Small mammals from Vértesacsa as a contribution to chronology of the late Miocene Zagyva Formation (W Hungary)

The small fossils (Rodentia and Eulipotyphla) from Csönget-Völgy near Vértesacsa in Western Hungary are pre¬sented herein; and although the assemblage contains relatively poor material, we describe nine rodent taxa and two insec¬tivore species. The rodents are Apodemus lugdunensis, Kowalskia cf. polgardiensis, Anomalospalax cf. tardosi, Lophocricetus cf. cimishliensis, Keramidomys ermannorum, Eomyops sp., Muscardinus sp., Spermophilinus sp., and fragmentary beaver remains. Insectivores include Petenyia hungarica and Asoriculus gibberodon. Correlation with Turolian, late Miocene is proposed based on rodent assemblage. A minor overlap of presented biostratigraphic age with authigenic 10Be/9Be ages obtained from the same locality is discussed. This locality adds important information to our knowledge of deposits and chronology of the late Miocene Zagyva Formation

First record of fossil anguines (Squamata; Anguidae) from the Oligocene and Miocene of Turkey

Fossil anguine lizard specimens from several Turkish localities are described in this paper. The material comes from ten different localities, spanning a large geographic area consisting of both parts of the European Turkey and Anatolia, and ranging in age from the Oligocene to the Late Miocene. In certain cases, the generic determination was possible and, accordingly, members of Ophisaurus and Anguis were identified and described in detail. The specimens of Anguis, found in different, Middle and Late Miocene localities from Anatolia, represent two of only a few fossil occurrences of this taxon. Moreover, the material reported herein represents the oldest occurrences of anguine lizards, not only from Turkey, but from southeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean basin as a whole. These rare records provide important information about the dispersal routes of anguines from Europe to Asia and significantly enhance our understanding of their biogeography

SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHY OF THE NORTHERN DANUBE BASIN (SLOVAKIA)

Danube Basin Upper Miocene to Pliocene development is well recorded in its sedimentary succession, where three depositional sequences were documented (marked DB1, DB2 and DB3). First lacustrine depositional cycle (DB1) comprises the Lower to lowermost Upper Pannonian sediments (A–F zones sensu Papp 1951) represented by the Ivánka Formation and lower part of the Beladice Formation, deposited in time span 11.6–(9.7?) 8.9 Ma. Second lacustrine to alluvial depositional cycle (DB2) comprises the Upper Pannonian sediments (F, G and H zones sensu Papp 1951) represented by the upper part of the Beladice Formation and Volkovce Formation, deposited in time span 8.9 – 6.3? Ma. Third, alluvial depositional cycle (DB3) comprises the Danube Basin Upper Pliocene sediments represented by the Romanian Kolárovo Formation, dated 4.1? – 2.6 Ma

Rodents from the Upper Miocene Tuğlu Formation (Çankırı Basin, Central Anatolia, Turkey)

The upper Miocene assemblages of rodents collected from two layers of the type section of the Tuğlu Formation (Çankırı Basin, Central Anatolia, Turkey) are described. The assemblage from the lower level is considerably less diverse than that from the upper level. It contains Progonomys together with Megacricetodon, which is a very unusual association. The assemblage from the upper layer shows a relatively high diversity with four species of Gliridae instead of only one in the lower layer. Apart from the more diverse Gliridae, Byzantinia sp., Spermophilinus, Keramidomys and Myocricetodon appear in the upper layer. The absence of Murinae in the assemblage from the upper layer is very unexpected, because they usually become dominant soon after their arrival. Their unusual subsequent absence may be either due to a significant change from an open and humid environment to a more dry and wooded environment or to taphonomic bias. Both rodent faunas are assigned to local zone I, which is correlated to the lower Vallesian (MN9)

A new early Pliocene locality Tepe Alagoz (Turkey) reveals a distinctive tooth phenotype of Trischizolagus (Lagomorpha, Leporidae) in Asia Minor

Pliocene leporid remains are very rare in Anatolia, occurring sporadically only in a few localities. The new locality of Tepe Alagoz (cankin Basin) is the first reported Pliocene locality in Turkey with sufficiently rich leporid material for determination of morphometric variability in taxonomically important teeth. The locality also yielded remains of the rodents Occitanomys debruijni, Allocricetus cf. ehiki, Pseudomeriones hansi, and an ochotonid lagomorph. The assemblage suggests an early Pliocene age (MN14) of about the same age or somewhat older than that in igdeli (Sivas Basin). The medium-sized leporid is characterized by p3 of almost exclusively a "Nekrolagus" pattern with narrow anteroconid and very variable anteroflexid. It is associated with P2 bearing short paraflexus, long hypoflexus, and moderately developed mesoflexus, and 11 which is anteroposteriorly shortened with a shallow, V-shaped, cement-free anterior notch. The leporid was co-identified with Trischizolagus gambariani described from the coeval locality Nurnus (Armenia). A lectotype designation and emended diagnosis of the species are provided in this paper. The available fossil record of Trischizolagus indicates that the northwestern part of the peri-Paratethyan area was inhabited by T dumitrescuae, but to the south and southeast by distinct T gambariani. The only other proven finding of Trischizolagus from Anatolia was reported from Tozaklar (MN15), but due to the scarcity of fossil material a definite species determination is impossible

