Basel–Tuscany, a long-lasting link

A significant contribution of Burkart Engesser to fieldsurveys and palaeontological studies is undoubtedly on theLate Miocene faunas from Maremma in southern Tuscany,especially the celebrated Baccinello basin in the Grossetodistrict. This is not just a coincidence, but is the continu-ation of a long tradition.The interest of successive Palaeontologists of theNaturhistorisches Museum Basel (NMB) in Tuscan fossilsand fossiliferous localities has a long history that datesback to the second half of the nineteenth century. Thisstarted with Ludwig Ru¨timeyer (1825–1895) who was theprofessor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at theUniversity of Basel in 1855. Ru¨timeyer was mainly inter-ested in the natural history of Tertiary mammal species,and a number of specimens from Italy (as well as fromother countries in Europe, especially France) were acquiredby the NMB during his period of activity.The interest in the Tuscan mammal fossil record becameparticularly strong thanks to the activity of CharlesImmanuel Forsyth Major (1843–1923), a physician ofScottish origin who grew up in Switzerland. He graduatedin Medicine in Basel in 1868 and started his professionalpractice in Florence (Italy) where he stayed for about adecade. As many nineteenth century medical doctors,however, he was fascinated by natural history and devotedmuch of his spare time to the study of fossil mammals. Hisinterest in extinct vertebrates exceeded his dedication tomedicine, so that he finally decided to cease practising inthe mid 1880s. Forsyth Major was a correspondent ofCharles Darwin (Cioppi & Dominici, 2010), and his nameappears three times in the second edition of The Descent ofMan (a much improved edition, published in 1874) aboutsexual dimorphisms in fossil pigs tusks, about the occur-rence of fossil apes in Europe, and about a bovid skull''wholly without horns'' from Upper Valdarno, believed tobe that of a ''Bos etruscus'' female. The latter is an issuethat re-addresses us to the story of the Basel-Florenceexchanges. About this specimen (housed in the collectionof the Florence Museum), Forsyth Major (1874, 1890) wasin disagreement with ''the leading authority in the field ofTertiary Ruminants'', i.e. Ru¨timeyer. The eminent palae-ontologist from Basel (Ru¨timeyer, 1878) described thisspecimen as type of a new species (Leptobos strozzii), lateron formally synonymzed to L. etruscus by Forsyth Major(1890). Forsyth Major's main interests were especiallyPrimates and, more generally speaking, Plio-Pleistocenemammals (e.g. among others, Forsyth Major, 1872,1875–1877, 1890). His entire scientific production clearlyshows how deep his attention was for Tuscan vertebratefossils, and whilst he was active in Florence, he system-atically searched for new material, mainly in Tuscany butalso in other Italian regions (Sardinia, Calabria, Sicily),bringing hundreds of specimens to the Florence Museum.Forsyth Major had intensive relationships with colleaguesand institutions across Europe and in Basel too. Samplescollected during his Italian field surveys are now housed inseveral museums, amongst others in the Natural History,London, in the Colle`ge Gaillard in Lausanne (Switzerland),and in the Naturhistorisches Museum Basel.Other Tuscan material (namely from Upper Valdarno)kept in Basel from the Plio-Pleistocene of Italy was boughtby another eminent Basel palaeontologist, Hans GeorgStehlin (1870–1941). He was the president of the board ofthe Naturhistorisches Museum from 1920 to 1940 and astudent of Ludwig Ru¨timeyer at the University of Basel

Mesopithecus (Primates: Cercopithecoidea) from Villafranca d'Asti (Early Villafranchian; NW Italy) and palaeoecological context of its extinction

Remains of the cercopithecid Mesopithecus monspessulanus are relatively rare. Two previously unpublished mandibles of M. monspessulanus (housed in the Basel Naturhistorisches Museum), from the Italian locality of Villafranca d'Asti are described. These remains belong to the assemblage of the Triversa Faunal Unit, dated to the Early Villafranchian, that is to the unit MN16a (Middle Pliocene) of the European mammal biochronology. According to this recently revised biochronological attribution, Villafranca d'Asti records the last Mesopithecus occurrence in Europe. The NOW (Neogene Old World) database has been used as a basis to evaluate both the mammalian faunal and the palaeoenvironmental context at the time surrounding this last occurrence of Mesopithecus. The comparison (taxonomical composition and ungulate hypsodonty), between the Villafranca d'Asti assemblage and other Plio-Pleistocene mammal communities of Europe, shows that the extinction of Mesopithecus is related to a faunal turnover and a change toward more open landscapes during the Early–Middle Villafranchian transition. This is consistent with the "Elephant-Equus event", that occurred in Europe at 2.5 Ma. Furthermore, the co-occurring but more terrestrial cercopithecid Macaca crossed this faunal turnover. This strengthens the assumption that the latest Mesopithecus species, M. monspessulanus, had woodland-oriented adaptations

TECTONO-STRATIGRAPHIC REVISION OF THE AIT KANDOULA FORMATION (MIDDLE MIOCENE-PLIOCENE), WESTERN OUARZAZATE BASIN (SOUTHERN MOROCCO)

