2nd INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF EARLY- STAGE …2nd International Meeting of Early-Stage Researchers in Palaeontology 2 ORGANISING COMMITTEE Dr. Iliopoulos George Assistant Professor,

rena

0

2nd INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF EARLY- STAGE RESEARCHERS IN PALAEONTOLOGY

Sigri (Lesvos) Greece

May 2017

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

2nd International Meeting of Early-Stage Researchers in Palaeontology

1

2n d International Meeing of Early Stage Researches in Palaeontology

Coordination: Eleni L iapi , I rena Pappa

Editors: Konstant ina Karanika, Mar ia Kolendr ianou , E leni L iapi , Penelope

Papadopoulou, I rena Pappa , Mar ia Tsoni

Logos: (Conference logo) Penelope Papadopoulou, Dimi t r is Protopapas

ISBN: 978-618-83193-7-0

Images and texts for the int roductory p ieces were prov ided f rom the Lesvos Geopark

s taf f and the fo l lowing sources:

“Geoparks: L ive the exper ience”, European Geoparks Magazine, Issue 12.

“Lesvos Geopark, 39º 04’ 26’ ’ N, 26º 21’ 1 4’ ’ E” ( in g reek) , Informat ive Magazine,

Natural His tory Museum of the Lesvos Petr i f ied Forest , Sigr i , Lesvos, Greece.

“Natural His tory Museum of the Lesvos Pe t r i f i ed Fores t , a window in the geological

evolut ion o f the Aegean” ( in g reek), Info rmat ive Magazine, Natural

His tory Museum of the Lesvos Pet r i f ied Forest , Sigr i , Lesvos, Greece.

ht tp: / /www. lesvosgeopark.gr

http://www.lesvosgeopark.gr/


2

ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Dr. Iliopoulos George

Assistant Professor, University of Patras

Dr. Papadopoulou Penelope PhD, University of Patras

Tsoni Maria MSc, University of Patras

Kolendrianou Maria MSc, University of Patras

Karanika Konstantina

University of Patras

Liapi Eleni

University of Patras

Pappa Irena

MSc, University of Patras

Spiropoulos Spiros MSc, University of Patras

Dr. Georgopoulou Elisavet

PhD, Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete

Special thanks to Stephanopoulos Panagiotis for all his help with the upload of the Meeting's website.


3

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTE

Antonarakou Assimina National and Kapodistrian University of Athens,

Greece

Athanassiou Athanasios Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology-Speleology. Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports, Athens,

Greece

Atike Nazik Çukurova University, Adana, Turkey

Bailey Haydon Network Stratigraphic Consulting Ltd., United

Kingdom

Balaky Sardar M. Soran University, Kurdistan

Benton Mike University of Bristol, United Kingdom

Boomer Ian University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

Cerdeño Esperanza Centro Científico Tecnológico, Argentina

Codrea Vlad A. Babeș-Bolyai University, Romania

Costeur Loic

Naturhistorisches Museum, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, France

Flower Lucy Centre for Quaternary Research, Royal Holloway

University of London, United Kingdom

Flynn Lawrence J. Harvard University, United States

Forel Marie-Beatrice

Muséum National d'Histoire, Paris, France

Furió Bruno Marc Institut Català de Paleontologia, Spain

Gascó Fracesc Evolutive Biology Group UNED

Grøsfjeld Kari Norwegian Geological Survey, Norway

Hart Malcom Plymouth University, United Kingdom

Iliopoulos George University of Patras, Greece

Jaselli Luca Museo di Storia Naturale "Antonio Stoppani",

Italy

Jernas Patrycja The Arctic University of Norway, Norway

Karakitsios Vassilios University of Athens, Greece

Kenneth D. Angielczyk Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of

Natural History, USA

Kiel Steffen

Swedish Museum of Natural History of Stockolm, Sweden

Klein Nicole State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart,

Germany


4

Koskeridou Efterpi National and Kapodistrian University of Athens,

Greece

Koufos George- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Külköylüoğlu Okan Abant İzzet Baysal University, Bolu, Turkey

Laurin Michel Centre de Recherches sur la Paléobiodiversité et

les Paléoenvironnements, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, France

Legendre Lucas- National Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa

Less Gyorgy-

University of Miskolc, Hungary

Liu Alex University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

Lopez-Arabello Adriana Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München,

Germany

López-Guerero Paloma Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria

Lyras George National and Kapodistrian University of Athens,

Greece

Manchester Steven

Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, USA

Mangerud Jan University of Bergen, Norway

Marnelis Fedon Hellenic Petroleum, Greece

Martinetto Eduardo Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy

Merle Didier Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris,

France

Morales Romero Jorge Natural Sciences Museum, Madrid, Spain

Moreau Jean-David Université de Burgundi Dijon, France

Nystrom Pia University of Sheffield, Department of

Archaeology, United Kingdom

Oliver Perez Adriana National Museum of Natural Sciences, Spain

Papadopoulou Penelope University of Patras, Greece

Papazzoni Cesare

University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy

Paraschiv Valentin

Geological Institute of Romania, Romania

Pearce Christof Aarhus University, Denmark

Petronio Carmelo Università ‘La Sapienza’ di Roma, Italy

Philippe Marc

Claude Bernard University Lyon 1, France

Přikryl Tomáš The Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech

Republic

Randolf Susanne Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria


5

Raza S. Mahmood Harvard University, Cambridge, USA

Rigakis Nikos Hellenic Petroleum, Greece

Roussiakis Socrates National and Kapodistrian University of Athens,

Greece

Saint Martin Simona Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, France

Sander Martin University of Bonn, Germany

Sasaran Liana Babes-Bolyai University, Romania

Spassov Nikolai National Museum of Natural History, NMNHS,

Sofia, Bulgaria

Sterling Nesbitt

Department of Geosciences, Virginia, USA

Stull Gregory

Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, USA

Taseer Hussain Syed Howard University, USA

Teodoridis Vasilis Charles University, Czech Republic

Tesakov Alexey Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of

Sciences, Russia

Thorsten Scheyer Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, Zurich,

Switzerland

Traiser Christopher Institut für GeowissenschaftenUniversität

Tübingen, Germany

Vasile Stefan University of Bucharest, Romania

Worobiec Elzabieta Instytut botaniki im. W. szafera polska academia

nauk, Poland

Youlatos Dionisios Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloníki,

Greece

Zampetakis Alexandra National and Kapodistrian University of Athens,

Greece

Zuschin Martin University of Vienna, Austria


6

CONTRIBUTORS


7

SPONSORS AND DONORS


8

CONTENTS

FOREWORD 19

LESVOS-THE PALAEOFLORA AND THE PALAEOFAUNA

21

LESVOS-A SYNTHESIS OF DIFFERENT

ECOSYSTEMS TODAY

24

INVITED SPEAKERS 28

ORAL PRESENTATIONS 40

A RESEARCH PROGRAM TO STUDY PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES DURING THE PETM: PALAEOFLORA STUDY OF RIVECOURT AND LE QUESNOY OUTCROPS (OISE, FRANCE) Cédric Del Rio, Dario De Franceschi

42

PALYNOLOGY &

PALEOBOTANY

Liquidambar europaea AND Podocarpium podocarpum FRUITS AND FOLIAGE FROM PITSIDIA (CRETE ISLAND, GREECE, LATE MIOCENE) Giannis Zidianakis, George Iliopoulos, Avraam Zelilidis, Johanna Kovar-Eder

44

PALAEOBOTANICAL STUDY OF LOWER PLEISTOCENE SEDIMENTS FROM MAGOYLA AND VIGLA SYCHAINWN (ACHAIA, GREECE) Eleni Liapi, Giannis Zidianakis, Maria Kolendrianou, George Iliopoulos

46

PALAEO-ECOLOGICAL OSERVATIONS ON THE LOWER PLEISTOCENE FRESWATER GASTROPODS FROM SOUSAKI SEDIMENTARY BASIN (GREECE) Dimitris Protopapas, Penelope Papadopoulou, George Iliopoulos

48


9

INVERTEBRATE PALAEONTOLOGY

A NEW OSMYLIDAE (NEUROPTERA, INSECTA) IN BALTIC AMBER: A CRITICAL CHARACTER STATE FOR OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE HIND WING EVOLUTION IN THE FAMILY Guillaume Cousin, Mónica Solórzano-Kraemer, Olivier Béthoux

50

GET ACROSS THE WOOD: PRESERVATION OF CRETACEOUS SOFT-BODIED XYLOPHAGOUS MOLLUSKS (BIVALVA, TEREDINIDAE) Robin Ninon, Anaïs Boura, Xavier Valentin, Jean-Marie Boiteau

52

UPPER CRETACEOUS RUDISTS FROM SVILANOVO LOCALITY (SW SERBIA) Bojana Džinić

54

ENVIRONMENTS AND BIOGEOGRAPHY OF MICROGASTROPODS FROM THE LOWER MIOCENE OF THE MESOHELLENIC BASIN (NW GREECE) Danae Thivaiou, Efterpi Koskeridou, Mathias Harzhauser, Hara Drinia

56

EXAMINING CLAIMS FOR LATE EDIACARAN (~553 MA) BIOTURBATION VIA TAPHONOMY, PETROLOGY AND 3D RECONSTRUCTION Christos Psarras, Philip C.J. Donoghue, Vladimir I. Rogov, Dmitriy V. Grazhdankin, Luke Parry, and Alexander G. Liu

59

BRINGING PALAEONTOLOGY TO PEOPLE – AN INTRODUCTION TO THE EUROPEAN CENTRE OF PALAEONTOLOGY Elżbieta M. Teschner, Elena Yazykova

60

GENERAL PALAEONTOLOGY

DO DINOCYSTS REFLECT PAST SEA ICE COVER IN THE ARCTIC? PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF A STUDY TO TEST THIS HYPOTHESIS APPLYING INNOVATIVE METHODS Małgorzata Kucharska, Kenneth Neil Mertens, Marek Zajączkowski

62


10

THERMOHALINE CIRCULATION DURING THE LAST GLACIAL TERMINATION - A MULTIPROXY RECORD OF PALEOCEANOGRAPHIC CHANGES IN THE EUROPEAN ARCTIC Magdalena Łącka Min Cao Antoni Rosell-Melé Joanna Pawłowska Małgorzata Kucharska Matthias Forwick Marek Zajączkowski

64

MICROPALAEONTOLOGICAL STUDY OF LOWER PLEISTOCENE SEDIMENTS FROM THE SOUSSAKI VOLCANIC CENTER, EASTERN CORINTH GULF, GREECE Evangelia Kotsimpou , Ioannis Koukouvelas, George Iliopoulos

67

POTENTIAL SOURCES OF FRESHWATER OUTBURST IN THE NORDIC SEAS AROUND 80 THOUSAND YEARS BP (MARINE ISOTOPE STAGE 5A) Maciej M. Telesiński, Henning A. Bauch, Robert F. Spielhagen

68

MICROPALAEONTOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF HOLOCENE MUDFLAT AND SALT MARSH DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS, THAMES ESTUARY, UK Athanasios Georgopoulos

69

ANCIENT DNA: EXPLORING THE PAST CLIMATE AND EVIRONMENTAL VARIABILITY Joanna Pawłowska, Franck Lejzerowicz, Magdalena Łącka, Marek Zajączkowski, Jan Pawlowski

70

MICROPALAEONTOLOGY-OSTRACODA

& FORAMINIFERA

LARGER BENTHIC FORAMINIFERA FROM THE EL GARIA FORMATION AND ASSOCIATED CARBONATE UNITS: A CASE STUDY FOR THE DIACHRONIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE EOCENE SHALLOW-MARINE CARBONATES IN NORTH TUNISIA Ali Osman Yücel, Ercan Özcan, Kamel Boukhalfa, Mohamed Soussi, Aynur Hakyemez, Aral Okay

72


11

THE SHARE OF FORAMINIFERAL CARBON IN THE SEDIMENTARY CARBON POOL IN ADVENTFJORDEN (SVALBARD) Natalia Szymańska, Agnieszka Kujawa, Joanna Pawłowska, Magdalena Łącka, Małgorzata Kucharska, Marek Zajączkowski

74

MICROPALEONTOLOGICAL STUDY OF LOWER PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS IN RIO-ANTIRIO BASIN (VIGLA, SICHENA, PATRA, GREECE) Dimitra E. Valavani, George Iliopoulos

76

FORAMINIFERAL EVIDENCE FOR LATE MAASTRICHTIAN WARMING EVENT RECORDED IN THE KJØLBY GAARD MARL, DENMARK Trine Arp, Lars Stemmerik, Jan Audun Rasmussen

78

MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE MARINE OSTRACODS FROM THE GÜLNAR DISTRICT (SOUTHERN MARGIN OF THE CENTRAL ANATOLIAN PLATEAU, TURKEY) Konstantina Karanika, Costanza Faranda, Nazik Ogretmen, Paola Cipollari,Elsa Gliozzi, Domenico Cosentino

80

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF OUTER AND INNER SKULL MORPHOLOGY BETWEEN PARADOLICHOPITHECUS/PROCYNOCEPHALUS AND CERCOPITHECINES Zoi Kynigopoulou, Dimitris S Kostopoulos, Guy Franck

83

EQUUS ALTIDENS FROM THE LATE VILLAFRANCHIAN OF WESTERN MACEDONIA, GREECE Anastasia G. Gkeme, Georgios D. Koufos, Dimitris S. Kostopoulos

85

ASSESING DISTAL METAPODIAL MORPHOLOGY AND SUBSTRATE CONDITIONS IN WESTERN PALAEARCTIC BISON POPULATIONS WITH GEOMETRIC MORPHOMETRICS Ioannis Maniakas

87


12

THREE NEW SPECIES OF EARLY TRIASSIC LAOTIAN DICYNODONTS (ANOMODONTIA, THERAPSIDA): NEW DATA FOR UNDERSTANDING MORPHOLOGICAL, SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL EVOLUTION OF DICYNODONTS ACROSS THE PT BOUNDARY Chloé Olivier, Bernard Battail, Sylvie Bourquin, Camille Rossignol, Jean-Sébastien Steyer & Nour-Eddine Jalil

89

THE FUNCTIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE POST-CRANIAL DERMAL SKELETON: FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSES ON PSEUDOSUCHIAN ORNAMENTED OSTEODERMS. François Clarac, Florent Goussard, Luciano Teresi, Vivian de Buffrenil, Vittorio Sansalone

91

VERTEBRATE

PALAEONTOLOGY

PRELIMINARY DATA FROM THE NEW MIOCENE VERTEBRATE SITE OF MAKRO-LAS REJAS (MADRID, SPAIN) Omid Fesharaki, Juan Antonio Cárdaba, María Presumido, David Martín-Perea, Manuel de Pablos

93

USING OTOLITHS TO RECONSTRUCT THE PALAEOENVIRONMENT: PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM A PLEISTOCENE SEDIMENTARY SEQUENCE (SOUSAKI BASIN, EASTERN CORINTH GULF, GREECE) Spyros Spyropoulos, Penelope Papadopoulou, George Iliopoulos

94

ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE DURING THE LATE MIOCENE AFFECTED RODENT METACOMMUNITY DYNAMICS Fernando Blanco, Ana Rosa Gómez Cano & Manuel Hernández Fernández

96

RECONSTRUCTION OF PLEISTOCENE HABITATS IN THE BARANICA CAVE (EASTERN SERBIA) AND COMPARISON WITH SOME LAST GLACIAL LOCALITIES IN THE BALKAN PENINSULA Mihailo Jovanović

98

WHAT DOES IT TELL US? – SUMMING UP THE HISTOLOGICAL ANALYSES APPLIED ON METOPOSAURUS KRASIEJOWENSIS Elżbieta M. Teschner, Dorota Konietzko-Meier

99


13

THE MIDDLE MIOCENE GLOBAL COOLING EVENT TURNED CENTRAL IBERIAN PENÍNSULA INTO A SEMI-DESERT: PALAEOCLIMATIC ANALYSIS OF THE MAMMALIAN FAUNA FROM THE SOMOSAGUAS FOSSIL SITE. Iris Menéndez, Ana R. Gómez Cano, Manuel Hernández Fernández

101

BIOGEOGRAPHY AND CHRONOLOGY OF THE PLIO-PLEISTOCENE EURASIAN RHINOCEROTINI Luca Pandolfi

103

NEW SKULLS OF THE BASAL SAUROPODOMORPH PLATEOSAURUS FROM FRICK, SWITZERLAND: INTRASPECIFIC VARIABILITY OR SEPARATE SPECIES? Jens N. Lallensack, Elzbieta M. Teschner

105

VARIATION BETWEEN AND WITHIN SPECIES – A CASE STUDY OF GOBIIDAE AND OXUDERCIDAE Carolin Gut, Bettina Reichenbacher, Radek Šanda, Jasna Vukić

107

MORPHOLOGICAL STUDY OF HUMAN SKELETAL MATERIAL FROM BURIALS OF THE CLASSICAL/HELLENISTIC PERIOD FOUND IN THE NORTH CEMETERY LEFKADA, GREECE (Graves 28,29,32 ) Ioannis Karagiannis, George Iliopoulos, Vivian Staikou

110

MORPHOLOGICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS RECOVERED FROM A CLASSICAL/HELLENISTIC BURIAL SITE, NORTH CEMETERY LEFKADA, GREECE Danai Kontou, George Iliopoulos, Vivian Staikou

112


14

PALAEOANTHROPOLOGY

MORPHOLOGICAL STUDY OF HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS FROM BURIALS OF THE CLASSICAL/HELLENISTIC PERIOD FOUND IN THE NORTH CEMETERY OF LEFKAS, GREECE Maria Vasiliki Konstantopoulou, George Iliopoulos, Vivian Staikou

114

PALAEODEMOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS OF CLASSIC PERIOD POPULATION FOUND IN LEFKAS, GREECE Panagiotis D. Sianis, George Iliopoulos, Vivian Staikou

116

PALAEOANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY OF SKELETAL MATERIAL FROM BURIALS OF THE CLASSICAL PERIOD FROM THE ALONAKI-MARMARA SITE, NAFPAKTOS: TOMB I Paraskevi- Danae Androulidaki, Efi Saranti, George Iliopoulos

118

OSTEOLOGICAL STUDY OF BRONZE TO EARLY PALEOCHRISTIAN AGE HUMAN AND ANIMAL MATERIAL FROM EASTERN NAFPAKTOS Irena Pappa, George Iliopoulos, George Mitsainas, Fotini Saranti

