Морфология и эволюционная позиция раннеплиоценовой полёвки Propliomys jalpugensis из Восточной Европы

Propliomys jalpugensis, a fossil rhizodont vole (late Early Pliocene, late Ruscinian, MN15), is revised based on materials from the type locality Kotlovina (southwestern Ukraine). This form is interpreted as a phyletic stage, marked by dental complication of first lower molar and hypsodonty, intermediate between the preceding late Early Pliocene Propliomys kowalskii and P. destinatus, and successive Late Pliocene Propliomys ucrainicus. Molar enamel of P. jalpugensis shows a pattern with the radial enamel in leading edges, occasionally with the incipient lamellar enamel, and the inner radial and outer primitive tangental enamel in trailing and closing edges © RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF THERIOLOGY, 2022Government Council on Grants, Russian FederationWe thank the technical staff of the Geological Institute RAS, Paleontological Institute RAS, and the Ural Center for Shared Use “Modern nanotechnology” SNSM UrFU for the assistance with SEM microscopy and preparing of helped to refine the manuscript. The work was supported by Act 211 Government of the Russian Federation, contract No. 02.A03.21.0006. This work conforms to the scientific plan of the Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of SciencesACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. We thank the technical staff of the Geological Institute RAS, Paleontological Institute RAS, and the Ural Center for Shared Use “Modern nanotechnology” SNSM UrFU for the assistance with SEM microscopy and preparing of samples. We thank the two reviewers for comments that helped to refine the manuscript. The work was supported by Act 211 Government of the Russian Federation, contract No. 02.A03.21.0006. This work conforms to the scientific plan of the Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Quaternary time scales for the Pontocaspian domain: interbasinal connectivity and faunal evolution

The Pontocaspian (Black Sea - Caspian Sea) region has a very dynamic history of basin development and biotic evolution. The region is the remnant of a once vast Paratethys Sea. It contains some of the best Eurasian geological records of tectonic, climatic and paleoenvironmental change. The Pliocene-Quaternary co-evolution of the Black Sea-Caspian Sea is dominated by major changes in water (lake and sea) levels resulting in a pulsating system of connected and isolated basins. Understanding the history of the region, including the drivers of lake level and faunal evolution, is hampered by indistinct stratigraphic nomenclature and contradicting time constraints for regional sedimentary successions. In this paper we review and update the late Pliocene to Quaternary stratigraphic framework of the Pontocaspian domain, focusing on the Black Sea Basin, Caspian Basin, Marmara Sea and the terrestrial environments surrounding these large, mostly endorheic lake-sea systems

An aminostratigraphy for the British Quaternary based on Bithynia opercula

Aminostratigraphies of Quaternary non-marine deposits in Europe have been previously based on the racemization of a single amino acid in aragonitic shells from land and freshwater molluscs. The value of analysing multiple amino acids from the opercula of the freshwater gastropod Bithynia, which are composed of calcite, has been demonstrated. The protocol used for the isolation of intra-crystalline proteins from shells has been applied to these calcitic opercula, which have been shown to more closely approximate a closed system for indigenous protein residues. Original amino acids are even preserved in bithyniid opercula from the Eocene, showing persistence of indigenous organics for over 30 million years. Geochronological data from opercula are superior to those from shells in two respects: first, in showing less natural variability, and second, in the far better preservation of the intra-crystalline proteins, possibly resulting from the greater stability of calcite. These features allow greater temporal resolution and an extension of the dating range beyond the early Middle Pleistocene. Here we provide full details of the analyses for 480 samples from 100 horizons (75 sites), ranging from Late Pliocene to modern. These show that the dating technique is applicable to the entire Quaternary. Data are provided from all the stratotypes from British stages to have yielded opercula, which are shown to be clearly separable using this revised method. Further checks on the data are provided by reference to other type-sites for different stages (including some not formally defined). Additional tests are provided by sites with independent geochronology, or which can be associated with a terrace stratigraphy or biostratigraphy. This new aminostratigraphy for the non-marine Quaternary deposits of southern Britain provides a framework for understanding the regional geological and archaeological record. Comparison with reference to sites yielding independent geochronology, in combination with other lines of evidence, allows tentative correlation with the marine oxygen isotope record

