SESS 0_retro e indice edi.pub Il Quaternario Italian Journal of Quaternary Sciences 24, (Abstract AIQUA, Roma 02/2011), Congresso AIQUA Il Quaternario Italiano: conoscenze e prospettive Roma 24 e 25 febbraio 2011 THE EARLY TO MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE ITALIAN BOVIDAE: BIOCHRONOLOGY AND PALAEOECOLOGY Maria Rita Palombo 1,2, Federico Masini 3 & Roberto Rozzi 1 1 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università “Sapienza”, Roma, Italy 2 CNR, IGAG, Roma, Italy 3 Dipartimento di Geologia e Geodesia, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy. Corresponding author: R. Rozzi ABSTRACT: Palombo M.R., Masini F. & Rozzi R. The Early to Middle Pleistocene Italian Bovidae: biochronology and palaeoecology. (IT ISSN 0394-3356, 2011) Bovids are common elements in the Italian local faunal assemblages (LFAs), but their diversity and ecological role varied in LFAs as well as in faunal units (FUs) throughout the Early and Middle Pleistocene. Representatives of Bovini tribe are continuously present, albeit with different lineages, while “Caprini” are sporadically recorded by several genera, and Anti- lopini are the less represented. RIASSUNTO: Palombo M.R., Masini F. & Rozzi R. I Bovidi italiani del Pleistocene inferiore e medio: biocronologia e pa- leoecologia. (IT ISSN 0394-3356, 2011) Durante il Quaternario, i bovidi sono elementi comuni delle faune locali (LFAs) italiane, ma la loro diversità e i loro ruoli ecologici variano specialmente nel corso del Pleistocene inferiore e medio. I Bovini sono presenti in tutto l’intervallo di tempo considerato, sebbene con diversi generi e linee evolutive, mentre il record dei “Caprini” è discontinuo e gli Antilo- pini sono la tribù meno rappresentata. Key words: Bovidae, Early Pleistocene, Middle Pleistocene, Italy Parole chiave: Bovidae, Pleistocene inferiore, Pleistocene medio, Italia 1. INTRODUCTION During the Quaternary, in Italy, as in Eurasia, bo- vids are common elements in local faunal assem- blages (LFAs), though the richness of the Italian Bovidae is less than in most European regions. Their dispersion and commonness vary over time and across the peninsula due to a multiple set of factors, including discontinuity in the fossil record, ecological and taphonomical biases. A few Euro- pean genera of different tribes, such as Saiga, Am- motragus, Caprovis, Soergelia and Ovibos, are missing (PALOMBO, 2009) as well as some species which seem to have been either endemic in the North Eastern Mediterranean (Euthyceros thes- salicus, Antilope (= Parastrepsiceros) koufosi) or present even in the Black Sea area (Pontoceros ambiguus) (KOSTOPOULOS, 2006; CRÉGUT- BONNOURE, 2007). Conversely, two species either endemic (e.g. Hemibos galerianus) or rarely re- ported in Europe (e.g. Bubalus murrensis) are re- corded in central Italy. 2. THE FOSSIL RECORD Bovini During most of the Early Pleistocene, the repre- sentatives of the tribe are the large, but quite slen- der Leptobos present during the early to late Villa- franchian with two sub-genera, Leptobos (Leptobos) and Leptobos (Smertiobos), whose species provide an important part of the fossil documentation of this genus in Europe (MASINI, 1989; DUVERNOIS, 1990; GENTILI & MASINI, 2005). The soundest documentation comes from the his- torical collections from the Upper Valdarno, Mon- topoli (Lower Valdarno), Olivola (Aulla basin), Triv- ersa (San Paolo and Dusino), and from recent ex- cavations in Upper Valdarno, Pietrafitta (Tavernelle basin), the Chiana valley, and the Tiberino basin (see GENTILI & MASINI, 2005). Leptobos was re- placed during the latest Villafranchian (Pirro FU) by the rather stout Bison (Eobison) degiulii, while the heavy and even larger Bison schoetensacki is re- corded in the Galerian LFAs. At the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene the large species Hemibos galerianus, derived from an Indian