119

POSTERS 121

DIDACTIC ADAPTATIONS ON A PALEONTOLOGICAL WORKSHOP FOR STUDENTS WITH VISUAL OR HEARING IMPAIRMENT AND LEARNING DISABILITIES David Martín-Perea, Omid Fesharaki, Laura Domingo, Jessica Acosta, Patricia Carro, María Presumido, Fernando Blanco, Marco Ansón, Iris Menéndez, María Soledad Domingo, David Borrego, Juan Antonio Cárdaba, Ángeles Álvarez Sierra, Manuel Hernández Fernández

122

PALEOGEOGRAPHIC EVOLUTION OF THE IONIAN ZONE DURING TRIASSIC TO EOCENE (WESTERN GREECE) Leonidas Moforis &Vasilis Karakitsios

124


15

BENTHIC FORAMINIFERA IN FJORDS AND OPEN MARINE ENVIRONMENT OF SVALBAR Agnieszka Kujawa, Natalia Szymańska, Małgorzata Kucharska, Joanna Pawłowska, Magdalena Łącka, Marek Zajączkowski

125

PALEOENVIROMENTAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE INCREASE IN CaCO3 CONTENT IN THE PRE-ENVAPORITIC MESSINIAN SEDIMENTS IN CRETE Andreas Kostis, Assimina Antonarakou, Hara Drinia, Efterpi Koskeridou, George Kontakiotis

126

STRATIGRAPHY AND PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL EVOLUTION OF A LOWER PLEISTOCENE SECTION (SOUSAKI, NORTHEASTERN CORINTH GULF) Maria Arkadianou, Penelope Papadopoulou, George Iliopoulos

128

A CHRONOSTRATIGRAPHIC BIO-ECOZONAL METHODOLOGY AS A TOOL FOR CORRELATING DEEP-SEA MARINE RECORDS DURING THE LAST DEGLACIATION Evaggelia Besiou, Assimina Antonarakou, Aristomenis P. Karageorgis, George Kontakiotis, Graham P. Mortyn, Hara Drinia

129

CLIMATIC VARIABILITY IN THE NORTH AEGEAN SEA (EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN) DURING THE LATE QUATERNARY Georgia Gkaniatsa, Assimina Antonarakou, George Kontakiotis, Hara Drinia, George Anastasakis

131


16

P

LATE QUARTENARY BENTHIC FORAMINIFERAL RECORD AND PALEOENVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTION OF SARONIKOS GULF, CENTRAL AEGEAN, GREECE Konstantinos Daioglou, Markella Asimina Louvari, Theodora Tsourou, Hara Drinia, Assimina Antonarakou, George Anastasakis, George Kontakiotis

133

O

SEA LEVEL FLUCTUATIONS OF NW-CENTRAL AEGEAN SHELF ENVIRONMENTS, DURING THE PAST 20,000 YEARS, BY MEANS OF BENTHIC FORAMINIFERAL ASSEMBLAGES Markella Asimina Louvari, Hara Drinia, Assimina Antonarakou, George Anastasakis

136

S

T

MICROFAUNAL ASSEMBLAGE OF THE GÖLBAŞI-HARMANLI (SE ANATOLIA) COAL SEAM: INTERPRETATIONS ON QUATERNARY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF SOME EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN TAXA Alaettin Tuncer, Cemal Tunoğlu, Burçin Aşkım Gümüş, Ali Ihsan Karayiğit, Rıza Görkem Oskay

138

E

SEDIMENTOLOGY AND PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTION OF AG-1 CORE FROM TUZ GOLU LAGOON, AYVALIK REGION, NW TURKEY: PRELIMINARY RESULTS Konstantinos Nikolaou, Konstantina Karanika, Alexandros Emmanouilidis

140

R

PLIOCENE- MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE PLANKTONIC FORAMINIFERAL BIOSTRATIGRAPHY FROM CYPRUS ISLAND (EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN) Efthymios Tsiolakis, Stella Tsaila-Monopoli, Assimina Antonarakou, Maria Geraga, George Ferentinos, George Theodorou,George Kontakiotis

142

S

CONTRIBUTION OF FOSSIL COLOR PATTERNS FOR THE SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF TERTIARY TO RECENT GASTROPODS FROM CRETE, GREECE Christos Psarras, Efterpi Koskeridou, Didier Merle, Asimina Antonarakou

144


17

DISENTANGLING PHYLOGENETIC FROM CLIMATIC SIGNAL IN LEAF PHYSIOGNOMY AND IMPLICATIONS IN PALEOCLIMATIC STUDIES Mélanie Tanrattan, Dario De Franceschi, Anaïs Boura

145

MIOCENE CLUPEIDAE FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN AND PARATETHYS: A TAXONOMIC STUDY OF SELECTED SPECIES Charalampos Kevrekidis, Bettina Reichenbacher

147

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF IRATI (BRAZIL) AND NAUJOJI AKMENĖ (LITHUANIA) FORMATIONS (PERMIAN) ACCORDING TO THE ICHTHYOFAUNAL ASSEMBLAGES Darja Dankina, Andrej Spiridonov, Sigitas Radzevičius, Artur Chahud

149

INVESTIGATION OF THE MIDDLE MIOCENE MEDITERRANEAN ICHTHYOFAUNA AND PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL REPRESENTATIONS ON CYPRUS ISLAND (ALASSA, LEMESOS) Aggelos Agathaggelou, Konstantina Agiadi, Spyros Sfenthourakis, George Iliopoulos

151

STUDY OF CRICETODON (RODENTIA, MAMMALIA) FROM THE EARLY MIOCENE LOCALITY OF KARYDIA (RHODOPE, NORTH GREECE) Panagiotis Skandalos

153

PALEOBIOGEOGRAPHY OF THE LATEST MIOCENE RHINOCEROTIDAE FROM THE BALKANO-IRANIAN BIOPROVINCE Luca Pandolfi, Tassos Kotsakis

154

CANIS (MAMMALIA, CANIDAE) FROM THE HOLOCENE DEPOSITS OF GROTTA LA SASSA (LATINA, CENTRAL ITALY) Marco Merella, Tassos Kotsakis, Mario Federico Rolfo, Luca Pandolfi

156

URSUS ARCTOS (URSIDAE, MAMMALIA) FROM THE LATEST PLEISTOCENE OF GROTTA LA SASSA (LATINA, CENTRAL ITALY) Roberta Martino, Tassos Kotsakis, Mario Federico Rolfo, Luca Pandolfi

168


18

THE ELBOW OF MESOPITHECUS PENTELICUS (COLOBINAE: PRIMATES) FROM PIKERMI, ATTICA, GREECE: A MORPHOMETRIC APPROACH Margarita Dagla, Dionisios Youlatos

160

TOOTH MORPHOLOGY, MOLAR ENAMEL THICKNESS AND DENTAL MICROWEAR TEXTURAL ANALYSIS WITH APPLICATION ON EUROPEAN PARADOLICHOPITHECUS/PROCYNOCEPHALUS AND COMPARISONS WITH PLEISTOCENE PAPIONINS C.A. Plastiras, D.S. Kostopoulos and G. Merceron

161

PALAEOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY OF HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS OF ANCIENT POPULATIONS FROM LEFKAS AND NAFPAKTOS, IN WESTERN GREECE Efthymia Tsitsou, Vivian Staikou, Efi Saranti, George Iliopoulos

163

PARTICIPANTS 165


19

FORΕWΟRD


20

The 2 n d In ternat ional Meeting of Ear ly- Stage Researchers in Palaeonto logy

(2n d IMERP) was held th is year (2017) in Greece, in order to br ing young

palaeonto logis ts together f rom al l over the wor ld. The Meet ing’s character is

informal and i ts a im is to create a f r iendly environment where young

researchers can present their work and meet other palaeonto logis ts f rom many

d if ferent f ie lds of expert ise. 2017’s locat ion for the IMERP was chosen to be

Sigr i , a smal l v i l lage in the western part of the is land of Lesvos, Greece. Sigr i

is famous and mostly v is i ted for i ts Natura l His tory Museum which was

establ ished to conserve, protect and promote the fossi ls which const i tute the

Petr i f ied Forest of Lesvos.

The Petr i f ied Forest i tse lf is the best preserved palaeonto logical monument of

i ts s ize in Greece and holds a spec ia l p lace as a wor ldwide monument of

natura l beauty. Remains of foss i l p lants , declared as Protected Natura l

Monument by the Greek State, have been found in many local i t ies on the

western par t of Lesvos Is land.

Lesvos has a par t icu lar ly beaut i fu l natura l environment, a very r ich b iodivers ity

and a very h igh ecological va lue which is emphasized through the integrat ion

of many areas wi th in the European ecological network «NATURA 2000».

Lesvos ’s natura l her i tage inc ludes geological s truc tures of internat ional

recognit ion, landscapes of natura l beauty, areas of great ecological impor tance

and valuable cultural monuments . Al l these natura l and cultural character is t ics

of Lesvos have contr ibuted to i ts recogni t ion as a par t of the UNESCO Global

Geoparks.


21

LESVOS: THE PALAEOFLORA AND THE PALAEOFAUNA

In Lesvos, one can f ind some of the most important foss i l i ferous s ites (of f lora

and fauna) on a nat ional and g lobal scale.

The Petr i f ied Forest of Lesvos dominates the western par t of the is land and is

cons idered one of the most beaut i fu l and rare monuments of the global

geological her i tage. The Petr i f ied Forest of Lesvos was created approx imately

20 mil l ion years ago when volcanic mater ia l covered the forest that a l ready

ex isted there, leading to i ts foss i l izat ion. The process was so undisturbed, that

many of the fossi l ized tree trunks were d iscovered in their or iginal p lace, s t i l l

s tanding atop their root system. The f indings in the Petr i f ied Forest reveal that

the area was part of a mixed coniferous and angiosperm forest, a long wi th

some pter idofytes. The conifers inc lude ancestra l forms of Sequoia, p ine,

cypress, yew and other rare spec ies for which there are no modern

descendants . Many petr i f ied trunks belong to a ncestra l forms of the modern

spec ies of Sequoia sempervirens, which grows on the west coast of the Uni ted

States. There have a lso been ident i f ied fami l ies of Protopinaceae, which are an

ancestra l form of modern p ine trees, of Cupressaceae and of the rare c onifer

Kounichamia the Miocene. The Angiosperms-f lower ing p lants inc lude

representat ives of the types of poplar, laure l , c innamon, p lane, oak, beech,

palm, a lder , br ier , maple and walnut. A lot of palm t rees have been a lso

ident i f ied. The composit ion of the petr i f ied f lora indicates that the Petr i f ied

Forest of Lesvos developed in a subtropical c l imate. This changed suddenly

into a cont inenta l c l imate wi th p lants character ist ic of the subtropics of

Southeast As ia or Amer ica.

Concerning the palaeofauna of the is land, the f indings of Lesvos are once

again impress ive. In the area of Gavathas (NW Lesvos), a jawbone wi th 10

molars belonging to the ext inc t probosc idean Prodeinother ium bavar icum was

discovered in 1999. This is one of the o ldest fossi ls of terrestr ia l vertebrates

found in Greece and the o ldest foss i l f rom the Deinother i idae family found in

Europe.

The d iscovery of such a fossi l is impor tant not just because i t shows the

ex istence of Deinother i idae in the area 19 mil l ion years ago, but because i t


22

proves that the nor th - eastern Aegean ( that was a s ingle land area united wi th

Anato l ia, at the t ime) was part of a d ispersal corr idor for animals that migrated

f rom Afr ica to Europe. In Lapsarna, another important s i te located nearby, a

r ich microfaunal assemblage was d iscovered in a th in strat igraphical layer

dat ing back to the Ear ly Miocene (but not d i rect ly cor re lated wi th the layer that

yie lded the deinothere foss i l , because tectonism cannot a l low the sedimentary

layers to be fol lowed). The mater ia l foun d in Lapsarna consis ted of shel ls f rom

lacustr ine and ter restr ia l gastropods, pharyngeal teeth and oto l i ths f rom

lacustr ine f ish, bones f rom amphib ians and rept i les and teeth belonging to taxa

such as Chiroptera, Er inaceidae, Talp idae, Sor ic idae, Mur idae a nd Gl ir idae.

Moving to the southern par t of Lesvos, a s ite r ich in Lower Ple istocene remains

was d iscovered in the v i l lage of Vatera. Many of the osteological remains that

were found, belonged to pr imit ive forms of vertebrates that used to l ive in

Europe and As ia: Equus sp. (horses) , Mit i lanother ium sp. (shor t - neck g iraf fes),

Gazel la sp. (gazel les), Gazel lospira sp. (antelopes), Leptobos sp. (oxes),

Nyctereytes sp. (raccoon dogs), Meles sp. (badgers) , Homother ium sp. (d irk -

toothed cats) , Stephanorhinus sp. (small rhinoceroses), Anancus sp.

(mastodonts) and Mammuthus sp. (an ancestor of the large whol ly mammoth) .

The most important remains f rom Lapsarna, however, are f rom a large b ipedal

macaque (Paradol ichopi thecus sp.) and a two- meter long g iant tor toise

(Cheirogaster sp.) . This faunal assemblage proves that the area of Lesvos was

st i l l un i ted by land wi th the As ian cont inent 2 mi l l ion years ago and became an

isolated is land much later.


23

FLORAL AND FAUNAL FOSSILS FROM LESVOS ISLAND


24

LESVOS: A SYNTHESIS OF DIFFERENT

ECOSYSTEMS TODAY

Concerning i ts f lora , i t is est imated that Lesvos inc ludes 1400 -1500 plant taxa.

This natura l r ichness is par t ly due to the var iety of habitats on the is land, the

qual i t y of rock formations, the long - term human impac t, the proximity to Asia

Minor (Turkey) and i ts geological ly recent separat ion f rom the eastern Aegean.

The southeastern par t of the is land is fu l l of o l ive groves. I t is the most

extensive system on the is land and shows clear d if ferences in al t i tude, age of

trees, their populat ion densi ty and the under lying vegetat ion.

In the area of Agiasos (SE Lesvos) one can observe the only large chestnut

tree forest (Castanea sat iva ) which is found on the is land. This is a cul t ivated

area, wi th r ich forest f loor and s ignif icant regenerat ion rates. The chestnut

trees general ly grow in the middle mountainous zone among other dec iduous

trees.

Extens ive forests of t rachea p ine trees ( Pinus brut ia ) are also found on the

southeastern part of the is land. A second type of p ine, the black p ine ( Pinus

n igra) , forms two smal ler forests mixed wi th trachea p ine trees, on top of the

Prof i t is I l ias Mountain of western Lesvos.

An important p lant spec ies found in Lesvos is the yel low rhododendron

(Rhododendron luteum ) , a rare shrub found in the woods between Parakoi la

and Anemot ia (western Lesvos). The only endemic p lant on the is land is the

Lesbian a lyssum (Alyssum lesbiacum ) , whi le there is a great var iety of wi ld

orchids, cyc lamens, poppies, crocuses and peonies.


25

Rhododendron luteum

Other species found in the countrys ide of Lesvos are the wi ld -o l ive (Olea

o leaster ) , myr t le (Myrtus communis ) , o leander (Nerium oleander ) , the

strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo ) , the kermes oak (Quercus cocc i fera ) , the Pink

Rock-Rose (Cistus cret icus ) , the tree heath (Er ica arborea ) , the laure l of Apol lo

or bay laure l (Laurus nobi l is ) , the weaver ’s broom (Spart ium junceum ) , the

downy oak or pubescent oak (Quercus pubesteus ) etc.

In the woods, the ol ive groves and the p la ins, many mushrooms, espec ia l ly the

pefk it i or amani tes (Lactar ius del ic iosus ) grow dur ing autumn months.

Aromatic herbs of al l k inds such as oregano, savory, thyme, sage, mountain

tea, lavender , peppermint, spearmint, l ime leaves, marjoram, lemongrass etc.

are in abundance on the is land.

Lesvos, however, is not in terest ing just for botanologists! I ts geograp hical

pos i t ion is the main reason for i ts r ich fauna , as wel l .

The most important mammal of Lesvos is the Pers ian Squirre l ( Sciurus

anomalus ) , a spec ies that l ives on the coast of Asia Minor. I t is known to locals

as Gal ia.

Weasels, fer rets, foxes, hares , hedgehogs, bats and many k inds of mice and

rabbits can be found around the rocky is lets of the is land, composing the

populat ion of mammalian fauna.

In recent years , wi ld boars ( Sus scrofa ) , as wel l as roe deers and deers, l ive

and breed on the is land.


26

In Lesvos, there are a lso many amphib ians: green f rogs (Pelophylax

bedr iagae ) , t ree f rogs (Hyla arborea ) , the eastern spadefoot or Syr ian

spadefoot (Pelobates syr iacus ) and the green toad (Bufotes v ir id is ) .

A great var iety of snakes, l izards, tor to ises and tur t les as wel l as the unique in

Greece Mont iv ipera xanthina ( “Ottoman viper”) l ive in the is land of Lesvos

creat ing an interest ing herpetofaunal community.

In the wet land of Larsos the ex is tence of the ot ter (Lutra lutra ) is certa in.

Concerning the b ird l i fe of Lesvos, there are spec ies that are typ ical of Eastern

Europe and the Middle East, such as the Krüper ’s Nuthatch ( Sit ta krueper i ) and

Cinereous Bunt ing (Ember iza c ineracea ) . The Krüper ’s Nuthatch ex ists only in

Lesvos and nowhere e lse in Europe. I t is rare and is main ly found in p ine

forests , f rom the sea to the highest peaks, in the area of Mount Olympos,

Achlader i and Akrassi (SE Lesvos) . The Cinereous Bunt ing (Emberiza

c ineracea ) is rarer and you can observe i t in Eressos and Agra (W Lesvos) as

wel l as in Olympus (SE Lesvos) . The ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea ) is

rare in Greece and nests in the area of Achlader i ( in the NE part of the Kal loni

Bay wet land). Another impor tant spec ies is the b lack stork (Ciconia n igra ) with

a few couples on the is land. They nest in the p ine forests in the area of

Akrass i, in Achlader i and in Potamia Val ley. In Lesvos, there are a lso whi te

storks (Ciconia c iconia ) that have decreased in recent years.

On the is lets of Lesvos, the Audouin ’s gul l (Larus auduin i ) nests and

reproduces, a pr ior i t y spec ies, g lobal ly threatened, wi th spec ia l arrangements

for the protect ion of i ts populat ion. W e also note the Eleonora’s Falcon ( Falco

e leonorae ) and the Lesser Kestre l (Falco naumanni ) , a wor ldwide threatened

spec ies which presents an extremely worrying populat ion- decrease rate . The

mountainous chukar partr idge of the is land ( Alector is chuvar ) , wh ich is ra ised

as hunt ing prey, is par t icu lar ly in terest ing.

