Abstract

Turkey is known for the wealth of fossil suids found in deposits of middle Miocene, late Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene levels but material of this family from early Miocene and Palaeogene deposits is rare in the country, one of the few published occurrences being from Şemsettin (Kumartaş Formation, MN 4, Çankiri-Çorum Basin). For this reason, it is interesting to record the presence of small suid remains in the Soma Formation at Sabuncubeli (Manisa, SW Anatolia) in deposits correlated to MN 3 (early Miocene) and thus the earliest known Turkish members of the family. The upper and lower teeth are herein attributed to a new genus and species (Prolistriodon smyrnensis) of Listriodontinae because, in a nascent way, they show a suite of derived morphological features such as upper central incisors with apical sulci, and upper molars with lingual precrista, found in listriodonts but not in Kubanochoerinae, Palaeochoerinae, Tetracondontinae, Hyotheriinae, Namachoerinae, Cainochoerinae or Suinae.

Key words

Suidae, Turkey, early Miocene, Artiodactyla, Listriodontinae, Prolistriodon smyrnensis gen. et sp. nov., derived characters, folivory, omnivory

Abstract

The late middle Miocene (MN 8) sediments at Nebisuyu, in the southwestern extremity of the Gelibolu Peninsula, Turkey, yielded remains of a large individual of Listriodon splendens: a skull lacking the premaxillae but containing both cheek tooth rows, and a detached left maxilla fragment containing a canine. The material evidently represents a male individual on the basis of the large dimensions of the canine, an inference borne out by the presence of a horn-like protuberance on the thickened frontal bones. The dentition is typical of the large “subspecies” Listriodon splendens major Roman, 1907. The presence of an ossicone suggests that head-to-head combat was an aspect of the behaviour of Listriodon, just as it is in several extant suid taxa. The Nebisuyu discovery extends the geographic distribution of the subspecies well to the east of its previously known range.

Key words

Listriodontinae, biogeography, behaviour, sexual selection, ossicone

Abstract

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: Yenişarbademli). 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.

Key words

amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, Pleistocene, Pliocene, Turkey