genus, is only reported from the middle Galerian LFAs of the Ro- man basin. The auroch, Bos primigenius, ap- peared a bit later in LFAs of the Isernia FU and became more and more abundant during the late Middle and Late Pleistocene. The late Middle Pleistocene Bovini guild is characterized by the occurrence of the water buffalo Bubalus murrensis, and perhaps also by the spread of the steppe bi- son, Bison priscus. Antilopini Only two representatives of this tribe are reported in the Italian fossil record. The larger one, Gazella borbonica, the single species of Gazella occurring in Southern Europe since the Ruscinian (KOSTOPOULOS, 2006), appeared in the Italian pen- insula at the beginning of the Early Pleisocene and is recorded in the middle Villafranchian, mainly in central Italian LFAs. The anticlockwise spiral horned Gazellospira torticornis, a parkland dweller, 158 - 160 159 Table 1 – Integrated chronological scheme for the Late Pliocene to Late Pleistocene Bovidae of the Italian peninsula. Schema cronologico integrato e distribuzione del record dei Bovidi italiani dal tardo Pliocene al Pleistocene superiore. The Early to Middle Pleistocene Italian Bovidae: ... 160 appeared later in the Gelasian, but survived most of the early late Villafranchian (Olivola, Tasso FU). “Caprini” A representative of the enlarged Caprini sensu lato tribe (see ROPIQUET & HASSANIN, 2005; BIBI et al., 2009 for a discussion), Hemitragus cf. H. orientalis, is first dubiously reported at the beginning of the Early Pleistocene in the Collepardo LFA (Montopoli FU) but the specimens have never been de- scribed. During the following middle Villafranchian, the goral Gallogoral meneghinii appeared, while Procamptoceras brivatense, phenetically close to the living Rupicapra (MASINI & LOVARI, 1988), oc- curred later. The occurrence of the ancient muskox Praeovibos sp. (lately referred to as Preaeovibos cf. P. mediterraneus by CRÉGUT-BONNOURE, 2005; 2007) is reported from the Tasso FU by DE GIULI & MASINI (1983). The remains of a large “Caprini” found in the Pirro LFA (DE GIULI et al., 1986) have recently been assigned by CRÉGUT & DIMITRIJEVIĆ (2006) to Megalovis balcanicus. During the early Middle Pleistocene, the fossil record of “Caprini” consists of only scanty remains. A few teeth of Hemitragus bonali were found at Isernia La Pineta (SALA, 1996), while Ovis ammon antiqua was pre- sent during the late Galerian, not only in the north- eastern corner of the Italian peninsula (Visogliano Shelter, ABBAZZI et al., 2000), but also in central Italy, likely in the PG4 deposits of the Ponte Gale- ria/Magliana area (cfr. ROZZI et al. in press). Chamoios (Rupicapra) and ibex (Capra ibex) pos- sibly were already spread during the latest Middle Pleistocene across the Italian peninsula as docu- mented by the Paglicci LFA (cfr. PALOMBO, 2009 and references therein). 3. REMARKS Throughout the Early and Middle Pleistocene, the diversity and ecological role of Italian bovids were changing in LFAs as well as in faunal units (FUs). During the Gelasian and the Early Calabrian (from Montopoli to Tasso FU), species of the genus Lep- tobos, sometimes found in association with small bovids mainly Antilopini and Caprini, were defi- nitely the most frequent (GENTILI & MASINI, 2005) (Tab. 1). This time span shows the highest bovid diversity peaking at the time of the Olivola FU. Al- most all ecological categories are represented, though the percentage of large bovids increases throughout the early late Villafranchian. During the following Early Pleistocene (Farneta, Pirro and Collecurti FUs), diversity dramatically decreased. A number of middle and early late Villafranchian taxa disappeared, while representatives of the genus Bison replaced Leptobos, and among middle sized bovids, only Megalovis is thus far recorded in the Pirro Nord LFA (Tab. 1). 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