The wet lands of Kal loni and Gera are a lso r ich and important ecosystems for

b irds . Rare aquat ic b irds nest in the Kal loni Bay, such as F lamingos (p ink

f lamingos), Black -winged St i l ts , Pied Avocets , Euras ian Stone-Cur lews, L i t t le

Bit terns , Kingf ishers, Col lared Prat incoles , Western Marsh Harr iers, Terns,

L it t le Terns, etc .


27

FLAMINGOS IN THE BAY OF KALLONI WETLAND

Other rare species that nest on the is land are: Rüppell ’s W arbler, Ol ive - tree

Warbler , Olivaceous W arbler , Pied Wheatear, Rufous - ta i led scrub Robin,

Masked Shr ike, Sombre t i t , W estern rock Nuthatch, Cretzschmar ’s Bunting,

Long- legged Buzzard, Levant sparrowhawk and Alector is chu kar .


28

INVITED SPEAKERS

SHORT CURRICULUMS

AND

PRESENTATIONS' ABSTRACTS


29

• Prof. Nickolas C. Zouros

Professor, University of the Aegean, Greece

Director of the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest

Short CV:

N. Zouros is Professor at the Depar tment of Geography at the Aegean

Univers ity, Greece. Vive Pres ident of the Universi ty Board.

He is the Director of the Natura l His tory Museum of the Lesvos Petr i f ied Forest

s ince i ts foundat ion in 1995. He is respons ib le for research act iv i t ies and

excavations in the Lesvos Petr i f ied Forest - protected natura l monument and

works as the manager of the Lesvos Is land - UNESCO Global Geopark s ince

2000.

He is one of the founders o f the European Geoparks Network (EGN) in 2000

and since then he’s an e lected EGN Coordinator.

He is a UNESCO Advisor on Geoparks and a member of the Global Geoparks

Bureau s ince 2005.

Since 2014, he is the e lected Pres ident of the Global Geoparks Network .

He has authored more than 100 sc ient i f ic ar t ic les in internat ional journals and

conferences ’ proceedings and 20 books on Geoparks, Geo -conservat ion and

Geo-tour ism.


30

“Lesvos Petrified Forest: A unique Natural Monument”.

Abstract :

On western Lesvos, petr i f ied trunks scattered over an area of 150.000 hectares

const i tute the famed ‘ ’Petr i f ied Forest ’ ’ , one of the most important natura l

her i tage monument in the wor ld.

The major concentrat ions of foss i l ized trunks are located in the regions of Sigr i ,

Ant issa and Eresos.

As ide f rom the petr i f ied trunks, f ru i ts, branches and leaves have a lso been

preserved.

Sc ient is ts researching and s tudying the Petr i f ied Forest repeatedly emphasize

the uniqueness of the s ite. The forest is of part icu lar sc ient i f ic value a s i t is not

just a group of trees but an ent ire ecosystem fossi l ized in s i tu as a resul t of

intense volcanic act iv i ty in the region 20 mi l l ion years ago.

The large number of petr i f ied trunks preserved s tanding wi th their root systems

intact in a ful l s tage of development attest to the fac t that these trees were

petr i f ied in their natural locat ion. In other words, here we have an

autochthonous petr i f ied forest.

In the Petr i f ied Forest , we can gather information regarding the p lant spec ies,

which const i tu ted the is land’s f lora and the c l imatic condit ions, which prevai led

in the Aegean mil l ions of years ago. In other words, the Petr i f ied Forest

const i tutes a unique ‘ ’ tes t imonia l ’ ’ of the geological h istory of the Aegean bas in

over the last 20 mil l ion years.

Recognizing the major environmental , geological and paleonto logical

impor tance of the Petr i f ied Forest, the Greek State has dec lared the area an

of f ic ia l ly Protected Natural Monument (President ia l Decree 443/85) . Specif ic

s i tes wi th in the Forest have been fur ther des ignated as ‘ ’absolute protect ion

areas ’ ’ . In 1987, the Lesvos Forestry Directorate in i t ia ted intervent ion act iv i t ies


31

in the area of the Petr i f ied Forest, the aim being the promot ion and rat ional

management of the monument.

In 1994 marked the foundat ion of the Natura l History Museum of the Lesvos

Petr i f ied Forest in the town of Sigr i on the western edge of the

is land. Object ives of the museum are the s tudy, research, promot ion,

preservat ion and protect ion of the Petr i f ied Forest of Lesvos.

In order to protect the petr i f ied forest and ensure i ts proper management,

ser ious ef for ts have been carr ied out dur ing the last decades, inc luding

scient i f ic research on th is except ional natural monument , conservat ion of

fossi ls , promotion of the s i tes , creat io n of v is i t ing parks, environmental

educat ion in combinat ion wi th local development.

The Museum is also p laying a dynamic ro le in the cultura l, economic and soc ia l

development of the area, hosts and sponsors internat ional scient i f ic

conferences and symposia, seminars, vo luntary programs, educat ional

programs, cul tura l fes t iva ls, exhib it ions, lec tures and other cultura l events, in

order to promote and protect the Lesvos Petr i f ied Forest .


32

• Dr. Andreas Koutsodendris

Research Associate

Institute of Earth Sciences, Heidelberg University, Germany

Short CV:

Dr. Koutsodendr is studied Geology (BSc) and Environmental Oceanography

(MSc) in Patras (Greece) before moving to Germany, where he received h is

PhD (Frankfurt , 2011) on the c l imate dynamics of one of the most extreme past

interg lac ial per iods of the Quaternary ( i .e . , Mar ine Isotope Stage 11) . Since

2014, he has been a Research Assoc iate ( ‘Akademischer Rat ’) at the Inst i tu te

of Ear th Sc iences, Heidelberg Univers i ty. H is research focuses on the

generat ion and interpretat ion of long, h igh -resolut ion paleoc l imate records for

the Quaternary – inc luding the c l imate archives of Tenaghi Phi l ippon and Lake

Ohr id (Balkan Peninsula) and Qaidam Basin (T ibetan Plateau) – integrat ing

palynological , sedimentological and organic as wel l as in -organic geochemical

data. In 2016, he sai led on Internat ional Ocean Discovery Program (IODP)

Expedit ion 361 in the SW Indian Ocean wi th the a im of establ ish ing land -sea

correlat ions of f SE Afr ica in order to reconstruct terres tr ia l ecosystem and

cl imate dynamics on the Afr ican cont inent dur ing cr i t ica l in tervals of hominid

evolut ion.

“Short-term climate variability in Southern Europe during the past

500 ka: insights from a new centennial -scale pollen record from

Tenaghi Philippon (NE Greece)”.

Abstract :

The l imnotelmatic sequence of Tenaghi Phi l ippon (NE Greece) has been

recognized s ince the 1960’s as a unique archive of terrestr ial c l imate and

ecosystem dynamics for the Quaternary in Europe. New dr i l l ing campaigns

carr ied out in 2005 and 2009 have yie lded a 200m-long sediment record that


33

covers the past ~1.35 Ma cont inuous ly. A robust age model for the cores was

developed us ing deta i led tephrostrat igraphy and orb i ta l tuning. Here a new

palynological record f rom Tenaghi Phi l ippo n is presented that spans the past

four g lac ia l- in terg lac ia l cyc les ( i .e. , MIS 1–12) at unprecedented temporal

resolut ion (~200 years). The record captures abrupt c l imate change with h igh

f idel i t y both dur ing g lac ia l and interglac ia l per iods as documented in

Greenland ice cores and mar ine records f rom the Nor th At lant ic (e.g., Ocean

Dri l l ing Program Si te 983) . Our resul ts indicate a te leconnect ion of the h igh

lat i tudes of the northern hemisphere and the NE Mediterranean region, which

we attr ibute to an interp lay between the wester l ies and the Siber ian High

c l imate systems. These results h ighl ight the potent ial of the new, h ighly

resolved pol len record f rom Tenaghi Phi l ippon to serve as a proxy -based

template for shor t - term cl imate and terrestr ia l ecosystem d ynamics in the

nor thern hemisphere.


34

• Prof. Tunoğlu Cemal

Professor,

Department of Geological Engineering,

Hacettepe University, Turkey

Short CV:

Prof . Tunoglu was born in 1957 in Kastamonu, Turkey. He studied at Hacettepe

Univers ity, Depar tment of Geological Engineer ing, between 1976 -1991 (BSc,

MSc, PhD) and he has been work ing as a lec turer s ince 1993.

He is a micropaleonto logis t, more spec if ica l ly os tracodologist , and is interested

main ly in systematics of ostracods and paleoenvironmental studies based on

them. He has many art ic les, 32 of which are publ ished in internat ional peer -

reviewed journals wi th 262 c itat ions on re lated subjects .

He has one daughter. He knows Engl ish.

“Ostracods and their significance in geology”

Abstract :

Ostracods are small crustaceans recording f rom Ear ly Paleozoic to Recent .

More than 65.000 taxa have been determined unt i l now ( Ikeya et a l. , 2005).

The b ivalved shaped hard calc if ied part ca l led as carapace composed of two

valves that h inged each other a long the dorsal margin. Average lenght of

va lves can vary between 0,3-1,5 mm whi le some marine taxa can exceed even

30 mm in lenght (Meisch, 2000) . Ostracods grow by moult ing, most of them

have n ine stages (ontogenic ser ies) inc luding juveni les and an adult named

respect ive ly as A-8 to A (Meisch, 2000) .

As wel l as their impor tance in b io logy, they are f requent ly used in geological

appl icat ions such as b iostrat igraphy, paleoenvironmental and paleocl imat ic

studies (Rodr iguez-Lazaro and Ruiz-Muñoz, 2012). Because of the i r occurence


35

in a lmost every type of environment , ostracod spec ies can be indicators of

pecul iar condit ions. Recent appl icat ions a lso include paleocl imat ic approaches

( trace e lement and stable isotope geochemistry) by analys ing low mg -calc ite

bear ing ostracod valves.

The b iostrat igraphical, paleoenvironmental and paleoc l imat ic studies in

Anato l ia and surrounding areas which evaluate Paratetyhs, Eastern

Mediterranean and non-mar ine ostracods are increas ingly going on. In

conc lus ion, ostracods are s ignif icant tools in Geology in terms of their

aforement ioned features to solve many geological problems.


36

• Dr. George Lyras

Laboratory Teaching Staff

Department of Geology and Geoenvironment, National and

Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

Short CV:

George Lyras is a palaeonto logist, spec ia l ised in aspects of evolut ion and

b iogeography of mammals. He s tudied geology at the Univers i ty of Athens

and h is Ph.D. was on the evolut ion of the carnivore bra in. He has ongoing

col laborat ions wi th b iogeographers and palaeonto logis ts in internat ional

inst i tu t ions for studying mammals on is lands worldwide wi th emphasis on

the Mediterranean and Southeast As ia. He is current ly work ing at the

Facul ty of Geology and Geoenvironment of the Univers ity of Athens as

laboratory and teaching ass istant .

“The vertebrate fossils of Vatera (Lesvos Island, Greece)”

Abstract :

Vatera is an Ear ly Ple istocene local i t y in the southern par t of Lesvos Is land, in

which a main land fauna of large ver tebrates has been found and systemat ical ly

excavated. Al l foss i ls were found in exposures wi th in the upper uni t of the

Vatera Format ion. Th is uni t is represented by f luvia l depos its cons is t ing of

a lternat ions of brecc ia-conglomerates, sandy c lays, sandy conglomerates and

si l t . In tota l, 630 foss i ls have been recovered f rom 7 s ites, named Vatera E, F,

DS, H, T, U and V. The fauna is composed o f macaques (Paradol ichopithecus

arvernes is) , horses (Equus s tenonis) , g iraf fes (Mit i lanother ium cf .

inexpectatum), deer (Metacervoceros cf . rhenanus) gazel les (Gazel la agaea,

G.cf . bouvrainae and G. af f . borbonica), ante lopes (Gazel lospira tor t icorn is) ,

oxes (Leptobos sp.) , raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes megamastoides), badgers

(Meles thoral i) , d irk - toothed cats (cf . Homother ium lat idens), rh inoceroses


37

(Stephanorhinus cf . e truscus) , mastodonts (Anancus arvernens is) and

mammoths (Mammuthus meridional is) . In addit ion, the remains of a smal l

(Testudo graeca) and a g iant spec ies of tor to ise (cf . Cheirogaster af f .

schaf fer i) were a lso d iscovered. Based on the fauna composit ion the s ite has

been attr ibuted to the MN 17 (about 2Ma) . The presence of a g iraf fe and the

presence of four bovid spec ies suggest re lat ive ly dry or open landscape.


38

• Dr. George Iliopoulos

Assistant Professor

Department of Geology, University of Patras, Greece

Short CV:

Dr George I l iopoulos (PhD in Palaeonto logy, Univ. of Leicester, 2003) is

Ass istant Professor of Palaeonto logy & Strat igraphy and head of the

homonymous Laboratory in the Depar tment of Geology, Univers i ty of Patras.

His main research interest is the s tudy of Late Cenozoic ver tebrates and their

palaeoenvironment. His approach is mult idiscipl inary in nature us ing tools f rom

the f ie lds of Vertebrate Palaeonto logy, Taphonomy, Foss i l bone geochemistry

and h isto logy, Biost rat igraphy, Palaeoecology and Palaeoc l imatology to

dec ipher the af f in i t ies of prehistor ic ver tebrates wi th their en vironments and

the d iagenet ic a lterat ions that occurred af ter their death and f inal bur ial .

However , for the las t few years he has been work ing with the b iostrat igraphic

and l i thostrat igraphic study of Quaternary depos its f rom W estern Greece us ing

microfossi ls and macrofoss i ls . Current research act iv i t ies a lso inc lude the

palaeonto logical and strat igraphical s tudy of Palaeol i th ic sequences and the

study of the strat igraphy and depos it ional environment of Quaternary lagoonal

sediments f rom W estern Greece.

"Post mortem modification in fossil bones"

Abstract :

Foss i l bones, and part icu lar ly those that belong to large tetrapods such as

d inosaurs , ples iosaurs and probosc ideans, a lways exc i ted the imaginat ion of

people, being the main exhib its in natural h istory museum galler ies.

Nevertheless, the preservat ion and f inal ly the foss i l isat ion of bones consis ts a

rare process. Short ly af ter death and for the carcasses of animals or sol i tary

skeleta l e lements that wi l l not be consumed by predators or scavengers, the

bones wi l l be exposed on the surface of the ground or s ea bot toms to extr ins ic

processes and their modif icat ion or even their f inal destruct ion wi l l be


39

inevi table. Those that wi l l be covered by sediments re lat ive ly quick ly wi l l

increase their odds to get preserved and thus to fo l low the d iagenet ic process

of foss i l isat ion. Once in the ground and before being foss i l ised, a number of

d iagenet ic chemical and b io logical processes could modif y or even complete ly

destroy bone and teeth t issues. Ac id ic waters could penetrate the bones and

d issolve them part ly or complete ly.

Microorganisms such as bacter ia and fungi could invade the bones caus ing

or ig inal ly microscopical focal destruct ion that could end up to the tota l

destruct ion of the bones as wel l . Therefore, only bones that had the

opportunity to avoid phys ical , chemical and b io logical damage would have the

opportunity to get preserved, and become foss i l ised. St i l l , the fossi l record is

ful l of examples of modif ied or damaged bones and teeth, sometimes severely,

that despi te the odds against their preservat ion, th ey managed to “survive”,

went through foss i l isat ion processes and made i t into the fossi l record. These

“survivors” are the ones that could te l l us the stor ies of a l l those bones and

teeth that did not make i t into the fossi l record and provide us wi th inv aluable

ecological and palaeoenvironmental information for the interact ions between

vertebrates, between ver tebrates and other organisms and with their

environments as wel l .


40

ORAL

PRESENTATIONS


41

PALYNOLOGY

& PALAEOBOTANY


42

A RESEARCH PROGRAM TO STUDY

PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES DURING THE PETM:

THE PALAEOFLORA STUDY OF RIVECOURT AND LE

QUESNOY OUTCROPS (OISE, FRANCE)

Cédric Del Rio 1 , Dario De Franceschi 1

1.UMR7207, CR

2 .MNHN-CNRS-UPMC, So rbonne -Univers i tés , CP38 , 8 r ue Bu f fon , 75231 Par is Cedex 05,

France

Two main Paleogene l ign i te depos i ts are known f rom the Par is Basin. Rivecourt

(Paleocene) and Le Quesnoy (Eocene) are temporal ly and spat ia l ly c lose and

f rame the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. These two local i t ies show a h igh

d ivers i ty of f ru its and seeds. Prel im inary studies h ighl ighted that numerous

famil ies of p lants were present in these two assemblages and show that there

are d if ferences in f lor ist ic composit ion. To date, paleocarpology invest igat ions

have been concentrated on Menispermaceae f rom t he Le Quesnoy s ite.

However , more comprehens ive taxonomic compar isons between these two

assemblages could yie ld new data and perspect ives to unders tand the impact of

g lobal warming on the paleof lora.

W ith these cons iderat ions, we conducted a study on Ica c inaceae endocarps

f rom both local i t ies . These endocarps are numerous, d iverse and exceptional ly

preserved. Icac inaceae are f requent in Paleogene l ign ite assemblages f rom

Europe (main ly f rom the London Clay) and Nor th Amer ica. Fur thermore, the

types of ornamentat ions are eas i ly recognizable. W e descr ibed f ive new

morphotypes f rom Rivecour t s i te which a l l have a pair of subapical horn - l ike

protrus ions, a ret icu lar ornamentat ion, and the vascular bundle embedded in

endocarp. This la tter character is synapomor phic of the Iodes genus while the

presence of subapical horns is character is t ic of some modern As ian Iodes . In

contrast , we found only three morphotypes of Iodes f rom Le Quesnoy s ite with

only one of them shared wi th Rivecour t. Never theless, the main morph otype

f rom Le Quesnoy (about 70% of the spec imens) has no subapical horns. Thus,

th is form may morphological ly c loser to the spec ies current ly in Afr ica. In this

study we demonstrate abrupt changes in the composit ion of Icac inaceae across

the Paleocene-Eocene boundary; in the Paleocene, the spec ies show


43

morphological features character ist ic of some modern As ian species, whereas

in the Eocene a mix of As ian and Afr ican morphological features is present. We

suggest that these success ional f loras in the Par is Bas in s ites are probably

l inked to g lobal warming and the expans ion of the megathermal f lora dur ing the

Eocene.

This analys is is the f irst s tep of a broader comparat ive s tudy of these two s i tes

a iming to address the fol lowing quest ions: Do we f ind the same trend in other

groups? Do we have a congruent pattern of af f ini t ies through t ime and space?