Plio-Pleistocene climatic change had a major impact on the assembly and disassembly processes of Iberian rodent communities

Comprehension of changes in community composition through multiple spatio-temporal scales is a prime challenge in ecology and palaeobiology. However, assembly, structuring and disassembly of biotic metacommunities in deep-time is insufficiently known. To address this, we used the extensively sampled Iberian Plio-Pleistocene fossil record of rodent faunas as our model system to explore how global climatic events may alter metacommunity structure. Through factor analysis, we found five sets of genera, called faunal components, which co-vary in proportional diversity over time. These faunal components had different spatio-temporal distributions throughout the Plio-Pleistocene, resulting in non-random changes in species assemblages, particularly in response to the development of the Pleistocene glaciations. Three successive metacommunities with distinctive taxonomic structures were identified as a consequence of the differential responses of their members to global climatic change: (1) Ruscinian subtropical faunas (5.3–3.4 Ma) dominated by a faunal component that can be considered as a Miocene legacy; (2) transition faunas during the Villafranchian–Biharian (3.4–0.8 Ma) with a mixture of different faunal components; and (3) final dominance of the temperate Toringian faunas (0.8–0.01 Ma) that would lead to the modern Iberian assemblage. The influence of the cooling global temperature drove the reorganisation of these rodent metacommunities. Selective extinction processes due to this large-scale environmental disturbance progressively eliminated the subtropical specialist species from the early Pliocene metacommunity. This disassembly process was accompanied by the organisation of a diversified metacommunity with an increased importance of biome generalist species, and finally followed by the assembly during the middle–late Pleistocene of a new set of species specialised in the novel environments developed as a consequence of the glaciations

Reconciling the stratigraphy and depositional history of the Lycian orogen-top basins, SW Anatolia

Terrestrial fossil records from the SW Anatolian basins are crucial both for regional correlations and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. By reassessing biostratigraphic constraints and incorporating new fossil data, we calibrated and reconstructed the late Neogene and Quaternary palaeoenvironments within a regional palaeogeographical framework. The culmination of the Taurides in SW Anatolia was followed by a regional crustal extension from the late Tortonian onwards that created a broad array of NE-trending orogen-top basins with synchronic associations of alluvial fan, fluvial and lacustrine deposits. The terrestrial basins are superimposed on the upper Burdigalian marine units with a c. 7 myr of hiatus that corresponds to a shift from regional shortening to extension. The initial infill of these basins is documented by a transition from marginal alluvial fans and axial fluvial systems into central shallow-perennial lakes coinciding with a climatic shift from warm/humid to arid conditions. The basal alluvial fan deposits abound in fossil macro-mammals of an early Turolian (MN11–12; late Tortonian) age. The Pliocene epoch in the region was punctuated by subhumid/humid conditions resulting in a rise of local base levels and expansion of lakes as evidenced by marsh-swamp deposits containing diverse fossil mammal assemblages indicating late Ruscinian (late MN15; late Zanclean) age. A second pulse of extension, accompanied by regional climatic changes, prompted subsequent deepening of the lakes as manifested by thick and laterally extensive carbonate successions. These lakes, which prevailed c. 1 myr, later shrank due to renewed progradation of alluvial fans and eventually filled up and dried out, reflected by marsh-swamp deposits at the top of a complete lacustrine succession that contains diverse micro-mammal assemblages indicating a latest Villanyian (MN17; Gelasian) age. A third pulse of tectonic reorganisation and associated extension dissected the basins into their present-day configuration from the early Pleistocene onwards under warm/humid climatic conditions. The new age data provide means to correlate deposits across various basins in the region that help to place the basin development into a regional tectonic framework, which can be attributed to the consequence of the well-articulated regional phenomena of slab-tear/detachment-induced uplift followed by crustal extension and basin formation (late Tortonian), the outward extension of the Aegean arc (early Pliocene) and eventually accompanied by westward extrusion of the Anatolian Plate (early Pleistocene)

