary connections of the Soricidae faunae show the Pannonian Basin to have been elosed to the north and west, and open to the south. In the MN 10-11 Zones the parts of Transdanubia which had become island sometimes became isolated from the eastern mainland of the Pannonian Basin

Late Miocene Soricidae (Mammalia) fauna from Tardosbánya (Western Hungary)

The Soricidae (Mamrnalia, Insectivora) elements of the rich and well preserved fossil vertebrate fauna from Tardosbánya limestone quarry (Western Hungary, Gerecse Mountains) are presented. Five species could have been identified from the material: Amblycoptus oligodon KORMOS 1926, Crusafontina konnosi (BACHMAYER& WILSON, 1970), Blarinella dubia (BACHMAYER and WILSON, 1970), Episoricuius gibberodon (PETÉNYI, 1864) and Paenelimnoecus repenningi (BACHMAYER & WILSON, 1970). The occurrence of Crusafantina, B. dubia and P. repenningi indicates that the age of the sarnple is Late Miocene. The morphometrical studies on C. konnosi, and the morphology and the low relative frequency of A. oligodon suggest that the fauna is correlative with the Turolian MN 12 Zone. The occurrence of A. oligodon, C. konnosi and E. gibberodon indicates well watered, forested environment

Soricidae (Mammalia, Insectivora) remains from three Late Miocene localities in western Hungary

The Soricidae fauna of Sümeg, Csákvár and Széchenyi Hill (Hungary) is presented. The following taxa were identified in the fauna: Dinosorex sp., Amblycoptus oligodon KORMOS1926, Crusafontina endernica GIBERT1974, Crusafontina vicina (KRETZOJ,1954), Blarinella dubia (BACHMAYER&WILSON,1970), Paenelimnoecus repenningi (BACHMAYER& WILSON,1970), Soricidae gen. et sp. indet. The soricids supply new additions for the determining the detailed stratigraphic position of the localites. Based on the shrew material alI the three assemblages are correlative with the Late Miocene (Sümeg: Vallesian, Csákvár and Széchenyi HiU: Turolian). The present soricids, occurred in these localities, are suggestive of well watered, wooded environments

Taxonomical revision of the Late Würm Sorex (Mammalia, Insectivora) remains of Hungary, for proving the presence of an alpine ecotype in the Pilisszántó Horizon

Fossil bone assemblages of 14 localities, ranged in the Pilisszántó Horizon (Late Würm), are stored in the collection of the Geological Museum of Hungary and Hungarian Natural History Museum. Sorex araneus findings were reported from five of them (Balla Cave, Bivak Cave, Peskő Cave, Petényi Cave, Pilisszántó Shelter). Taxonomic revision of S. araneus showed that several specimens belong to S. alpinus in Balla Cave and Petényi Cave. The presence of this form, supported by other Boreo-Alpine fauna elements, indicates not only a significantly cold climate in the Pilisszántó Horizon, but the development of a special ecotype in the named localities. However. as the sites are only 400–800 m above see level, mountainous relief and periglacial climate yielded open mountain vegetation above the zone of pine forests

'On the difference between the short and long gamma-ray bursts'

We argue that the distributions of both the intrinsic fluence and the intrinsic duration of the gamma-ray emission in gamma-ray bursts from the BATSE sample are well represented by log-normal distributions, in which the intrinsic dispersion is much larger than the cosmological time dilatation and redshift effects. We perform separate bivariate log-normal distribution fits to the BATSE short and long burst samples. The bivariate log-normal behaviour results in an ellipsoidal distribution, whose major axis determines an overall statistical relation between the fluence and the duration. We show that this fit provides evidence for a power-law dependence between the fluence and the duration, with a statistically significant different index for the long and short groups. We discuss possible biases, which might affect this result, and argue that the effect is probably real. This may provide a potentially useful constraint for models of long and short bursts.Comment: A.A. in press ; significantly revised version of astro-ph/0007438; 16 pages 5 PS figure

A magyarországi késő miocén cickányok (Soricidae) paleoökológiai jelentősége

A magyarországi késı miocén cickányfaunából fokozatosan eltőnı Crocidosoricinae és Heterosoricinae fajok, valamint a helyükre Ázsiából bevándorolt Soricinae fajok jól mutatják az Európában lezajlott környezetváltozásokat. A Kárpát-medence éghajlata a korábbiakhoz képest szárazabbá és hımérsékleti szempontból szélsıségesebbé vált. A Soricinae-bevándorlás két nagy hullámban történt. Az elsı a késı miocén elején, kb. 10 millió évvel ezelıtt következett be, a második 8–6 millió év között folyamatosan zajlott. A lelıhelyeken elıfordult genusok közül a Crusafontina, a Paenelimnoecus, és az Amblycoptus a jó vízellátottságú, erdıs vegetációk indikátorai. Az Episoriculus genus olyan nyílt vízfelület közelségét jelzi, amelyet zárt növénytakaró szegélyezett. A Kordosia genus a nyílt, füves társulásokat kedvelte. A Blarinella genus a neogénben a szárazabb, nyílt, füves és a nedvesebb, erdıs társulásokban egyaránt elıfordult. Alsótelekes, Rudabánya, Sümeg, Csákvár, Tihany, Tardosbánya, Egyházasdengeleg, Széchenyi-hegy, Polgárdi 2. és 4. cickányközössége szárazabb tágabb környezetben, valamilyen helyi hatásra (hegyvidéki éghajlat vagy lokális víztömeg) kialakuló, jó vízellátottságú, erdıs vegetációhoz kapcsolódik. Polgárdi 5. faunája erdıtlen karsztvidék nyílt füves társulását jelzi