Do we observe an increase or decrease of biodivers ity in re lat ion of g lobal

warming? In addi t ion to f ru its and seeds, woods and f lowers have been found in

both s i tes, inc luding f lowers embedded in amber f rom the Le Quesnoy s i te. The

study of a l l foss i l t ypes wi l l provide us wi th a more comprehens ive

understanding of the d iversi ty of these Paleocene f loras.


44

Liquidambar europaea AND Podocarpium podocarpum

FRUITS AND FOLIAGE FROM PITSIDIA (CRETE ISLAND,

GREECE, LATE MIOCENE)

Giannis Zidianakis 1*, George Il iopoulos1 , Avraam Zelil idis1 , Johanna

Kovar-Eder2

1.Geo logy Depar tment , Un ivers i ty o f Pat ras , Un ivers i ty Campus, 26504 R io , Greece

2 .Sta te Museum of Natura l H is tory Stu t tgar t , Rosens te in 1 , 70191 Stu t tgar t , Ge rmany

An co-occurrence of vegetat ive and fert i le organs of fossi l taxa increases the

potent ia l for the deta i led compar ison wi th ext inc t and modern re lat ives in order

to achieve an accurate systematic ass igning. The ear ly Late Miocene

palaeof lora of Pits id ia (southern par t of central Crete) is suitable for such

approaches as i t provides dif ferent , wel l -preserved organs of several taxa as

Liquidambar europaea A. Braun, Podocarpium podocarpum (A. Braun)

Herendeen (Z id ianak is et a l. , 2010).

Fol iage of Liquidambar europaea is palmate, three- to mostly f ive- lobed, wi th a

regular ly crenulated margin and semicraspedodromous venat ion. The f ru it ing

heads ( inf ruc tescences) are composed of dense c lus ters of 30 –45 elongated,

wedge-shaped f ru its (b i locular capsules) arranged on a ce ntra l ax is. Pers istent

styles with cur led apices occur whi le other extraf lora l s tructures are absent .

Today, the genus Liquidambar L . sensu s tr ic to is intercont inenta l ly d is junct with

four dec iduous tree spec ies, L. formosana Hance and L. acalycina H.T. Chang

in eastern As ia, L. or ienta l is Mi l ler in western As ia and L. s tyrac if lua L . in

eastern Nor th America. Molecular and isozyme studies a long wi th

morphological data indicate that L. or ienta l is and L. styrac if lua are c losely

re lated and const i tute a d if ferent c lade than the eastern As ia spec ies ( Ickert -

Bond et al . , 2005) . The s tudied mater ia l f rom Pi ts id ia conf irms L. s tyrac i f lua

(Nor th Amer ica) as modern analogue based on the fo l iage whi le the f rui t ing

heads suppor t c loser re lat ionship to L. or ienta l is (western Asia) .

Podocarpium podocarpum is represented by iso lated leaf lets, sessi le or short

pet io lu late wi th smal l , nar row el l ipt ic to lanceolate lamina. Venat ion is

brochidodromous wi th a character ist ic pair of prominent basal secondary veins.

The f ru i ts are long-st ip ita te, one-seeded pods consis t ing of two valves


45

dehiscent a long both sutures. The funiculus is s i tuated in the apical third of the

p lacenta l suture indicat ing an apical seed attachment.

Although morphological ly s imilar f ru i ts occur in several ex tant legume genera,

no modern species show comparable f ru it and leaf features wi th th is fossi l

taxon. The remains f rom Pits idia suppor t the current v iew that P. podocarpum

represents an ext inc t genus of the legume family not corresponding to any

extant legume. P. podocarpum is one of the few species in the European

Neogene that could be re lated to modern Afr ican taxa (Herendeen, 1992).

Biogeographical ly i t is remarkable that P. podocarpum occurs abundant ly

main ly as an element of the late Ear ly to Middle Mi ocene plant assemblages in

Centra l Europe.

The fossi ls f rom Pits id ia represent morphological ly wel l -preserved and var iable

mater ia l that al lows t rac ing of modern analogues and their b iogeographical

h istory.

References

1: Herendeen, P. S. , 1992. Podocarp ium podocarpum (A. Braun) Herendeen, comb. n. ,

the correct name for Podogonium knorr i i (A. Braun) Heer, nom. i l leg i t . (Leguminosae).

Taxon 41 : 731–736.

2 : Icker t -Bond, S. M. , Pigg, K. B. , W en, J. , 2005. Comparat i ve in f ructescence

morphology in Liqu idambar (Al t ing iaceae) and i t s evolut ionary s ign i f icance. Am. J . Bot .

92: 1234–1255.

3 : Z id ianak is , G. , I l iopoulos, G. , Fassoulas, C. , 2010. A new la te Miocene p lant

assemblage f rom Messara Bas in (Crete , Greece) . Bul l . Geol . Soc. Greece .


46

PALAEOBOTANICAL STUDY OF LOWER PLEISTOCENE

SEDIMENTS FROM MAGOYLA AND VIGLA SYCHAINON

(ACHAIA, GREECE)

Eleni Liapi 1 , Giannis Zidianakis 1 , Maria Kolendrianou 1 , George

Il iopoulos1

1.Labora tor y o f Pa laeonto logy and S t ra t ig raphy, Depar tment o f Geo logy , Un ive rs i t y o f Pat ras ,

26504, R io , Greece

The present study refers to the examinat ion of p lant macrofoss i ls that were

col lec ted f rom two Ear ly Ple is tocene foss i l i ferous s ites, Magoula and Vig la

Sychainon, located in the Rio-Ant ir io bas in (Achaia, Greece) . The examined

p lant macrofoss i ls have been preserved as impress ions of Angiosperm fo l iage

in marly c lays which were depos ited in lagoona l and marsh environments.

The bas ic object ives of th is s tudy inc lude the descr ipt ion and taxonomic

ident i f icat ion of the p lant macro-remains in order to def ine the palaeof lora and

the palaeoenvironment of the study area. Spec if ica l ly, 470 p lant specimens

were col lected, prepared, and s tudied stereoscopical ly. Around 34% of them

have been ident i f ied to the spec ies, genus, or family level . The pre l im inary

resul ts of the present study show that the p lant palaeoassemblages cons ist of

d if ferent Angiosperm taxa of deciduous d icotyledonous p lants such as Quercus

sp . , Quercus roburoides , Zelkova zelkovaefo l ia , Platanus academiae etc .

Also, dur ing the Lower Ple istocene the p la ins and the low hi l ls of the study area

seem to have been covered by a mixed mesophyt ic forest dominated by

dec iduous oaks (Quercus ) , maples (Acer ) , e lms (Ulmus ) and Zelkova . Probably

the c l imate was temperate and the poss ib le presence of a f resh water system

close to the study area indicates the existence of a r ipar ian forest wi th

hygrophi lous e lements such as poplar (Populus ) and p lane trees (Platanus) .

The present study is being carr ied out wi th in the f ramework of the project E038

K. Karatheodor i programme 2013 of the Univers ity of Patras.


47

INVERTEBRATE PALAEONTOLOGY


48

PALAEO-ECOLOGICAL OSERVATIONS ON THE LOWER

PLEISTOCENE FRESWATER GASTROPODS FROM SOUSAKI

SEDIMENTARY BASIN (GREECE)

Dimitris Protopapas1 , Penelope Papadopoulou 1 , George Il iopoulos1

1.Labora tor y o f Pa laeonto logy and S t ra t ig raphy, Depar tment o f Geo logy, Un ive rs i t y o f Pat ras ,

Panep is t im ioupo l i Pat ron 265 04, Greece

This paper presents a palaeo-autoecologic study on f reshwater gastropods f rom

lacustr ine-r iver ine sedimentary depos i ts of the Sousak i bas in. The area was

chosen due to the intense tectonic act iv i ty dur ing the Late Neogene and

Quaternary Per iods and because of i ts locat ion. Sousak i vo lcano l ies at the

westernmost end of the South Aegean volcanic arc , about 15 k i lometers west of

Cor inth, southern Greece, and the only th ing remain ing today are some

scat tered volcanic products in the surrounding area.

The studied sect ion l ies jus t above the younger volcanic outcrops that have

been found in the bas in and are dated between 2.2 -2.8 Ma. The studied

sedimentary succession cons is ts of mar ly sediments that pass upwards to

sandy and conglomerate layers . Samples were col lec ted f rom a calcareous mar l

layer , r ich in very well-preserved mol lusk tes ts (gastropods and b ivalves) ,

found at the base of the sedimentary sequence jus t above the volcanic rocks.

The samples were washed through 4φ and 1φ mesh s ieves and dr ied. The

gastropods were handpicked, descr ibed in deta i l , photographed, and ident i f ied,

when poss ib le, to the spec ies level .

1548 gastropod and b ivalve shel ls were examined, belonging to 12 fami l ies .

Addi t ional ly, one b ivalve taxon was ident i f ied. The number of genera and

spec ies were 20 and 30 respect ively. Melanops idae, Planorbidae, Valvat idae ,

Lymnaeidae and Hydrobi idae are the most abundant famil ies in terms of shel l

numbers. Ner it idae and Hydrobi idae, and secondar i ly Valvat idae and

Planorbidae are represented by the h ighest number of species in the samples.

This d iverse biocoenosis indicates the presence of a wel l -oxygenated lacustr ine

paleoenvironment of Lower Ple istocene Age, spec if ica l ly Gelas ian, in the s tudy

area. A lake ex isted in the area for at least 10,000 years and d isappeared

af terwards. The c lose prox imity of the lake to a group of volcanic outcrops may


49

have contr ibuted to the emergence of th is b iocoenos is due to r ich food

avai labi l i t y. W hen the palaeoenvironment changed the malacofa una of the area

became ext inct .


50

A NEW OSMYLIDAE (NEUROPTERA, INSECTA) IN BALTIC

AMBER: A CRITICAL CHARACTER STATE FOR OUR

UNDERSTANDING OF THE HIND WING EVOLUTION IN THE

FAMILY

Guillaume Cousin1 , Mónica Solórzano-Kraemer 2 , 3 & Olivier Béthoux1

1.Cent re de Reche rches sur l a Pa léob iod ivers i t é e t les Pa léoenv i ronnemen ts (CR2P, UMR

7207) , Sorbonne Un ivers i t és -MNHN, CNRS, UPMC-Par is6 , Par i s , F rance

2 .Ste inmann Ins t i tu t f ü r Geo log ie , M inera log ie und Pa läonto log ie , Bonn 53115, Germany

3 .Senckenberg Forschungs ins t i tu t und Na turmuseum, Frankfur t am Ma in 60325 ,

Germany

Among insects , wing morphology represents the main character system

avai lable for the foss i l record. Among insects, representat ives of Neuroptera

(ant l ions, lacewing, and their k in) exhib i t an unusual ly h igh divers ity of wing

venation pat terns, suggest ive of an accumulat ion of d if ferent iat ions dur ing the

250 mil l ion years of the group evolut ion. As a consequence, the establ ishment

of robust conjectures of topological homology (THC) can prove chal lenging.

Concurr ing wi th Shi et a l. (2012), Cous in & Béthoux (2016) provided new data

document ing the acquis it ion of a fus ion involv ing the veins MP2 and CuA, in the

forewings of Osmyl idae. Contrast ing fore - and hind wing pat terns, the authors

conc luded that the same fus ion is present in h ind wings, whereas i t

‘necess itates ’ a counter - in tui t ive basal MP + CuA fus ion. Fol lowing this THC,

among Osmyl idae, only the extant genus Osmylus would exhib i t the

p les iomorphic state (v iz. MP2 and CuA dist inct) .

We invest igated foss i l mater ial in order to test the proposed THC. A new and

rare foss i l Osmyl idae, f rom the Senckenberg Bal t ic Amber col lec t ion (Frankfürt ,

Germany) , proved cr i t ica l. Herein we provide an interpretat ion of the hind wing

venation pat terns implying a shor t basal fus ion of CuA and MP, near the wing

base. We suppose that the fusion was faci l i tated by the presence of a basal

cross-vein located between CuA and MP, in the same area as in the forewing


51

(a d if ferent iat ion cal led ‘ t rac heal capture ’) . Thus, the h ind wing venat ion

pattern putat ive ly represents an intermediate condi t ion between ‘CuA ful ly

d ist inct f rom MP’, as in Osmylus , and ‘ long MP + CuA fus ion’, as in the

remain ing Osmyl idae.

In addi t ion, we a lso descr ibe body and geni ta l ia structures based on

microtomographic 3D model . Morphological data was then integrated in a

c ladis t ic analys is encompass ing a l l famil ies of Neuroptera. The Convent ional

Pars imony Analys is (CPA) and the 3 ia methods were both used to perform the

tree reconstruct ion. In the obta ined phylogeny, the new spec imen belongs to

crown-Osmyl idae, and, under 3 ia reconstruct ion, is more c losely re lated to the

remain ing Osmyl idae than the genus Osmylus is , th is conf irming the THC

analys is.

Luck i ly enough we obtained another Bal t ic amber spec imen, most l ike ly

belonging to the same spec ies, which wi l l a l low us to ascer ta in that the f irst

spec imen does not exhib i t a rare, unusual morphology. I t wi l l be invest igated by

microtomography. In summary, the new foss i l mater ia l represents a key taxon

in Osmyl idae h ind wing evolut ion.

References:

1 : Cousin, G. , Béthoux, O. , 2016 . The s teps towards an inconspicuous ve in fus ion

documented in S tenosmyl inae forewings (Neuroptera: Osmyl idae). Organisms Divers i ty

& Evolut ion 16 : 225-232.

2 : Shi , C. , Bethoux, O. , Shih, C. , Ren, D. , 2012. Guyi l ing j ianboni gen. e t sp. n . , an

ant l ion ‐ l i ke lacewing , i l l uminat ing homologies and t ransformat ions in Neuroptera wing

venat ion. Systemat ic En tomology 37 : 617-631 .


52

GET ACROSS THE WOOD: PRESERVATION OF

CRETACEOUS SOFT-BODIED XYLOPHAGOUS MOLLUSKS

(BIVALVA, TEREDINIDAE)

Robin Ninon1 , Anaïs Boura1 , Xavier Valentin2 , Jean-Marie Boiteau3

1.Cent re de Recherche sur la Pa léob iod ivers i t é e t l es Pa léoenv i ronnemen ts (CR2P,

UMR 7207) , Sorbonne Un ivers i t és , Muséum nat iona l d 'H is to i re na ture l le , Un ivers i té P ier re e t

Mar ie Cur ie , CNRS, 57 rue Cuv ier , 75005 Par is .

2 . IPHEP, UMR7262 CNRS, Un ivers i té de Po i t ie r s , 6 , rue Miche l -Brune t , 86073 Po i t i e rs

cedex, F rance

3 .amateur pa laeonto log is t

Teredin idae are obl igate wood-bor ing b ivalves displaying a par t icu lar ly

spec ia l ized anatomy wi th calcareous hemispher ical va lves h ighly reduced in

s ize. These xylophagous b ivalves are able to d igest the cel lulose which is

excavated a long dr i l l ing thanks to endosymbiot ic bacter ia. Addi t ional ly to the

valves, the animal secrets terminal aragonit ic pal lets and a lso calc it ic l in ings at

some point of i ts body, but the major i ty of i ts anatomy is made of sof t - t issues.

Therefore, foss i l teredinids usual ly cons ist o f iso lated valves and pal lets in s i tu

and bor ing s tructures wel l -known as ichnotaxa (Teredol i tes ) which are more or

less preserved wi th calc it ic l in ings and/or inf i l led by sediments. They are known

f rom the Jurass ic to the Cenozoic with their o ldest occurr ence in L ias

(Pl iensbachien) . Here, we repor t except ional ly preserved teredinid b ivalves

f rom the Ear ly Cretaceous of the Envigne Valley (Vienne, France) with exposed

fossi l ized sof t par ts ( foot , s iphons) of the animals which are f rozen by

s i l ic i f icat ion. The Envigne Val ley cons ists of a very pro l i f ic depos it for

paleobotanics, yie ld ing a d ivers ity of conifers, angiosperms, cycadaceae and

ferns showing an espec ia l ly h igh cel lu lar def in i t ion in woods. This spec ia l

apparent preservat ion of the mol lusks pushed us to invest igate the inner

content and organisat ion of the two inhabited woody spec imens. Af ter analyzing

the wood nature of the sunken substrate, the spec imens were scanned us ing

computed tomography (CT-scan of Poi t iers , France) . Thus, we could document

the preservat ion, the systemat ics and ecological aspects of these xylophagous

b ivalves thanks to the 3D-reconstruct ion. The ident i f icat ion, which is most ly

based on the shel ls for foss i l representat ives, has been attempted on the bas is

of espec ial ly th in e lements of the shel ls which were found ins ide the wood and


53

usual ly unpreserved. The tota l number of bor ings and co -occurrences of l iving

animals were quant i f ied, and the dr i l l ing or ientat ions in wood pieces were

compared. Al l these e lements a l low to docum ent the ecology and nature of

some of these cur ious sof t b iva lves through a snapshot on their 100 Ma-old

petr i f ied microenvironment .


54

UPPER CRETACEOUS RUDISTS FROM SVILANOVO

LOCALITY (SW SERBIA)

Bojana Džinić¹

1.Un ivers i t y o f Be lgrade, Facu l ty o f M in ing and Geo logy, Kameni čka 6 , 11000 Be lgrade,

Serb ia

The Upper Cretaceous rudist l imestones are wel l -known f rom several local i t ies

in Serbia (Milovanović , 1935, Pejović , 1957) . This study focuses on the Upper

Cretaceous l imestone wi th rudist fauna at local i t y Svi lanovo. which is located

on the southern s lopes of Mt . Gol i ja, about 32 k i lometres f rom the Novi Pazar.

Lying over low-grade metamorphosed schists of Carboniferous age, Upper

Cretaceous rudis t l imestone makes a conspicuous, more than 500 m long scarp

a long a re lat ive ly steep s lope. The massive b iomicr i t ic l imestone was depos i ted

under shal low-water condit ions. Heterogeneous fossi l assoc iat ion compr ises

rudis t bivalves, foraminifers , detr i tus of gastropods, echinoids, cora ls, etc.