Reconciling the stratigraphy and depositional history of the Lycian orogen-top basins, SW Anatolia

Terrestrial fossil records from the SWAnatolian basins are crucial both for regional correlations and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. By reassessing biostratigraphic constraints and incorporating new fossil data, we calibrated and reconstructed the late Neogene andQuaternary palaeoenvironments within a regional palaeogeographical framework. The culmination of the Taurides inSWAnatolia was followed by a regional crustal extension from the late Tortonian onwards that created a broad array of NE-trending orogen-top basins with synchronic associations of alluvial fan, fluvial and lacustrine deposits. The terrestrial basins are superimposed on the upper Burdigalian marine units with a c. 7 myr of hiatus that corresponds to a shift from regional shortening to extension. The initial infill of these basins is documented by a transition from marginal alluvial fans and axial fluvial systems into central shallow-perennial lakes coinciding with a climatic shift from warm/humid to arid conditions. The basal alluvial fan deposits abound in fossil macro-mammals of an early Turolian (MN11–12; late Tortonian) age. The Pliocene epoch in the region was punctuated by subhumid/humid conditions resulting in a rise of local base levels and expansion of lakes as evidenced by marsh-swamp deposits containing diverse fossilmammal assemblages indicating late Ruscinian (lateMN15; late Zanclean) ageWe are grateful for the support of the international bilateral project between The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and The Russian Scientific Foundation (RFBR) with grant a number of 111Y192. M.C.A. is grateful to the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA) for a GEBIP (Young Scientist Award) grant. T.K. and S.M. are grateful to the Ege University Scientific Research Center for the TTM/002/2016 and TTM/001/2016 projects. M.C.A., H.A., S.M. and M.B. have obtained Martin and Temmick Fellowships at Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Leiden). F.A.D. is supported by a Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Scientific Research Grant. T.A.N. is supported by an Alexander-von-Humboldt Scholarship. L.H.O. received support from TUBITAK under the 2221 program for visiting scientists

Plio-Pleistocene Amphibians and Reptiles from Central Turkey: New Faunas and Faunal Records with Comments on their Biochronological Position Based on Small Mammals

Small fossil vertebrates from several Pliocene and Pleistocene localities in Central Anatolia (Turkey) are reviewed. Data on small mammals represent assemblages from the early Pliocene (MN 14: Nasrettinhoca 1, 2 and Hamamkarahisar A, B), and late Pliocene (MN 16: Hoyhoytepe 1, 2, 3 and Mercan 1); Early Pleistocene (MN 17: Mercan 2), and Middle Pleistocene (MQ 1/MQ 2: Yenisa¸rbademli). The biochronology related characters of arvicolines Promimomys, Mimomys, Microtus, Lagurus and Clethrionomys are briefly discussed. Data on the systematics of fossil amphibians and reptiles is also described from these localities. The early Pliocene (MN 14) assemblages significantly add to knowledge on the herpetofaunal composition of this stratigraphic level, which until now was poorly characterized in Turkey. Remains of Pelobatidae, Bufonidae, Ranidae, Amphisbaenia and Natricinae are reported for the first time from the MN 14 biozone of Turkey. Palaeobatrachus from Mercan 1 extends the temporal range of this group in the Eastern Mediterranean into the late Pliocene. The described remains of amphibians and reptiles from Turkey span a considerable stratigraphic range from the early Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene (time interval of about 5 Ma) and partly fill a gap in the palaeoherpetofaunal record of the Eastern Mediterranean. © 2019 Elena Syromyatnikova et al., published by Sciendo 2019