Sabuncubeli too, Bornova, a second micromammal assemblage from the Sabuncubeli section (early Miocene, western Anatolia

An old test sample from the Sabuncubeli Formation (Manisa, Turkey) yielded an interesting faunule, which, however, up to now had never been described. In Bornova 183, now inaccessible, five species of micromammal were encountered: the hamsters Eumyarion aff. montanus, E. intercentralis and Cricetodon kasapligili, the squirrel Palaeosciurus fissurae and the talpid Desmanodon sp. The locality is known to be in superposition to the previously published locality of Sabuncubeli. A new sample of the latter provided five new elements to the fauna: the mole Theratiskos sp., the dimylid Turkodimylus sp., the shrew Oligosorex aff. reumeri, the glirid Glirulus ekremi and a bat Vespertilionidae gen. et sp. The high diversity of insectivores in the locality confirms a humid environment for Sabuncubeli. Both assemblages are referable to local zone D or MN unit 3. However, differences in the stage of evolution of some faunal elements suggest a considerable time difference, indicating that the Sabuncubeli formation covers at least a major part of this time period.This study was funded by National Geographic grant “Palaeogeography of mammals following the collision of the African and Eurasian plates”(GEFNE 140-15). MB has obtained Synthesys (NL-TAF-5889 and ES-TAF-7048) and Comenius University grants of doctoral students (UK/123/2019). This study was supported by the Ege University (TTM/001/2016) and (TTM/002/2016) to TK, SM and MB. PJ was partly supported by Slovak Scientific Grant Agency (VEGA1/0702/17) and SRDA (APVV-15-0575) and MB by (VEGA 1/0164/19). LHO acknowledges the support of Tübitak under the visiting researcher program

The age and paleoenvironment of a late Miocene floodplain alongside Lake Pannon: Rodent and mollusk biostratigraphy coupled with authigenic 10Be/9Be dating in the northern Danube Basin of Slovakia

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New faunas of small mammals from old Harami mine (early Miocene, Anatolia, Turkey)

Two new small mammal assemblages from the abandoned Harami lignite mine, as an addition to previously known Harami assemblages, provide a better insight in the palaeoenvironments in Anatolia in local Biozone C (MN 2, early Miocene). Based on the new material, the Eumyarion assemblages are considered to consist of three, rather than two species, in line with the situation in younger localities in the region. Eumyarion strongly dominates the highly diverse assemblages of Harami 1 and 4, which are interpreted as indicative of a swamp. By contrast, Latocricetodon is the most common murid in Harami 3, which may represent more marshy conditions. The small fauna from Harami 5 is clearly younger that the other assemblages. It indicates a local change to more open conditions.This work was funded by National Geographic grant Palaeogeography of mammals following the collision of the Africanand Eurasian plates (GEFNE 140-15). This study was also supportedby SRDA under Grant APVV-15-0575 and VEGA 1/0702/17. PJ, PPCand LHO gratefully acknowledge the support of Ege University short-term research grants. LHO acknowledges gratefully the support of Tübitak under the 2221 program for visiting scientists

Early Miocene insectivores of Gökler (Kazan Basin, Central Anatolia, Turkey)

Unlike the rodents of the local zone C (MN 2) fauna of Gökler, the faunal list of the insectivores shows little surprises. The fauna is dominated by the gymnure Galerix saratji and the enigmatic talpid Suleimania ruemkae, both present in such numbers that for the first time the anterior dentition could be reconstructed. In the case of Galerix, these new data show that the older species had a relatively long premolar row and a conspicuously high p2/p3 ratio. Other eulipotyphlans are the moles Theratiskos rutgeri and Desmanodon sp., the dimylid Turkodimylus sp., the heterosoricid Dinosorex anatolicus and the shrews Oligosorex aff. reumeri and Soricid I. Overall, the diversity indicates a humid environment, as is usual for the early Miocene lignite bed faunas of Anatolia. The relatively low number of Theratiskos, shared with other B-C faunas from central Anatolia, suggests a difference between the environments in that region and those further to the south.This research was part of the Vertical Anatolian Movements Project (VAMP), funded by the TOPO-EUROPE programme of the European Science Foundation and the Slovak Researchand Development Agency (SRDA-project number ESF-EC-009-07 and project APVV-15-0575). PJ was partly supported by the Slovak Scientific Grant Agency (VEGA 1/0702/17). LHO gratefully acknowledges the support of Tübitak under the 2221 programme for visiting scientists and particularly thanks his hosts Serdar Mayda and Tanju Kaya and the staffof the EGE Natural History Museum for the warm reception during hisstay. MB was supported by EGE University (TTM/001/2016, TTM/002/2016) and the Slovak Scientific Grant Agency (VEGA 1/0164/19). EGE University also provided short-term research grants for LHO, PJ and PPC, facilitating the international cooperation on the history of Anatolia