(Gruj ič ić -Tešić et a l . , 2016). The ident i f ied rudis ts taxa were ass igned to two

famil ies : HIPPURITIDAE, Gray and RADIOLITIDAE, d 'Orbigny. Transverse shel l

sect ions through the rudis t spec imens show dif ferent in ternal morphological

e lements ( l igamental r idge, p i l lars, and the measurements of var ious

parameters ( inner d iameter, length of the contour around the inner margin of

the outer shel l layer , and the rat io between th is length and the dis tance

between the sutures of the p i l lars)) have been made. The fo l lowing rudist

spec ies are descr ibed f rom Svi lanovo : Hippur i tes col l ic ia tus Woodward,

Hippur i tes nabres inensis Fut terer , Hippur i tes col l ic iatus W oodward, Vacc in i tes

chaper i Douvi l le,V.gosav iens is Douvi l le, V. inaequicostatus Muenster , V. oppel i

santoniens is Kűhn, Radio l i tes sp. The fauna is indicat ive for a Late Santonian

to Ear ly Campanian age.

References

1:Gruj ič ić -Tešić , L j . , Rabrenović l D. , Kovačević , J . , Gerzina, N. & Đer ić N. , 2016 .

Upper Cretaceous geos i tes on Gol i ja Mounta in – ob jects of geoher i tage. Geologia

Croat ica , 69 (3) : 337-345.

2 :Milovanović , B . 1935. Rudis tna fauna Jugos lavi je I I . Geološk i anal i Balkanskoga

Poluostrva 12: 275 -302


55

3:Pejović , D. , 1957. Geološk i i tek tonsk i odnos i terena š i re okol ine Poćute (Zapadna

Srb i ja) s naroč i t im obzi rom na b iost rat igraf i j u gorn jokrednih tvorevina.Geolosk i Ins t i tu t

"Jovan Zujovic" , Posebna izdanja 8 : 1 -130.


56

ENVIRONMENTS AND BIOGEOGRAPHY OF

MICROGASTROPODS FROM THE LOWER MIOCENE OF THE

MESOHELLENIC BASIN (NW GREECE)

Danae Thivaiou1 , Efterpi Koskeridou 1 , Mathias Harzhauser 2 , Hara

Drinia1

1.Nat iona l and Kapod is t r ian Un ivers i t y o f Athens , Panep is t im iopo l is , 157 84, Zogra fou,

Greece

2 .Natura l H is tor y Museum of V ienna, Burgr ing 7 , 1010, V ienna, Aus t r i a

In the f ie ld of Palaeonto logy one has to confront chal lenging quest ions

regarding palaeoecology and b iogeography of fossi l communit ies or the

patterns and processes of the phylogeographic evolut ion of d if ferent taxa. In

the present work , the evolut ion of t he W estern Tethys Ocean is being s tudied

for Lower Miocene of the Mesohel lenic Bas in (NW Greece) wi th a focus on the

fossi l mol luscan content . Previous works have centered in large -s ized mol lusks

in order to see how the Tethys Ocean c losed and what the con nect ion with the

Paratethys Sea was. In general, both the Ol igocene and Lower Miocene of the

Mediterranean area are poor ly preserved, and few studies have deal t wi th the

analys is of foss i l mol luscan faunas. As a result , the knowledge as to the

b iodiversi ty of these geological per iods and the types of environments is rather

patchy. In order to encompass the lack of well -preserved large s ize spec imens

(>2cm), micromorphic gastropods are used here. The goal is to be able to

examine the b iodiversity of the s tud ied area, as wel l as the ecological

character is t ics and biogeography of the Western Tethys. Indeed, the Lower

Miocene (Aqui tanian) fauna of gastropods is ex tremely d ivers if ied. Not only are

some spec ies ment ioned in th is par t of the Western Tethys for the f irs t t ime,

but some of them are current ly completely absent f rom the Mediterranean Sea

(Ner i t i l ia sp.) .

Microgastropods prove to be very good tools in order to assess the b iodivers ity

of the b ioprovince of the W estern Tethys, and the types of environment s that

prevai led dur ing the Lower Miocene in greater deta i l than any other previous

work . The taxonomical d ivers ity of the microgastropods of the s tudied sect ion

of the Mesohel lenic Bas in has g iven more than 60 species. The most d iverse


57

family is the Pyram idel l idae (paras i t ic gastropods) with 12 spec ies present , and

the most abundant famil ies are the Cer i thi idae and Turr i tel l idae. In the same

sect ion, a dramat ic environmental change is observed, wi th an abrupt swi tch

f rom a brack ish- lagoonal sett ing to a shal low marine environment.


58

SESSION

GENERAL

PALAEONTOLOGY


59

EXAMINING CLAIMS FOR LATE EDIACARAN (~553 MA)

BIOTURBATION VIA TAPHONOMY, PETROLOGY AND 3D

RECONSTRUCTION

Christos Psarras 1 , 3 , Philip C.J. Donoghue 1 , Vladimir I . Rogov2 ,

Dmitriy V. Grazhdankin 2 , Luke Parry1 , and Alexander G. Liu1 ,4

1.Schoo l o f Ear th Sc iences, Un ivers i t y o f Br i s to l , L i fe Sc iences Bu i l d ing , 24 Tynda l l Avenue,

Br is to l , BS8 4QQ, U.K .

2 .Tro f imuk Ins t i tu te o f Pe t ro leum Geo logy and Geophys ics , Kop tyug Avenue 3 , Novos ib i rsk

630090, Russ ia

3 .Nat iona l & Kapod is t r i an Un ivers i ty o f Athens, Schoo l o f Ear th Sc ience, Facu l t y o f Geo logy

and Geoenv i ronment , Depar tment o f H is tor i ca l Geo logy -Pa leon to logy, Panep is t im iopo l i s ,

Zogra fou , 15784, Greece ( cur ren t address)

4 .Depar tment o f Ear th Sc iences, Un ivers i ty o f Cambr idge, Downing S t ree t , Cambr idge, CB2

3EQ, U.K . ( cur ren t ad dress)

Molecular c locks predict the or ig in of the c lade metazoan tens of mil l ions of

years pr ior to the Cambrian Explos ion. However, ex is t ing body foss i l evidence

for their presence in the prec eding Neoproterozoic Era is equivocal . Trace

fossi ls provide an a l ternat ive record of metazoan morphological and behaviora l

evolut ion. Mater ia l f rom the late Ediacaran Khatyspyt Formation (~553Ma) of

Arc t ic Siber ia has been suggested to record evidence of abundant b ioturbat ion,

but th is in terpretat ion has been d isrupted. Here we combine X -ray tomography,

SEM and petro logical analyses to invest igate the three -dimensional morphology

and taphonomy of th is important mater ia l . The mater ial is demonstrated to

comprise of randomly-or iented ser ies of bowl -shaped structures wi th in a

sedimentary ‘halo’ , whi le taphonomic studies indicate that the st ructures have

dif fuse, s i l ic ic mineralogical boundar ies. These resul ts refute the suggest ion

that the Siber ian mater ial preserves body fossi ls of tubular organisms similar to

Cloudina , and instead conf irm an ichnological or ig in. W e propose meniscate

backf i l l as a mechanism to expla in the morphology and mineralogy of these

structures, implying that tr ip loblast ic Eumetazoan bur rowers were present more

than ten mi l l ion years before the Cambr ian Explos ion.


60

BRINGING PALAEONTOLOGY TO PEOPLE - AN

INTRODUCTION TO THE EUROPEAN CENTRE OF

PALAEONTOLOGY

Elżbieta M. Teschner 1 ,2 , Elena Yazykova , 1 ,2

1.Opo le Un ivers i ty , Depar tment o f B iosys temat i cs , Labora tor y o f Pa laeob io logy and

Evo lu t i on , O leska 22, 45 -052 Opo le , Po land

2.Opo le Un ive rs i ty , European Cent re o f Pa laeonto logy, O leska 48 , 45 -052 Opo le , Po land

In February 2016, the European Centre of Palaeonto logy (ECP) was

establ ished, i ts mot to being “Science is the result of co l laborat ion”.

Subsequent ly, the pr ime reason for es tabl ish ing the ECP has been to fac i l i ta te

col laborat ive ef for ts amongst d if ferent partners. Potent ia l par tners are main ly

univers it ies across the whole of Europe, but a lso museums, scient i f ic soc iet ies

and pr ivate ins t i tut ions such as commercia l Dino -Parks and/or companies at

both nat ional and internat ional levels. The ECP enables the construct ion of

large research uni ts with the a im to produce h igh - impact sc ience and to provide

rapid d ispersal of data with in the sc ient i f ic community.

An impor tant goal is a lso to make the sc ience of palaeonto logy more appeal ing

and more popular amongst a wider , ‘amateur ’ audience. To make th is poss ib le

a range of events have been organized, such as e.g. , Palaeonto logy Night ,

Night at the Museum or Fest iva l of Sc ience . One of the f irs t s teps taken was

the ins tal lat ion of a museum col lect ion at Opole Univers i ty wi th

palaeonto logical samples f rom the surrounding area. This is accessible to the

general publ ic and comprises a l l k inds of fossi ls on d isplay, s tart ing wi th p lants

f rom the Carboniferous Per iod, v ia probably the most famous large vertebrates

(but a lso microvertebrates), inver tebrates and p lant fossi ls f rom Upper Tr iass ic

strata at Kras iejów, p lus Jurassic and Cretaceous mar ine invertebrates up to

Pleis tocene megafauna – a l l or iginat ing f rom the Opole voivodeship.

While the star t ing academics are g iven the opportunity to s tudy palaeobio logy

at Opole Univers ity (bachelor - and master- level studies) , the general publ ic can

take part in summer schools that are organised for people of d if ferent ages who

are ready and eager to gather new knowledge in the f ield of palaeonto log y. We


61

also p lan a cyc le of conferences for these people so as to provide news f rom

the f ie ld, expla in new techniques and i l lustrate the appl ied methods.

Since the Opole area provides a unique opportuni ty to feature a wide range of

geological set t ings i t is very impor tant to d isseminate th is informat ion by

organis ing workshops for young people but a lso to start co l laborat ing in order

to obta in internat ional grants . Fur thermore, the ECP al lows s tudent exchange

between univers i t ies , both at home and abroad, to learn pract ica l sk i l ls such as

excavation or preparat ion.

We invite everyone to co-operate with the ECP, which provides opportunit ies

for the construct ion (and maintenance) of a great network of researchers and

joint projects.


62

DO DINOCYSTS REFLECT PAST SEA ICE COVER IN THE

ARCTIC? PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF A STUDY TO TEST

THIS HYPOTHESIS APPLYING INNOVATIVE METHODS

Małgorzata Kucharska 1 , Kenneth Neil Mertens 2 , Marek Zajączkowski 1

1. Ins i tu te o f Oceano logy, Po l i sh Academy o f Sc iences, u l . Powstańców Warszawy 55, 81 -712

Sopot , Po land

2 . I f r emer , LER BO, Sta t ion de B io log ie Mar ine , P lace de la Cro ix , BP40537, F -29185

Concarneau Cedex , F rance

Sea ice is one of the important factors inf luenc ing the c l imate in the Arct ic.

White ice ref lects a great port ion of sun radiat ion ( inc luding heat) , whi le open

sea absorbs i t . Reconstruct ion of past ice condit ion can te l l us how warm the

Arc t ic was in the past, due to var iat ion in northward advected of heat v ia

surface water currents and changes in the c i rc ulat ion pat tern in the

stratosphere.

Dinof lagel lates are s ingle-cel led prot is ts , being the second most impor tant

pr imary producer in the seas. In contrast to their moti le form, which lacks an

external skeleton or other structures wi th potent ia l to be stor ed in the foss i l

archive, several p lanktonic d inof lagel late spec ies produce rest ing spores,

referred to as d inof lagel late cysts . These are surrounded by a h ighly res istant

wal l composed of organic matter . The cysts are able to survive in sediments for

decades. Unl ike diatoms and calcaerous microorganisms, d inof lagel late cysts

are of ten wel l preserved in the sediment around Svalbard. Thus, they may be

excel lent paleoenvironmental indicators . Some spec ies, l ike cysts of Polare l la

g lac ia l is , Is landinium minutum , Is landin ium? cezare and Echinid inium karaense ,

seem to be s trongly re lated to the occurrene of sea ice.

Samples were col lec ted dur ing two sampl ing seasons: 2014 and 2016 wi th R/V

Oceania. Seven locat ions around Svalbard were sampled us ing box cor er.

These are Storf jorden, Hornsund, Isf jorden, Ri jpf jorden and W ijdef jorden and

the foref ie lds of two g lac iers : Austfonna on Nordaust landed and Edgejøkulen on

Edgeøya. Only the upper 1 cm of sediment was col lec ted. Sediment was treated

wi th hydrochlor ic ac id and hydrof luor ic acid to remove carbonates and s i l icates

and s ieved us ing 15 and 125 µm mesh. The ident i f icat ion of the species was


63

performed by l ight microscopy. Spec imens were ident i f ied to the lowest

poss ib le taxonomic level.

The sea bed samples contained 39 spec ies at tr ibuted to 23 genera. Cysts of P.

g lac ia l is , I .? cezare and E. karaense occurred most f requently in locat ions wi th

a dense sea ice cover dur ing spr ing. This suggests that there is a re lat ionship

between the presence of seasonal sea ic e and the occurrence of d inof lagel la tes

spec ies produc ing the above-ment ioned cysts . This is the bas is for fur ther

research on the appl icabi l i t y of d inof lagel late cysts as indicators of past sea ice

cover . Fur ther research is required to improve the unders tanding of the

re lat ionship between the observed d inocysts species and spec if ic types of sea

ice.

These s tudies were funded by the Nat ional Sc ience Centre through grants

number 2013/11/B/ST10/00276 and 2014/15/N/ST10/05115.


64

THERMOHALINE CIRCULATION DURING THE LAST

GLACIAL TERMINATION - A MULTIPROXY RECORD OF

PALEOCEANOGRAPHIC CHANGES IN THE EUROPEAN

ARCTIC

Magdalena Łącka 1 , Min Cao2 , Antoni Rosell -Melé2 , 3 , Joanna

Pawłowska1 , Małgorzata Kucharska 1 , Matthias Forwick4 , Marek

Zajączkowski1

1. Ins t i tu te o f Oceano logy , Po l i sh Academy o f Sc iences, Pows tańców Warszawy 55, 81 -712

Sopot , Po land

2 . Ins t i tu te o f Env i ronmenta l Sc ience and Techno logy, Autonomous Un ivers i ty o f Barce lona ,

Campus de la UAB 08193 Be l l a te r ra , Spa in

3 . Ins t i tuc ió Cata lana de Recerca i Es tud is Avançats , 08010 Barce lona, Cata lon ia , Spa in

4 .Depar tment o f Geo logy, Un ivers i ty o f T romsø – The Arc t i c Un ivers i t y o f Norway, N -9037

Tromsø , Norway

The modern c l imate of the North At lant ic region is most ly shaped by heat

transpor t through the Nor th At lant ic Current (NAC), which is par t of the At lant ic

Merid ional Overturning Circulat ion (AMOC). Consequent ly, th is area is much

warmer than comparable regions at the same lat i tudes. However , the

mechanism that dr ives the AMOC is quite sens i t ive to c l imat ic condit ions.

Recent ly, the s lowing of AMOC has been observed and i t is an ef fect of large

f reshwater inputs f rom the g lobal warming - induced melt ing of the Greenland Ice

Sheet .

There is some evidence that pronounced AMOC changes occurred dur ing the

Last Glac ia l Terminat ion. Herein we present the mult iproxy record of AMOC

changes f rom Storf jordrenna, western Barents Sea. The s tudy s ite is a sens it ive

area where two contrast ing water masses form an oceanic polar f ront , excel lent

for research of contemporary and past environmental changes. The t im ing of

the paleocl imat ic events has been assessed us ing regional radiocarbon

chronology. The marine record was invest igated us ing several

paleoceanographic prox ies. Due to integrat ion of the surface, subsurface and

bottom water prox ies, a comprehens ive descr ipt ion of the record was poss ib le.

These inc lude benth ic and p lankt ic foraminiferal fauna d istr ibut ions,


65

measurements of the stable isotopes (δ1 8O and δ1 3C), l i thological parameters ,

such as gra in s ize dis tr ibut ion, IRD f lux, magnetic susceptib i l i t y and elemental

composit ion of the sediment . The record is completed wi th v iv iani te

microconcret ions analys is as well as a lkenones analys is.

The most pronounced stadia l dur ing the Last Glac ial Terminat ion was the

Younger Dryas, which was character ized by an overal l long - last ing cool ing af ter

the warm Al lerød. The onset of the YD was extremely abrupt, with the anox ic

condit ions prevai l ing at the Storf jordrenna bott om, dec imat ing the benthic and

p lankt ic fauna and enabl ing the massive appearance of v ivianite

microconcret ions in the sediment. The anox ic condi t ions resul ted f rom the

impeded gas exchange between atmosphere and sea as an ef fec t of perennia l

sea ice cover occurrence. Storf jordrenna and the western Barents Sea surface

remained f rozen for c. 50 years. Subsequently, the AW appeared in the

subsurface layers fo l lowing the reinvigorat ion of AMOC, in the intermediate -

phase only. Subsequent ly, the warmer AW gradua l ly weakened the strat i f icat ion

and started to mel t the sea ice. The shif t f rom the ArW to AW domain started c .

11,700 cal yr BP, result ing in large var iat ions of strat i f icat ion, sea ice format ion

in Storf jordrenna and enhanced br ine product ion.

The project has been f inanced f rom the funds of the Nat ional Sc ience Centre in

Poland through Project 2013/11/B/ST10/00276.


66

MICROPALAEONTOLOGY-OSTRACODA AND FORAMINIFERA


67

MICROPALAEONTOLOGICAL STUDY OF LOWER

PLEISTOCENE SEDIMENTS FROM THE SOUSSAKI

VOLCANIC CENTER, EASTERN CORINTH GULF, GREECE

Evangelia Kotsimpou 1 , Ioannis Koukouvelas 1 , George Il iopoulos 1

1.Pa laeonto logy and St ra t ig raphy Lab, Depar tment o f Geo logy Un ivers i t y o f Pa t ras , 26504,

R io , Greece

The volcanic center of Soussak i has drawn the at tent ion of the sc ient i f ic

community, regard ing i ts complex tectonic and geothermal act iv i ty. This study

focuses on the micropalaeonto logical analys is of 110 samples, which were

col lec ted f rom a of 21.74 m sect ion, in the region of Agios Charalampos, near

Soussak i v i l lage. The studied sequence cons i sts of a lternat ing sof t and hard

marls with local intercalat ions of sandstone. The purpose of the current s tudy is

the ident i f icat ion of the palaeoecological condit ions that prevai led dur ing the

depos it ion, as wel l as the determinat ion of the depos it ion ag e of the sediments.

