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Late Miocene Proboscidea (Mammalia) from Macedonia and Samos Island, Greece: preliminary results

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Abstract

The abundant Late Miocene proboscidean remains of Greece have never been studied in detail and compared with those of Eurasia in order to determine their taxonomy and their biostratigraphical and palaeoecological significance. The first results of such study are given in this article. During the past decades, several new proboscidean specimens have been added to the old collections, significantly enriching the available material. The Axios Valley (Macedonia, Greece) proboscidean fossils belong mainly to two species of Choerolophodon: C. anatolicus of early Vallesian age and C. pentelici of late Vallesian–Turolian age. Deinotherium giganteum is rare and recognized only in the late Vallesian locality Ravin de la Pluie of Axios Valley. A zygodont form has also been identified in the Turolian of Axios Valley, attributed to “Mammut” sp. The Late Miocene localities of Nikiti (Macedonia, Greece) revealed several remains of C. pentelici, which are similar to the Turolian ones of Axios Valley. The Samos proboscidean collection includes C. pentelici, “Tetralophodon” atticus, “Mammut” sp. and Deinotherium gigantissimum. The taxonomy of the Late Miocene peri-Mediterranean Choerolophodon is given, and the biostratigraphy and palaeoecology of the Greek Late Miocene proboscideans are discussed.

Kurzfassung

Die obermiozänen Proboscidier aus Griechenland, obwohl sie ziemlich verbreitet sind, wurden niemals im Detail untersucht und mit anderen aus Eurasien verglichen, um ihre Taxonomie, Biostratigraphie und Paläoökologie zu bestimmen. Die ersten Ergebnisse dieser Studie sind in diesem Artikel präsentiert. In den letzten Jahrzehnten kamen viele neue Proboscidier-Funde hinzu und bereichern erheblich das Material der alten Sammlungen. Der Großteil der Proboscidea-Fauna aus dem Axios Tal (Mazedonien, Griechenland) wurde der Gattung Choerolophodon mit zwei Arten zugewiesen: C. anatolicus aus dem unteren Vallesium und C. pentelici aus dem oberen Vallesium-Turolium. Die Art Deinotherium giganteum ist selten und wurde nur in der oberen Vallesium Fundstelle Ravin de la Pluie des Axios Tals nachgewiesen. Eine zygodonte Form ist aus dem Turolium des Axios Tals bekannt und wurde der Gattung “Mammut” zugewiesen. Aus den obermiozänen Fundstellen Nikiti (Mazedonien, Griechenland) stammen zahlreiche Reste von C. pentelici, die denjenigen aus dem Turolium des Axios Tals ähneln. Die Proboscidier-Fauna aus Samos enthält die Arten C. pentelici, “Tetralophodon” atticus, “Mammut” sp. und Deinotherium gigantissimum. Die Taxonomie der obermiozänen Arten von Choerolophodon um den Mittelmeerraum wird vorgestellt und die Biostratigraphie und Paläoökologie der griechischen Proboscidier aus dem Oberen Miozän werden besprochen.

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Abbreviations

AMNH:

American Museum of Natural History (New York, USA)

AMPG:

Athens Museum of Palaeontology and Geology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece)

BSPG:

Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie, München (Germany)

FSL:

Faculté des Sciences de Lyon (France)

GPIH:

Geologisch-Paläontologisches Institut, Hamburg (Germany)

HGI:

Hungarian Geological Institute (Budapest)

LGPUT:

Laboratory of Geology and Palaeontology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece)

MGL:

Musée Cantonal de Géologie, Lausanne (Switzerland)

NHMA:

Natural History Museum of the Aegean, Mytilinii (Samos Island, Greece)

NHMUK:

Natural History Museum United Kingdom (London)

NHMW:

Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (Austria)

MNHN:

Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris, France)

SU:

Palaeontology Museum of the Sofia University (Bulgaria)

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Acknowledgments

G. Konidaris would like to thank the following persons for allowing access to collections and offering help during his stay at the various museums and institutions: Prof. P. Tassy (MNHN), Dr. U. Göhlich (NHMW), Dr. A. Currant and Dr. C. Delmer (NHMUK), Dr. G. Rössner (BSPG), Dr. U. Kotthoff (GPIH), Prof. L. Kordos (HGI), Dr. M. Gasparik (HNHM Budapest), Dr. R. Marchant (MGL), Dr. M. Ivanov (SU) and A. Prieur (Université Lyon 1). Always valuable are the conversations with Assist. Prof. D. Kostopoulos (LGPUT), Lecturer S. Roussiakis (Univ. of Athens), Dr. A. Athanassiou (Hellenic Ministry of Culture), Prof. P. Tassy (MNHN) and Dr. G. Markov (NMNH Sofia). Special thanks go to Prof. G. Theodorou (Univ. of Athens) for the opportunity to study the Pikermi collection and to participate in the new Pikermi excavation series, and also to Dr. S. Sen for the wholehearted hospitality during his stay in Paris. Financial support was given by SYNTHESYS (European Union-funded Integrated Activities grant) for visits of the first author to Vienna (AT-TAF-3825), London (GB-TAF-864) and Budapest (HU-TAF-1683) and by the international collaborative grant PICS CNRS 5182 (CNRS & Aristotle University of Thessaloniki; PIs: G. Merceron & D. Kostopoulos) for visits to Lyon and Lausanne. We would like to thank Prof. P. Tassy for the comments on a premature version of this article, Dr. K. Vasileiadou (Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest) for the linguistic improvement of the text and all colleagues who participated in the excavations and prepared fossils all these years. Many thanks go to Dr. U. Göhlich and one anonymous reviewer for their useful comments on the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Geology, Laboratory of Geology and Palaeontology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloníki, Greece

    George E. Konidaris & George D. Koufos

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  1. George E. Konidaris
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Table 2 Dental measurements (in mm) of Choerolophodon from various Late Miocene localities of Greece
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Konidaris, G.E., Koufos, G.D. Late Miocene Proboscidea (Mammalia) from Macedonia and Samos Island, Greece: preliminary results. Paläontol Z 87, 121–140 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-012-0147-z

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