The late Miocene mammal faunas of the Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)

International audienceThis study represents the first extensive systematic investigation of the Miocene mammalian faunas of the Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), stored in the Macedonian Museum of Natural History, Skopje. They range in age from perhaps the early Miocene to the early Ruscinian, but the bulk of the fossils represent middle Turolian mammals. At least 57 taxa have been identified, from 25 different paleontological sites, mostly from the Vardar and Strumitsa river basins, but also from the Morievo and Delchevo regions. The richest localities are the middle Turolian localities of Karaslari (with 22 species) and Kiro Kuchuk (17 species). The rich fossil material greatly improves our knowledge of the Turolian Hipparion faunas of the Balkan-Iranian zoogeographic paleo-province, whose westernmost part was mostly documented in Greece and Bulgaria. The fauna displays the typical faunal features of the Balkan Pikermian biome, with dominance of hipparions (especially H. brachypus, but our revision does not confirm the presence of Hipparion verae in the Turolian faunas) and bovids such as Gazella, Tragoportax, and spiral-horned antelopes. Other forms usually found in the area, such as Microstonyx erymanthius, Dihoplus pikermiensis, chalicotheres, Choerolophodon pentelici, Mesopithecus pentelicus, or Adcrocuta eximia are also common. Several new forms have been identified among the carnivores, the giraffids and the bovids. The Macedonian material contributes to reconstructing the history of several taxa such as Simocyon, Metailurus, several hipparion species, Propotamochoerus, Bohlinia, Sivatherium. The most noticeable features of these Turolian faunas are: the abundance of spiral-horned antelopes, and rarity of antelopes of the Protoryx-Pachytragus group, as in Bulgaria, the co-existence of chalicotheriins and schizotheriins, the frequency of Dihoplus compared to Ceratotherium, the presence of Chilotherium, which reaches its westernmost longitude, and the presence of Anancus sp. in some localities, considered here as post-Pikermian