The samples were wet s ieved and dr ied, and thereaf ter, fo l lowed the col lect ion

and ident i f icat ion of microfoss i ls under a stereoscope. Moreover , the respect ive

stat ist ical analys is was carr ied out with Past and the percentage abundance

d iagrams were p lot ted with the help of C2 .

The determined taxa belong to three groups, os tracods, gastropods and

foraminifera. The dominant spec ies is Cypr ideis frydac i , which appears in

extremely h igh percentages, fol lowed by Cypr ideis e l isabeta and other

Cypr ideis and Tyrrhenocythere as wel l , ind icat ing lagoonal depos i t ional

environments . In addi t ion, the presence of taxa such as Candona nobi l is is

constant, ind icat ing f resh water supply in the lagoonal system. Moreover, the

occurrence of marine spec ies (such as Loxoconcha and Xestoleber is ) appears

rather low. Fur thermore, the local presence of foraminifera, such as Ammonia

tepida and Elphid ium cr ispum g ives addit ional evidence, due to the brack ish

character of these species.

Therefore, the Agios Charalampos sect ion refers to a lagoonal system, where

f luc tuat ing condit ions occurred, changing spat ia l ly and temporal ly.


68

POTENTIAL SOURCES OF FRESHWATER OUTBURST IN

THE NORDIC SEAS AROUND 80 THOUSAND YEARS BP

(MARINE ISOTOPE STAGE 5A)

Maciej M. Telesiński 1 , Henning A. Bauch2 ,3 , 4 , Robert F. Spielhagen 2 , 3

1. Ins t i tu te o f Oceano logy , Po l i sh Academy o f Sc iences, Pows tańców Warszawy 55, 81 -712

Sopot , Po land

2 .GEOMAR Helmho l t z Cent re fo r Ocean Research K ie l , W ischhofs t rasse 1 -3 , 24148 K ie l ,

Germany

3 .Academy o f Sc iences and L i te ra ture , 53151 Ma inz , Germany

4 .Al f red Wegener Ins t i tu te , He lmhol tz Cen t re fo r Po lar and Mar ine Research , Bremerhaven,

Germany

Dur ing per iods of deglac iat ion, which occurred cyc l ica l ly dur ing the Late

Ple is tocene, large amounts of f reshwater were re leased – of ten rapid ly – f rom

ice sheets into the surrounding oceans. Due to i ts low dens i ty f reshwater

remains at the top of the water column creat ing a l id that can inf luence the

ocean c irculat ion. This process is par t i cu lar ly important in regions cruc ial for

the g lobal ocean c irculat ion such as the Nordic Seas where deep water

formation takes p lace. A sediment record f rom the nor thern Greenland Sea

indicates s trong inf luence of f reshwater dur ing Mar ine Isotope Stage 5a (around

80 thousand years BP). The s ignal is a lso found in other records f rom the

Nordic Seas and the Arc t ic Ocean. In th is study, we attempt to f ind poss ible

sources and mechanisms of the f reshwater outf low. W e present two poss ib le

scenar ios: (a) mel t ing of the nor thern Greenland Ice Sheet as a result of

re lat ive ly warm At lant ic W ater in trus ion far in to the Arc t ic Ocean and (b)

catastrophic dra inage of large proglac ia l lakes located south of the E uras ian

ice sheet. Such a large scale f reshwater del ivery in to the ocean caused d iverse

consequences, such as, e.g. , an increase in sea - ice abundance. This reduced

the evaporat ion f rom the sea surface and depr ived the atmosphere of mois ture

del ivery required for the growth of ice sheets on adjacent lands and might have

delayed the incept ion of the Middle W eichsel ian g lac iat ion.


69

MICROPALAEONTOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF HOLOCENE

MUDFLAT AND SALT MARSH DEPOSITIONAL

ENVIRONMENTS, THAMES ESTUARY, UK

Athanasios Georgopoulos 1

1.Un ivers i t y o f B i rm ingham, 155b Midd le ton Ha l l Road, B30 1AS, UK

The major i ty of Holocene estuar ies were formed 10,000 to 12,000 years ago

when sea levels star ted to r ise, fol lowing the last deglac iat ion. I t is est imated

that more than 50% of the wor ld ’s populat ion is l iv ing adjacent to these

environments . The Thames Estuary is one of the largest es tuar ies in the UK

and is located near the c i ty of London, thus the Br i t ish Geological Survey

(BGS) has establ ished a project in order to predict how the area of the Thames

Estuary might reac t to future c l imate change. This s tudy is par t of the BGS

project and is focused in the lower part of the estuary ( Is le of Grain and Cl i f fe) .

Biofacies reconstruct ion in sal t marsh and mud f la t depos i ts has been

undertaken in order to record re lat ive chang es of sea level and sal in ity dur ing

the Holocene. Brack ish ostracods are dominate the area throughout the

Holocene indicat ing strong inf luence of f resh water , whi le foraminifera

assemblages are d iv ided in three groups showing a relat ive increase of mar ine

inf luence on the Estuary through the Holocene. This study indicates that the

depos it ion rate of sediments, in th is area of the estuary, is equal to the r ise of

the re lat ive sea level in the region.


70

ANCIENT DNA: EXPLORING THE PAST CLIMATE AND

EVIRONMENTAL VARIABILITY

Joanna Pawłowska1* ,Franck Lejzerowicz 2 ,Magdalena Łącka1 , Marek

Zajączkowski1 , Jan Pawlowski 2

1. Ins t i tu te o f Oceano logy Po l ish Academy o f Sc iences, Powstanców Warszawy 55, 81 - 713

Sopot , Po land

2 .Depar tment o f Genet i cs and Evo lu t i on , Un ivers i t y o f Geneva , Qua i Ernes t -Anserme t 30 ,

CH1211, Geneva, Sw i tzer land

Ancient environmental DNA (aDNA) comprises DNA obta ined d irec t ly f rom

environmental samples such as sediments , ice or permafrost and represents an

impor tant source of informat ion on past b iodivers ity. An aDNA approach was

successful ly appl ied for trac ing the Holocene h is tory of d iverse groups of

organisms, inc luding taxa that have no foss i l record. The resul ts of prel im inary

aDNA-based s tudies were very promising showing that the marine sediments

are an excel lent DNA repos itory. However, these ear ly s tudies a lso ra ised some

quest ions about the accuracy of aDNA approach and the interpretat ion of the

obtained data, inc luding 1) the accuracy o f the d etermining the biodivers i ty

compared to morphological method; 2) the match in terms of strat igraphic

occurrence for foss i l spec ies with respect to their aDNA sequences; 3) the

quant i ta t ive in terpretat ion of aDNA data; 4) the potent ial of aDNA as

paleoenvironmental proxy. Herein, we raised these issues, us ing the example

of two studies of foraminifera l aDNA preserved in subsurface mar ine sediment

samples f rom Svalbard.

To evaluate the poss ib le use of foraminifera l DNA as environmental proxy we

analyzed two sediment cores f rom Hornsund f jord and Storf jorden, spanning the

last 1000 years and 7000 years , respect ive ly. The invest igat ion was completed

wi th the use of c lass ical paleoceanographic prox ies and s trengthened by the

analys is of foraminifera l aDNA. Our studies conf irmed the occurrence of aDNA

in downcore sediment samples and supported the ex is tence of ex tremely

d iverse foraminifera l assemblages. The r ichness of foraminifera l communit ies

revealed by molecular analys is was much higher than in the foss i l reco rd,

main ly due to the detect ion of non-foss i l ized monothalamous taxa . The data

inferred f rom molecular analyses corre lated wel l wi th environmental changes


71

and revealed even small changes that were not c lear ly indicated by the foss i l

record. By inc luding monothalamids ident i f ied in the aDNA record, we

cons iderably increased the number of potent ia l proxy spec ies. We proved that

foraminifera l DNA-based survey is an ef fect ive tool in invest igat ing Arct ic

foraminifera l communit ies . Monthalamids seems to be re l iable

paleoenvironmental ind icators , more sens it ive than hard -shel led taxa.

Molecular analys is gained an access to the h idden divers i ty of benthic

foraminifera and thus might serve as an important tool to val idate or ref ine

paleoecological informat ion obta ined wi th other prox ies.

Project was funded by the Nat ional Sc ience Centre grant no.

2015/19/ST10/00244 and the funds of the Leading Nat ional Research Centre

(KNOW) received by the Centre for Polar Studies for the per iod 2014 -2018.


72

LARGER BENTHIC FORAMINIFERA FROM THE EL GARIA

FORMATION AND ASSOCIATED CARBONATE UNITS: A

CASE STUDY FOR THE DIACHRONIC DEVELOPMENT OF

THE EOCENE SHALLOW-MARINE CARBONATES IN NORTH

TUNISIA

Ali Osman Yücel 1 , Ercan Özcan 2 , Kamel Boukhalfa 2 , Mohamed

Soussi3 , Aynur Hakyemez 4 Aral Okay5 ,

1.Facu l ty o f M ines, Depar tment o f Geo log ica l Eng ineer ing , İs tanbu l Techn ica l Un ivers i ty

( İTU) , Mas lak , 34469 İ s tanbu l , Turkey

2 .Facu l ty o f Sc iences o f B izer te , Depa r tment o f Geo logy , Jarzouna 7021 , Tun is ia

3 .Un ivers i t y o f E l Manar , Facu l ty o f Sc iences o f Tun is I I Depar tmen t o f geo logy , Campus

Un ivers i ta i re , 1060 Tun is , Tun is ia

4 .Genera l D i rec tora te o f M inera l Research and Exp lora t ion , Depar tmen t o f Geo log ica l

Research, 06800, Çankaya, Ankara , Turkey

5 . İ s tanbu l Techn ica l Univers i ty , Euras ia Ins t i t u te o f Ear th Sc iences , 34469, Mas lak , İ s tanbu l ,

Turkey

In Tunis ia, shal low-mar ine Eocene El Gar ia Formation represents a s ignif icant

carbonate reservoir which is made up of mainly larger benth ic foraminifera

(LBF) . The LBF are character ized main ly by the genus Nummul ites and

orthophragminid genera, Discocyc l ina, Nemkovel la , Orbi toc lypeus and

Asterocyc l ina . The a lveol in ids are very scanty and genus Ass i l ina was not

recorded. These shal low marine uni ts over l ie the deep -mar ine f ine c last ics and

carbonates which are dominated by p lanktonic foraminifera (Chouabine

Format ion) . The p lanktonic foraminifera ident i f ied below or in some levels of

the El Gar ia Format ion provide an independent tool for a more robust

strat igraphy. Our data permi t to ident i fy several age-dis t inc t shal low-mar ine

uni ts, previous ly treated under El Gar ia Formation of la te Ypres ian age. The

o ldest shal low-mar ine carbonate unit is of ear ly Eocene age (SBZ 5 -8; ear ly

Ypres ian), and is character ized by ‘shelf -margin’ deposi ts and fauna

(Carbonate Unit 1 main ly cons is t ing of or thophragminids) . The second type of

transgress ive uni ts are la te Ypres ian in age (SBZ 10/11; Cuis ian) and are

character ized by the common occurrence of nummuli t ids , or thophragminids and

rare alveol in ids. The thi rd type of carbonates are predominated by prol i f ic


73

nummuli t ids accumulat ions with occas ional or thophragminid taxa. These

carbonates are of late Cuis ian to ear ly Eocene in age (SBZ 12 -13/14) and

represent the latest phase of Eocene transgress ion . Our data show that the

Eocene transgress ive uni ts in Diapir Zone, previous ly in terpreted to be a par t of

the El Gar ia Formation, d isplay a d iachronic developm ent wi th part icu lar LBF

fauna.

This work was real ised wi th in the sc ient i f ic col laborat ion proje ct between

TUBITAK (Turkey) and MHESR (Tunis ia) (Project no:114Y401) .


74

THE SHARE OF FORAMINIFERAL CARBON IN THE

SEDIMENTARY CARBON POOL IN ADVENTFJORDEN

(SVALBARD)

Natalia Szymańska1 , Agnieszka Kujawa1 , Joanna Pawłowska 1 ,

Magdalena Łącka 1 , Małgorzata Kucharska1 , Marek Zajączkowsk

1. Ins t i tu te o f Oceano logy, Po l i sh Academy o f Sc iences , Powsta ńców Warszawy 55, 81 -712,

Sopot

The aim of the fo l lowing research was to determine the benth ic Foraminifera

quant i ta t ive share in the tota l carbon pool in mar ine sediments of an Arc t ic

f jord, Adventf jorden. The s tudy was based on the assumpt ion that Foraminifera

p lay an important ro le in the natura l process of carbon bur ia l due to the

incorporat ion of ca lc ium carbonate into foraminifera l shel ls (so cal led tes ts) .

The ro le of Foraminifera in carbon cyc l ing in marine environment is twofo ld: 1)

foraminifera l ink the trophic levels, as they c onsume substant ia l amounts of

detr i tus and bacter ia and 2) they are organisms that accumulate carbon in their

tes ts in the form of calc ium carbonate, therefore changes in foraminiferal

communit ies have d irect impact on the tota l water carbon budget . The st udy

resul ts contr ibuted to the est imat ion of foraminifera l carbon share in modern

day Arc t ic f jords, as wel l as make an impor tant reference for research on

environmental changes in the past , espec ia l ly those focus ing on

paleoproduct iv i ty.

The sampling was carr ied out in January, May, August , and November 2015.

Sampl ing stat ions were located in the centra l par t of the f jord at the depths of

60 m and 80 m. This approach not only determined the input of foraminifera in to

the f jords sedimentary carbon pool , bu t a lso a l lowed to d iscuss seasonal

changes in foraminifera l carbon share in the carbon pool of Adventf jorden

sediments. The study was conducted on three common in the study region

spec ies of benth ic foraminifera: Cassidul ina reniforme , Elphid ium excavatum

and Nonionel l ina labrador ica . In a l l three spec ies, the values of organic carbon,

inorganic carbon and tota l (organic + inorganic) carbon were measured.

The resul ts revealed that foraminifera d id not account for as much organic

carbon as expected. The percentage of foraminifera l organic carbon was


75

highest in May, when i t reached 0,35% of tota l organic carbon. Surpr is ingly, the

inorganic foraminifera l carbon percentage accounted for up to 37% (May),

conf irming the assumpt ion that in Arct ic f jords, where benthic community is

dominated by non-shel led organisms, foraminifera are the main carbon

producers, and an impor tant const i tuent in the process of carbon bu r ial . The

resul ts reveal the k ind of input foraminifera have in the carbon cyc le in an

Arc t ic f jord, and are an important reference for fur ther i nvest igat ions on th is

topic.


76

MICROPALEONTOLOGICAL STUDY OF LOWER

PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS IN RIO-ANTIRIO BASIN (VIGLA,

SICHENA, PATRA, GREECE)

Dimitra E. Valavani 1 , George Il iopoulos1

1.Un ivers i t y o f Pat ras , Depar tmen t o f Geo logy, Pa laeonto logy and St ra t i g raphy Labora tor y ,

26504 Pa t ras , Greece

This project involves the micropaleontological study of Lower Ple istocene

depos its f rom a sect ion in the local i t y of Vig la near the v i l lage Sichena (NW

Peloponnese, Greece) . The s tudy area has been chosen as i t belongs to the

tec tonical ly act ive Rio -Ant ir io bas in, which is part of the Cor inth r i f t and

contains several hundred meters of Ple istocene sediments , inc luding lacustr ine,

terrestr ia l and lagoonal fac ies. This work contr ibutes to the understanding of

the palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmental evolut ion of the wider area. For

th is purpose, 40 sediment samples were col lec ted f rom an 11 -meter th ick

natura l ly eroded sect ion. The sedimentary sequence is character ized by very

f ine gra ined sediments, f rom clay to very f ine sand. The samples were s ieved

us ing tap water. Af ter drying, microfossi ls were handpicked and determined

us ing a s tereoscope. From these samples, 18 d if ferent species of Foraminifera

and Ostacods were extracted. Spec if ica l ly, 7 species of Foraminifera and 11

spec ies of Ostracods were s tudied. The col lected data were analyzed wi th the

help of stat is t ica l programs Grapher and Past3. Percentage abundance

d iagrams of microfoss i ls found in each sample were constructed, and 7 d ist inct

uni ts were separated, each represent ing d if ferent environmental condit ions.

The dominant spec ies of the f irs t unit (bottom to top) was Candona neglecta ,

fol lowed by Bul imina. Candona neglecta and Paracypr ia sp. were the main taxa

of the th ird and forth uni t . The dominant taxa in the remain ing uni ts were

Loxoconcha, Cyther idea neapol i tana, Cal l is tocythere int r icato ides, and f inal ly

Tyrrhenocythere amnicola. The depos i t ional palaeoenvironment of the s tudied

sect ion is envisaged as a brack ish environment such as a c losed lagoon system

with regular f resh water inf low. The bottom par t of the sect ion is character ized

by low sal in i ty due to the f resh water inf low into the system. In the middle of

the sect ion i t appears that the system received more seawater due to the

increased presence of Foraminifera and Ostracods. Near the top of the sect ion

the condi t ions changed again to a brack ish environment wi th low sal in ity.


77

The present study is being carr ied out wi th in the f ramework of the project E038

K. Karatheodor i programme 2013 of the Univers ity of Patras.


78

FORAMINIFERAL EVIDENCE FOR LATE MAASTRICHTIAN

WARMING EVENT RECORDED IN THE KJØLBY GAARD

MARL, DENMARK

Trine Arp1 , Lars Stemmerik1 , Jan Audun Rasmussen 2

1.Natural His tory Museum of Denmark, Øster Voldgade 5 -7, 1350 Copenhagen

K, Denmark

2.Foss i l - og Molermuseet, Skarrehagevej 8, 7900 Nykøbing Mors, Denmark

The mid-to la te Cretaceous per iod of Northwest Europe records a warm,

greenhouse c l imate, though wi th a d is t inc t cool ing of the h igh lat i tudes in the

latest Maastr icht ian. W ithin th is la test Maastr icht ian cool ing a br ief warming

event is recorded wi th polar migrat ions of p lankt ic foraminifera (Hart , 2007). A

h igh-resolut ion s tudy of foraminifera recorded in a dr i l l core f rom the Danish

subsurface chalk was undertaken for the prese nt study. The core reveals a 25

cm thick layer of marl , located roughly 79 m below terrain and 11 m below the

Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary, in terpreted to represent an equivalent of the

Kjølby Gaard Marl of Troelsen (1955) . This marl has a lso been repor ted f rom

other quarr ies in nor thern Denmark (Troelsen, 1955) and several water wel ls in

eastern Denmark (Larsen et a l . , 2006) . At the type local i t y of Kjølby Gaard in

nor th-western Denmark, the marl layer conta ins a part icu lar ly r ich foraminifera l

assemblage, inc luding the double -keeled Contusotruncana contusa not

otherwise found in the ord inary whi te chalk of Denmark (Troelsen, 1955). C.

contusa is regarded as a ‘southern’ spec ies and is , therefore, interpreted by

Troelsen (1955) as a proxy for an incursion of warm water into the nor th -

western par t of the Balt ic area. The foramini fera l data f rom the present study of

the core reveal subt le d if ferences in the foraminifera l assemblages throughout

the sect ion, a long wi th the presence of several keeled taxa not otherwise found

in the Danish chalk and perhaps indicat ive as a proxy for a latest Maastr icht ian

warming event .