This paper reports the results of a stratigraphic revision of the Ait Kandoula Formation exposed in the western Ouarzazate Basin (Middle Miocene-Lower Pliocene, Southern Morocco). This formation is part of the upper Eocene-Quaternary continental Imerhane Group considered to record the main stage in the building of the Central High Atlas (CHA) under a regime of tectonic inversion of Mesozoic rifted basins. The development of this chain during the late Cenozoic generated a south-verging structural front and the related Ait Kandoula and Ait Seddrat sub-basins facing the wider Ouarzazate foreland basin. The revision of the Ait Kandoula Formation, occurring in both the Ouarzazate Basin and Ait Kandoula sub-basin, was carried out through new field observations, remote sensing and exploiting the distribution and the biochronologic range of fossil micro- and macro-vertebrate associations available from previous studies. In the western Ouarzazate Basin four stratigraphic-depositional sub-units (AK1-4) were distinguished in this formation, attesting to the development of a fluvio-lacustrine setting. This was strongly influenced by the syn-depositional deformation of the growing southern front of the CHA and by the episodic activity of shear zones oriented transversally to this front. The chronostratigraphic constraint provided by the mammal assemblages and by their magnetostratigraphic calibration, suggests a five-stage scenario for the tectono-sedimentary development of this actively deforming front and its related foreland and satellite depocentres between the Middle Miocene and the Early Pliocene. In the proposed reconstruction, the interplay of front-parallel thrust faults and front-transverse shear zones controlled the fluvial supply to the Ouarzazate Basin and later on the activation of the Ait Kandoula sub-basin.&nbsp

A Late Occurring “Hipparion” from the middle Villafranchian of Monopoly, Italy (early Pleistocene; MN16b; ca. 2.5 Ma)

We report here for the first time the occurrence in the Montopoli large mammal fossil assemblage of a small equid taxon identified as “Hipparion” sp., associated to the monodactyl large horse Equus cf. livenzovensis. This occurrence has been recognised on a specimen that the late De Giuli (1938-1988) identified as Hipparion sp. in unpublished notes available in the archives of the Vertebrate Palaeontology Laboratory of the Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra at the Università degli Studi di Firenze. Although fragmentary, the specimen documents the occurrence of “Hipparion” at the middle Villafranchian (early Pleistocene, ca. 2.5 Ma) site of Montopoli, one of the latest occurrences of an hipparionine horse in western Europe. The western Eurasian “Hipparion” evolutionary history is summarised herein

Canis etruscus (Canidae, Mammalia) and its role in the faunal assemblage from Pantalla (Perugia, central Italy): comparison with the Late Villafranchian large carnivore guild of Italy

A  very  rich  faunal  assemblage  referred  to  the  early  Late  Villafranchian  (Olivola/Tasso  Faunal  Unit)  has  been  found  at  the  Early  Pleistocene  site  of  Pantalla  (Perugia, central  Italy). The  assemblage  contains  a  number  of carnivores,  including  several  specimens  of   the  Etruscan  wolf  Canis  etruscus  Forsyth  Major,  1877. Canis  etruscus The  Late  Villafranchian  assemblage  from  Pantalla  provides  valuable  information  about  the  Early  Pleistocene  carnivore  guild  in  Italy.   Together  with  the  Etruscan  wolf  (probably  a  cooperative  species  hunting  in  packs)  and  Vulpes  sp.,  the  Pantalla  faunal  assemblage  also  records   the   occurrence   of   two   felids,   Lynx   issiodorensis   (Croizet   &   Jobert,   1828)   and   the   giant   cheetah   Acinonyx   pardinensis   (Croizet   &   Jobert,   1828)

INVESTIGATING ECOLOGICAL AND PHYLOGENETIC CONSTRAINTS IN HIPPOPOTAMIDAE SKULL SHAPE

Hippopotamidae are a group of large-sized mammals of interest for testing evolutionary traits in time and space. Variation in skull shape within Hippopotamidae is here investigated by means of shape analysis (Geometric Morphometrics) and modern statistical approaches. Two-dimensional shape analysis is applied to dorsal and lateral views of extant and extinct Hippopotamidae species sufficiently preserved to allow their morphology to be captured by landmark and semi-landmark digitization. The results show that Hippopotamus gorgops and H. antiquus display similar shapes, while Hexaprotodon palaeindicus falls within the morphospace occupied by H. amphibius, suggesting similar morphology. The cranial shape of the Sicilian hippopotamus (H. pentlandi) still resembles that of H. amphibius in lateral view, suggesting that adaptation to the insular domain was yet not fully attained. Madagascan hippopotamuses (H. madagascariensis and H. lemerlei) are close to the pygmy hippo, Choeropsis liberiensis, in PC1 values; nevertheless, the cranial shape of the Madagascan hippos seems not to be closely related to the cranial shape of C. liberiensis. Despite the morphological convergences within the group, while cranial shape in Hippopotamidae is phylogenetically structured, this does not hold for size. Although further investigations are needed to test the influence of ecological and palaeoecological parameters on the general shape to provide additional information for understanding Hippopotamidae evolution and adaptation, the present study provides an insight into the evolutionary framework of Hippopotamidae