References


79

1: Hart , M 2007. Late Cretaceous c l imates and foramin i fer id d is t r ibut ions. In : W i l l iams,

M. , Haywood, A. M. , Gregory, F. J . & Schmidt , D. N. (eds) Deep-Time Perspect ives on

Cl imate Change: Marry ing the Signal f rom Computer Models and Bio log ica l Prox ies.

The Micropalaeonto log ica l Soc iety, Spec ia l Publ i cat ions: 235 -250.

2 : Larsen, F. et a l . , 2006. Sal tvandsgrænsen i ka lkmagasinerne i Nordøsts jæl land;

Delrappor t 6 : Sal tvandsudvaskning i Danienkalk og Skr i vekr id t - Deta i lundersøgelser i

Kar ls lunde værkstedso mråde. Danmarks og Grønlands Geologiske Undersøgelse

Rapport , Volume 21: 103.

3 : Troelsen , J . C. , 1955. Globotruncana contusa in the W hi te Chalk of Denmark.

Micropaleonto logy, 1(1) : 76 -82.


80

MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE MARINE OSTRACODS FROM THE

GÜLNAR DISTRICT (SOUTHERN MARGIN OF THE

CENTRAL ANATOLIAN PLATEAU, TURKEY)

Konstantina Karanika 1 , Costanza Faranda 2 , Nazik Ogretmen2 , 3 , Paola

Cipollari 2 , Elsa Gliozzi2 , Domenico Cosentino 2

1.Depar tment o f Geo logy , Un ivers i ty o f Pat ras , Panep is t im ioupo l i Pat ron 265 04, Greece

2 .D ipar t imen to d i Sc ienze , Un ivers i ta deg l i S tud i Roma Tre , Largo San Leonard o Mur ia ldo ,

1 ,00146 Rome, I ta ly

3 .Euras ian Ins t i tu te o f Ear th Sc iences, Is tanbu l Techn ica l Un ivers i t y , 34469 Mas lak , Is tanbu l ,

Turkey

This work analyses mar ine ostracods f rom the Middle Ple is tocene Tol sect ion.

The Tol sect ion, 18.5 m th ick , cons is ts of mar ly c lays and c layey marls and i t is

located at 1087 a.s. l . in the Gülnar d istr ic t (southern margin of the Centra l

Anato l ian Plateau - CAP).

The sect ion has been dated de tect ing p lanktonic foraminifer and nannofoss i l

b ioevents. Based on the presence of Globiger inel la cal ida (FO around 0.94

Ma), the absence of Neogloboquadr ina spp. s in (LCO 0.61 Ma), the LO of

Pseudoemil iania lacunosa (0.467 Ma) , and the absence of Globiger inoides

ruber rosa (FO 0.33 Ma), the Tol sect ion is cons idered to be Middle Ple is tocene

( Ionian) in age, younger than 0.61 Ma and o lder than 0,33 Ma.

From the 22 analysed sediment samples, 27 d if ferent os tracod spec ies were

col lec ted. On the base of their known s trat igraphic range, populat ion s tructure,

and bathymetr ic range, they have been subdiv ided into two d if ferent groups: 1)

cont ingent a l lochthonous taxa, made by poor ly preserved valves of Miocene

reworked spec ies (Occultocythereis b i tuberculata , Pokornie l la i ta l ica ,

Pokorniel la dev ians ) der ived f rom the erosion of the Late Miocene Köseler l i

Format ion cropping out in the surrounding areas, or by main ly juveni le valves of

l i t tora l spec ies (Sagmathocythere sp. , Loxocorniculum sp. , Acanthocythereis

hystr ix , Car inovalva aqui la , Semicytherura sp. , Grin ioneis sp., Loxoconcha sp. ,

Rugger ia sp., Xestoleber is sp., Auri la sp., Aur i la convexa ) disp laced f rom the

Ple is tocene shal low-water mar ine depos its cropping out a long the margin of the


81

Mut Bas in; 2) cont ingent autochthonous taxa, made of wel l preserved and

rather r ich assemblages that inc lude Cytherel la cerc inata , Cytherel la russoi ,

Bairdoppi lata profunda , Bythocypr is producta , Bythocypr is bosquet iana ,

Henryhowel la sars i i profunda , Kr i the compressa , Kr ithe monosteracens is ,

Parakr i the rotundata , Parakr i the lamel losa , Obl i tacythereis medi ter ranea ,

Argi l loecia acuminata , Macrocypr is compressa , and Pontocypr is sp.

Based on the autoecology of the autochthonous ostracods, the depos it ional

palaeoenvironment of the studied sect ion can be infer red to as epibathyal .

Together wi th some s t rongly eurybath ic species such as Argi l loec ia acuminata

and C. russoi , the assemblages inc lude true epibathyal dwel lers ( f rom 200 -1000

m), among which B. profunda, B. producta, H. sars i i profunda, O. medi ter ranea,

and P. rotundata . The co-occurence in the Medi ter ranean of Bythocypr is and

Kr ithe ind icates water depths deeper than 250 m. O. mediter raneana is a

typ ical low thermospher ic ostracod, inhabit ing deep waters around 400 m with

bottom temperatures >10°C. In conc lusion, the col lected ostracods indicate an

epibathyal environment around 400-500 m deep. This study provides interest ing

h ighl ights on the upl i f t of the southern margin of the CAP, which pos s ib ly

occurred dur ing the late Middle Ple istocene wi th very fas t upl i f t rates ( 3.21 -

3.42 mm/yr) .


82

VERTEBRATE PALAEONTOLOGY


83

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF OUTER AND INNER SKULL

MORPHOLOGY BETWEEN

PARADOLICHOPITHECUS/PROCYNOCEPHALUS AND

CERCOPITHECINES

Zoi Kynigopoulou 1 , Dimitris S. Kostopoulos 1 , Guy Franck 2

1.School of Geology, Ar istot le Univers i ty of Thessalonik i , Greece;

2. Ins t i tut de Paléopr imatologie, Paléonto logie Humaine: Evolut ion et

Paléoenvironnements UMR CNRS 7262, Univers ité de Poit iers, 86073 Poit iers,

France

Procynocephalus af f . arvernensis (DFN3-150) is a large cercopithec ine monkey

d iscovered f rom the Ear ly Ple is tocene of Dafnero, nor thwestern Greece

(Kostopoulos et a l . , submit ted) . The external and internal crania l morphology

was made and compared wi th24 spec imens of modern Cercopithec inae f rom the

genus Papio and Macaca in order to evaluate the most c losely re lated

phylogenet ic group. Using computed tomography CT and h igh -resolut ion micro-

computed tomography microCT, 32 metr ic a l measurements of the external

features for each cranium were made. For the internal struc ture the presence,

s ize and a lso shape of the maxi l lary s inuses were studied. Maxi l lary s inuses

are paranasal s inuses developed postnata l ly and invade the cancel lous bone of

the maxil la. I t is hypothes ized that the presence of maxi l lary s inus was lost in

the common ancestor of the extant cercopithecoids and reoccurs in the l ineage

of Macaca in Cercopithec inae (Rae, 2008). Al l the data were standardized

d ivid ing each measurement by i ts median ( for the external) and geometr ic mean

( for in ternal) to exc lude the shape dif ferences corre lated wi th s ize. DFN3-150

has a baboon- l ike appearance, more c losely re lated to Papio l ineage as far as

i ts external cranium features but i t has maxi l lary s inuses which are typical for

macaques. I t is a lso quest ioned whether Procynocephalus is a Late Pl iocene-

Ear ly Ple istocene Papionin i re lated more to Macaca and shar ing crania l

features wi th Papio as a resul t of s imi lar ecological savanna -open woodland

habitats (Nishimura et a l . , 2014) . I t is a lso bel ieved , that not in a l l

Procynocephalus/Paradol ichopithecus and Papio , the pronounced maxi l lary

fossa prevents the formation of the maxi l lary s inus, doubt ing the phylogenet ic

impor tance of maxi l lary s inuses. The s inuses’ s ize is thought to be phylogenet ic


84

i r re levant too, as they show intraspec if ic var iat ion among al l s tudied Macaca

spec imens. The shape needs to be further examined. More fossi l evidences

f rom the Pl iocene/Ple istocene of eastern Euras ia are necessary to unders tand

the evolut ionary impor tance of the maxi l lary s inuses.

References

1: Kostopoulos, D.S. , Guy, F. , Koufos, G.D. , Valent in , X. , Merceron, G. , submi t ted.

2Ma-o ld baboon- l ike monkey f rom Northern Greece: Procynocephalus af f .

arvernens is (Pr imates: Cercopi thec idae) , Journal Human Evolut ion .

2 : Nish imura, T.D. , I to , Ts. , Yano, W ., Ebbestad, J .O.R. , Takai , M. , 2014. Nasal

arch i tecture in Procynocephalus wimani (Ear l y Ple is tocene, China) and impl icat ions

for i ts phylet ic re la t ion ship wi th Paradol ichopi thecus . Anthropologica l Sc ience 122:

101-113.

3 : Rae, T.C. , 2008. Paranasal pneumat izat ion in extant and foss i l Cercopi thecoidea.

Journal o f Human Evolut ion, 54: 279–286.


85

EQUUS ALTIDENS FROM THE LATE VILLAFRANCHIAN OF

WESTERN MACEDONIA, GREECE

Anastasia G. Gkeme1 , Georgios D. Koufos, Dimitris S. Kostopoulos

1.Laboratory of Geology and Palaeonto logy, Univers i ty of Thessalonik i

The foss i l mammal col lec t ion f rom the late Vi l laf ranchian local i ty of L ibakos

(W estern Macedonia, Greece) inc ludes numerous horse remains; the mater ia l

has been col lec ted by Prof . H. El tgen and now it is housed in the Laboratory of

Geology and Palaeonto logy, Univers ity of Thessalonik i . The horse sample

cons is ts main ly of isolated upper and lower teeth and numerous metapodia ls ; i t

was or ig inal ly descr ibed as E. s . cf . senezens is by Steensma (1988). The

analys is of the mater ia l by several methods suggested the presence of a s ingle

spec ies belonging to the stenonoid horses. The morphological characters of the

L ibakos horse (smal l s ize, s tenonoid denta l features, protocone and doubl e

knot shape s imilar to E. stenonis , more s lender metapodia ls and phalanges

than E. s tenonis ) , as wel l as i ts morphological and metr ica l compar isons wi th

the other known Vi l laf ranchian samples f rom Greece and Europe suggested i ts

at tr ibut ion to Equus a l t idens . I t has c lose s imilar i t ies to E. stenonis

mygdoniens is f rom the late Vi l laf ranchian local i t y of Gerakarou (Centra l

Macedonia, Greece) which is transferred to E. al t idens . The faunal assemblage

of Livakos inc ludes the fol lowing taxa: Mammuthus merid iona l is , two spec ies of

Canis , Pachycrocuta brev iros tr is , Ursus sp., Equus a lt idens , Stephanorhinus

etruscus c f . etruscus, Hippopotamus ant iquus , Dama val lonetens is , Praedama

af f . sav ini , Palaeotragus inexpectatus, Bovinae indet . , and Pontoceros

ambiquus mediterraneus . Based on the faunal data and to their comparison wi th

the known Greek Vi l laf ranchian assemblages, L ibakos faunal assemblage is

chronological ly p laced between those of Gerakarou (~1.8 Ma, MNQ 18) and

Apol lonia (~1.2 Ma, MNQ 20) in Mygdonia Basin. The o ldest occurrence of E.

a lt idens in As ia is referred f rom Dmanis i , Georgia (1.77 Ma) and i ts presence in

Gerakarou (~1.8 Ma) suggests the concurrent arr iva l of the spec ies in Europe.

The ecomorphological characters of the metapodials suggested that the L ibakos

palaeoenvironment was a grass land savannah - l ike landscape. Such an

environment coinc ides to the grazing character of E. a lt idens, as wel l as to the

previous references for the late Vi l laf ranchian landscape of Nor thern Greece.

The co-occurrence of archaic and more advanced faunal e lements in the


86

Libakos faunal assemblage indicates a faunal renewal that coincides wi th the

known ear ly Ple is tocene one of Southeastern Europe and the success ive

replacement of forested terra in by open grassy landscapes be tween 1.8 and 1.2

Ma.

References

1:Steensma, K. J . , 1988. Pl io - /P le is tozäne Großsäuget ie re (Mammal ia) aus dem

Becken von Kastor ia /Grevena, südl ich von Neapol is -NW -Griechenland. na.


87

ASSESING DISTAL METAPODIAL MORPHOLOGY AND

SUBSTRATE CONDITIONS IN WESTERN PALAEARCTIC

BISON POPULATIONS WITH GEOMETRIC

MORPHOMETRICS

Ioannis Maniakas 1

1.Ar i s to t l e Un ivers i t y o f Thessa lon ik i , Facu l t y o f Sc iences, Schoo l o f Geo logy , GR-541 24

Thessa lon ik i , Greece

The current geometr ic morphometr ic s tudy out l ines a f ramework of locomotor

adaptat ions among several Bison populat ions of the W estern Palaearct ic ,

revealed by inferences f rom dista l metapodia l ecomorphological tra its . Given

the major propuls ive ro le of metapodia ls and especia l ly metacarpals dur ing

locomot ion, as much of the overal l body mass is carr ied through fore l imbs, the

d ista l t rochlear morphology and degree of condyle splaying (a long the

metapodia l-phalangeal ar t iculat ion) could exhib it in tr iguing morphological

adaptat ions, poss ib ly re lated to substrate condit ions and cursor ia l i t y. Dif ferent

populat ions f rom roughly the chronological cont inuum of European Ple is tocene

can be attr ibuted to d ist inct shape trends, representing ecological var iants

across regional provinces and t ime intervals for more than 1.5 mil l ion years.

Phenotypic d ivers i ty was tr iggered by c l imatic regional i t y and landscape -

vegetat ional heterogenei ty. The Ear ly and Middle Ple istocene European bisons,

represented by the s lender l imbed pr imit ive forms of the Lower Ple istocene,

thus the small -s ized Venta Micena archaic b ison (Spain) and the large -s ized

Bison menner i (Germany) , and the middle Ple istocene Bison schoetensacki

group, have to be considered as general ly cursor ia l animals , pr imar i ly operat ing

in re lat ive ly open and dry environments in compar ison to later forms. However,

the increased ar id character of the south -eastern part of Europe dur ing

Epiv i l laf ranchian forced to a more spec ia l ized s tanding mode in the Apol lonia

b ison and the late Middle Pleis tocene Bison pr iscus f rom Petra lona Cave. Their

metapodia l “sp layed” conf igurat ion could be re lated to the per iodical ly

increased substrate instabi l i t y, expla ined by the h ighly seasonal but overal l

open and dry habi tats suggested for the Apol lonia b iome. The same feature has

been a lso recognized in the more robust Late Ple istocene (MIS5e) pr iscoid


88

bisons f rom Taubach and Br i tain. I t could be at tr ibuted to the restorat ion of a

more temperate c l imate and the return of woodlands, af ter the las t glac ia l

c l imatic deter iorat ion, rather than to a l lometr ic ef fec ts of extreme body s ize.

Forms l iv ing in environments character ized by unstable soi l condit ions, such as

humid and mois t forested habi tats, tend to set the hoof upon the ground in a

less ver t ica l pos it ion in order to obta in l imb suppor t. Thus, the increased

medio latera l d istance between the ver t ic i l l i of the pr iscoid b isons is probably

suited for dwel l ing in more c losed habitats with sof t and wet soi l . F inal ly, a

rather large pre-Middle Ple is tocene intra -group var iat ion suggests that ear ly

bisons were f i t ted to a “mosaic” palaeoen vironment as two d ist inct b ison

morphotypes mirror a gradual ly b ipar t i te b iogeographic segregat ion in the

Epiv i l laf ranchian Europe.


89

THREE NEW SPECIES OF EARLY TRIASSIC LAOTIAN

DICYNODONTS (ANOMODONTIA, THERAPSIDA): NEW

DATA FOR UNDERSTANDING MORPHOLOGICAL, SPATIAL

AND TEMPORAL EVOLUTION OF DICYNODONTS ACROSS

THE PT BOUNDARY

Chloé Olivier 1 , 2 , Bernard Battail 2 , Sylvie Bourquin3 , Camille

Rossignol 4 , Jean-Sébastien Steyer2 & Nour-Eddine Jalil2

1.Sorbonne Un ivers i tés , UPMC -Par is 6 , CNRS, UMR 7193 , Ins t i tu t des Sc iences de la Ter re

Par is ( iSTeP) , 4 p lace Juss ieu , BC 19, 75005 , Par is , F rance

2 .Sorbonne Un ivers i t és -CR2P -MNHN, CNRS, UPMC-Par is6 . Muséum nat iona l d ’H is to i re

nature l le . 57 rue Cuv ier , CP38. F -75005, Par is , F rance

3 .Géosc iences Rennes, UMR CNRS 6118 , Un ive rs i t é de Rennes 1 , OSUR, Campus de

Beaul ieu , 263 Avenue Lec lerc , 35042 Rennes Cedex, F rance

4 .Depar tment o f Geo logy, Federa l Un ivers i t y o f Ou ro Pre to , 35 .400 -000 Ouro Pre to , M inas

Gera is , Braz i l

The dicynodonts are an emblemat ic Permo-Tr iassic (PT) group of non-

mammalian theraps ids. They const i tute an important component of the

terrestr ia l PT fauna and were the dominant herbivores in their ecosystem. They

therefore play a key ro le i n unders tanding the impacts of the PT cr is is in the

terrestr ia l realm. The d icynodonts were s ignif icant ly impacted by the PT cr is is.

The only known Ear ly Tr iassic genera are the wor ldwide and spec ies -r ich

Lystrosaurus , the small Myosaurus , the edentu lous k ingor i ids Kombuisia and

the Chinese putat ive kannemeyer i i form Sungeodon . Later , kannemeyer i i forms

underwent an important adapt ive radiat ion, wi th roughly 40 known spec ies

dur ing the Middle Tr iass ic. Here we repor t on three skul ls f rom the Purple

Claystone Fm of the Luang-Prabang Basin (Laos) . The f i rst ment ion of

d icynodonts in Laos dates to the 19th century by Couni l lon (1896) , who

mentioned a poor ly-preserved skul l that he ass igned e ither to Lystrosaurus or

Dicynodon , and he at t r ibuted th is formation to the Ear ly Tr iassic . Bat ta i l (2009)

favored the second taxonomic at tr ibut ion and consequent ly a Late Permian age.

This was suppor ted by more recent ly d iscovered, abundant remains of

d icynodonts tentat ive ly ascr ibed to Dicynodon or c losely re lated forms.

Strat igraphical and geochronological (U -Pb/Zircon) analyses (Rossignol et a l . ,


90

2016) instead suggest an Ear ly Tr iass ic age for the Purple Claystone Fm.

Based on morphological s tudy and a phylogenetic analys is, we argue that the

Laotian dicynodont remains represent three new spec ies that form a new genus

c losely re lated to Lystrosaurus . The addi t ion of three new dicynodont spec ies

enhances our knowledge of Ear ly Tr iass ic dicynodont d ivers ity and evolut ion. I t

a lso would re inforce the hypothes is of a rapid post -ext inct ion divers if icat ion of

d icynodonts as mentioned in some recent s tudie s. Fur thermore, these

d icynodonts bear s ignif icant ly on the current and controvers ia l issues

concerning the evolut ion of the South East As ia f rom the Late Paleozoic to the

Ear ly Mesozoic and part icu lar ly the col l is ion between the Indochina and South -

China Blocks. The dat ing of the Laot ian d icynodonts to Ear ly Tr iass ic and the

contemporaneous occurrences of d icynodonts such as Lystrosaurus in China

would therefore suggest a land connect ion between the b locks at least in the

Ear ly Tr iassic . Last ly, the h igh -prec is ion temporal f ramework of Laot ian faunas

(anthracosaurs under study, abundant dicynodonts remains) and f lora wi l l

improve our understanding of the post PT cr is is b iodivers if icat ion and their

paleobiogeography in paral lel wi th the geographic evolut ion of South East As ia.

References

1:Bat ta i l , B. , 2009. Late Permian d icynodont fauna f rom Laos. Geologica l Soc iety,

London, Spec ia l Publ icat ions 315: 33–40.

2 :Couni l lon, H. , 1896. Documents pour servi r à l ’é tude géologique des envi rons de

Luang-Prabang (Cochinchine) . Comptes Rendus de l ’Académie Des Sc iences, Par is

123: 1330–1333.

3 :Ross ignol , C. , Bourquin, S. , Poujo l , M. , Hal lo t , E. , Dabard, M. -P. , Nalpas, T. , 2016.

The vo lcanic last ic ser ies f rom the Luang Prabang Bas in, Laos: A wi tness of a t r iass ic

magmat ic arc? Journal o f As ian Earth Sc iences 120: 159–183.


91

THE FUNCTIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE POST-CRANIAL

DERMAL SKELETON: FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSES ON

PSEUDOSUCHIAN ORNAMENTED OSTEODERMS

François Clarac 1 , 2 , 3 , Florent Goussard 3 , Luciano Teresi 5 , Vivian de

Buffrenil 3 , Vittorio Sansalone4

1.Sorbonne Un ivers i t és , UPMC Un iv Par is 06 , UMR 7193, Ins t i tu t des Sc iences de la Ter re

Par is ( ISTeP) , 4 p lace Juss ieu , BC 19, F -75005, Pa r i s , F rance

2 .CNRS, UMR 7193 , Ins t i t u t des Sc iences de la Ter re Par is ( ISTeP) , 4 p lace Juss ieu , BC 19,

F -75005, Par i s , F rance

3 .Dépar tement H is to i re de la Ter re , Museum Nat iona l d ’H is to i re Nature l le , UMR 7207 (CR2P) ,

Sorbonne Un ivers i tés , MNHN/CNRS/UPMC, Bât imen t de Géo log ie Par is Cedex 05, F -75231 ,

F rance

4 .Labora to i re de Modé l isa t i on e t S imu la t ion Mul t i Eche l le Equ ipe Biomécan ique Un ivers i té

Par is -Est Cré te i l Va l de Marne Facu l té des Sc iences e t Techno log ie 61 avenue du Généra l de

Gau l le 94010 Cré te i l Cedex

5 .Univers i t à deg l i Stud i Roma Tre Dept . o f Ma themat ics & Phys ics Via de l la Vasca Nava le 84 ,

00146, Rome, I t a l y

The presence of the post -crania l dermal skeleton and of i ts ornamentat ion are

homoplas ic in the evolut ion of vertebrates ( i .e. s tem-tetrapods,

act inopterygians, p lacoderms, pseudosuchians, sof t -shel l tur t les). So far , the

funct ional ro le(s) of these two imbricated features remain a matter of

conjecture. The main hypotheses concern a poss ib le impl icat ion in body

protect ion and/or heat transfer s ince most of the concerned taxa are

ectothermic. In this contr ibut ion we invest igated these two issues us ing a

model ing and s imulat ion approach.

As a f irst s tep, we have quant i f ied the inf luence of the osteoderms on the sk in ’s

heat conduct ion by analyzing the dif ference in heat transfer between a set of

osteoderms and their equivalent shape of sof t non -mineral ized dermis. To do

so, the heat transfer through the dermis and the osteoderms was f irst modeled

by combining the heat equat ion and the Four ier ’s law, then the model was

solved numerical ly thanks to image-based 3D-model l ing and F in ite Element

Analyses. Thus, we can now assess that the heat conduct ion is not s ignif icant ly

d if ferent between a sof t sk in and a mineral ized dermal shield (whe ther


92

ornamented or not) . Consequent ly, the impl icat ion of the osteoderms into heat

transfers should be only due to a convect ion ef fect based on a cutaneous

vascular pro l i ferat ion both wi thin the osteoderms and the ornamentat ion p its .

In a second step, using a s imi lar approach, we have found that ornamentat ion

does not af fect not iceably the osteoderm ef f ic iency in shield protect ion when

endur ing an external at tack (c law or b ite) . This conc lusion is supported by

look ing at the d istr ibut ion and values of Von Misses s tress in the osteoderms.

Therefore, we conc lude that the poss ib le funct ional ro les of ornamented

osteoderms may be p lura l for the pseudosuchians and more general ly for a l l

vertebrates. Consequent ly, natura l select ion might favor one funct ional ro le or

another depending on the paleoecological and phylogenet ic context . In th is

regard, the adapt ive s ignif icance of the post -cranial skeleton and of i ts

ornamentat ion may vary between taxa in the evolut ionary h istory of vertebrates.


93

USING OTOLITHS TO RECONSTRUCT THE

PALAEOENVIRONMENT: PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM A

PLEISTOCENE SEDIMENTARY SEQUENCE (SOUSAKI

BASIN, EASTERN CORINTH GULF, GREECE)

Spyros Spyropoulos1 , Penelope Papadopoulou 1 , George Il iopoulos1

1.Labora tor y o f Pa laeon to logy and St ra t i g raphy , Depar tment o f Geo logy , Un ivers i ty o f Pat ras

Otol i ths are hard, calc ium carbonate structures located direc t ly behind the

bra incase of te leost f ishes. They are of ten found foss i l ized in sediments and

they can be used as a powerfu l tool for reconstruct ing the respect ive

depos it ional palaeoenvironment. In the present study, except ional ly preserved

oto l i ths were extracted f rom a Lower Ple istocene sedimentary outcrop near

Sousak i vo lcano (Eastern Cor inth Gulf , Greece ). The sedimentary success ion of

Sousak i bas in cons ists of marly sediments that pass upwards to sandy and

conglomerate layers with intercalat ions of organic r ich sediments and d iatomite

layers . The basement of the basin and thus of the sect ion cons is ts of vo lcanic

rocks, dated radiometr ical ly between 2.2 -2.8 Ma. 40Kg of sediment belonging to

the lower par t of the sedimentary sequence have been washed and s ieved

through a 250μm sieve. Af ter drying, oto l i ths were handpicked us ing a

stereoscope, and ident i f ied . In tota l 2000 oto l i ths were found. They most ly

belong to the fami l ies of Gobidae, Cypr inidae, Cypr inodont idae. The synthes is

of the taphocoenos is reveals that the respect ive layer was depos ited in a lake.

The unusual b ig number of oto l i ths and their exce l lent state of preservat ion

makes the study area a hot spot for oto l i th s tudies, espec ia l ly when cons ider ing

the very l im ited number of Ple istocene terrestr ia l o to l i ths records in Greece.


94

PRELIMINARY DATA FROM THE NEW MIOCENE

VERTEBRATE SITE OF MAKRO-LAS REJAS (MADRID,

SPAIN)

Omid Fesharaki 1 , Juan Antonio Cárdaba 2 , María Presumido 2 , David

Martín-Perea1 , Manuel de Pablos 1

1.Palaeonto logy Depar tment , Comp lu tense Un ivers i t y ( José An ton io Nová is 12 , 28040

Madr id )

2 .Geos fera C .B. (Madres de la P laza de Mayo 2 , 2 8523 R ivas Vac iamadr id , Madr id )

In this work we descr ibe pre l im inar i ly some palaeonto logical, s trat igraphic and

mineralogical features of a new Miocene vertebrate foss i l s i te d iscovered in

Madr id (Spain) cal led Makro-Las Rejas. This new s ite is located nor theast of

the c i ty of Madrid. I ts d iscovery took p lace dur ing the paleonto logical

monitor ing of the remodel ing works of a commercia l center (Makro Autoservic io

Mayor is ta S.A.) that was carr ied out by the company Geosfera C.B. The volume

of sediments excavated was 192 cubic meters. The me thodic excavat ion of th is

s ite resul ted in more than 5000 foss i l elements recovered. Of these, more than

90% corresponds to taxonomical ly ident i f iable remains. From a geological point

of v iew, th is area belongs to the Miocene Intermediate Unit of the Madr i d

sedimentary bas in, and i t is character ized by mater ials deposi ted in palustr ine

and lacustr ine environments (Calvo et a l . , 1989) . The pre l im inary study of the

s ite has a l lowed the def in it ion of at least 9 d if ferent strat igraphic levels , wi th a

tota l th ickness of approx imately 7 meters. The s trat igraphic success ion

includes sepio l i t ic marls combined wi th c layey levels, somet imes contain ing

small micaceous sands lenses. Throughout the st rat igraphic success ion,

sedimentary structures such as low energy hor izonta l planar laminat ion, water

escape st ructures, c ross laminat ion, r ip -up c las ts and s i l ic i f icat ions are

present . Somet imes, there are a lso abundant roots bioturbat ions that at

microscopic level are usual ly assoc iated to b iogenic phenomena due to

bacter ia l act ion. Towards the top, the c layey levels are commonly af fected by

f ractures wi th smooth s tr ia ted surfaces character is t ic of c layey paleosoi ls.

Three of the levels descr ibed have provided foss i l remains corresponding to

macro and microver tebrate fossi ls . The macrovertebrate faunas are a lmost

ent ire ly represented by g iant terrestr ia l tes tudines, whi ls t the microvertebrates

are most ly represented by some smal l mammal genera. Overal l data indicate


95

palustr ine and lacustr ine environments with some more energe t ic events

caus ing the depos it ion of the sandy levels . The postsedimentary processes of

mineral transformat ion af fect ing c lay minerals were l ikely a consequence of

bacter ia l ac t ion.

References

1:Calvo, J .P. , Alonso -Zarza, A .M., García de l Cura, M.A. , 1989 . Models of Miocene

marg ina l lacustr ine sed imentat ion in response to var ied depos i t ional reg imes and

source areas in the Madr id bas in (centra l Spain) . Paleogeography, Palaeoc l imato logy,

Palaeoecology 70: 199 -214.


96

ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE DURING THE LATE MIOCENE

AFFECTED RODENT METACOMMUNITY DYNAMICS

Fernando Blanco 1*, Ana Rosa Gómez Cano22 , 3 & Manuel Hernández

Fernández 1 ,4

1.Depar tamento de Pa leonto log ía , Facu l tad de Cienc ias Geo lóg icas , Un ivers idad

Complu tense de Madr id . C / José Anton io Nova is 2 , Madr id 28040 (Spa in)

2 .Transm i t t ing Sc ience, C/ Garden ia 2 , P iera , 08784, Barce lona (Spa in)

3 .nst i tu t Ca ta là de Pa leonto log ia Mique l Crusafont , Un ive rs i ta t Autónoma de Barce lona.

Car rer de les Co lumnes s /n , Campus de la UAB, Cerdanyo la de l Va l l ès , Barce lona, 08193

(Spa in)

4 .Depar tamento de Cambio Med ioambienta l , Ins t i tu to de Geoc ienc ias (UCM, CSIC) . C / José

Anton io Nova is 2 , Madr id 28040 (Spa in)

A metacommunity can be def ined as a set of local communit ies l inked by the

co-occurrence of mult iple potent ia l ly interact ing spec ies. The metacommunity

concept has become a re levant topic on paleoecological research because i t

involves the analys is of connect ions among biological assemblages across

d if ferent spat io- temporal scales. However, the s tudy of h ow long- term changes

af fect these metacommunit ies is a lso required to ful ly understand l inks between

bio logical assemblages and evolut ionary patterns (Gómez Cano et a l . , 2013;

Hernández Fernández et a l . , 2015) . W e focus th is work on the study of la te

Miocene rodents f rom the Iberocc i tanian region due to their great qual i t y and

r ichness of their foss i l record, and many deta i led s tudies and data publ ished for

th is set of faunas. We appl ied mult ivar iate stat ist ica l analyses, d ivers i ty and

b iomic spec ia l isat ion tes ts us ing a b ig-data matr ix of ext inct rodent faunas in

order to analyse faunal changes (Gómez Cano et a l. , 2014) . Our results showed

that the late Miocene rodent faunas f rom the Iberocc itanian region may be

c lassif ied into metacommunit ies shar ing ecolo gical af f in i t ies. Moreover , these

metacommunit ies fo l lowed non-random temporal and environmental assembly

and d isassembly pat terns. The ecological spec ia l izat ion of these rodent faunas

was dr iven by environmental changes that are not only l inked to tempera ture

changes. However , there is a lso an inf luence by var iat ion in avai lable mois ture

descr ibed for this region dur ing the late Miocene. The d iversi ty pat terns of

rodent assemblages was more inf luenced by temperature than by humidi ty -

ar id i ty condi t ions in t he nor thern s ites, l inked to ef fects of temperature and


97

thermal seasonal i t y on these forest environments. Final ly, th is work showed the

great re levance of rodent faunas for large -scale macroecological and

macroevolut ionary s tudies. Assis ted by mult ivar iate analys is techniques appl ied

to palaeocommunit ies , rodent assemblage informat ion showed the ef fects of

h igh-resolut ion environmental f luc tuat ions in over deep t ime records.

References

1:Gómez Cano, A. R. , Canta lap iedra, J . L . , Álvarez Sierra , M. Á . , Hernández

Fernández, M. 2014. A macroecologica l g lance at the s t ructu re of la te Miocene rodent

assemblages f rom Southwest Europe. Sc ient i f ic Reports 4 : 1-6.

2 :Gómez Cano, A . R. , Canta lap iedra , J . L . , Mesa, A. , Moreno Bofaru l l , A. , Hernández

Fernández, M. 2013. Global c l imate changes dr ive ecolog ica l spec ia l izat ion of mammal

faunas: t rends in rodent assemblages f rom the Iber ian Pl io -Ple is tocene. BMC

Evolut ionary Bio logy 13: 1-9.

3 :Hernández Fernández, Canta lap iedra, J . L . , Gómez Cano, A. R. 2015. Pl io-

Ple is tocene c l imat ic change had a major impact on the assembly and d isassembly

processes of Iber ian rodent communi t ies . Palaeobiodivers i ty and Palaeoenvi ronments

95: 387-404.


98

RECONSTRUCTION OF PLEISTOCENE HABITATS IN THE

BARANICA CAVE (EASTERN SERBIA) AND COMPARISON

WITH SOME LAST GLACIAL LOCALITIES IN THE BALKAN

PENINSULA

Mihailo Jovanović 1 , *

1.Facu l ty o f M in ing and Geo logy Un ivers i ty o f Be lg r ade, Đuš ina 7 , 11000 Be lg rade

Consider ing the number and d ivers i ty of small ver tebrates remains, Baranica

Cave is the most abundant Late Ple is tocene s i te in Serbia. This paper focuses

on at tempt ing to approx imately reconstruct landscapes and c l imate in the area

surrounding this cave in the per iod between ca. 36,000-23,000 BP. The foss i l

assemblage comprises 965 remains, of at least 31 taxa of rodents and

herpetofauna (snakes, l izards, and anurans) f rom three Late Ple istocene layers

(2, 3, 4) . Smal l ver tebrate spec ies are grouped accordi ng to their habi tat

preferences. Their re lat ive percentages have been calculated. Both layers 2

and 4 ( layer 3 is poor in foss i l remains) were formed in the cold per iods of Last

Glac ia l , when open and dry habi tats were predominant. Resul ts suggest that

the c l imate in the v ic ini ty of the cave was not as cold as in Centra l Europe,

since the forest inhabi tants are found to be present even in the “coldest” layer

2. Smal l ver tebrate fauna f rom Baranica could be compared to other 2

mult i layered s ites of s imi lar age f rom the W estern par t of Serbia – Hadži

Prodanova Cave and Smolućka Cave. Both s ites are character ized by fauna

typ ical for the Last Glac ia l Per iod of the Centra l Balkans – voles are

predominant, open area inhabi tants prevai l . Fauna f rom Baranica is ve ry

s imilar to those in several geographical ly very c lose local i t ies in Bulgar ia,

(Bacho Kiro, Mecha Cave, Temnata, Kozarnika, Magura). In every of these

caves vole species are predominant and Microtus arval is/agrest is are the most

common spec ies.


99

WHAT DOES IT TELL US? – SUMMING UP THE

HISTOLOGICAL ANALYSES APPLIED ON METOPOSAURUS

KRASIEJOWENSIS

Elżbieta M. Teschner 1 ,2 ,*and Dorota Konietzko-Meier1 , 2 , 3


Evo lu t i on , O leska 22, 45-052 Opo le , Po land

2 .Opo le Un ive rs i ty , European Center o f Pa laeonto logy, O leska 48 , 45 -052 Opo le , Po land

3 .Rhe in i sche Fr iedr i ch - Wilhe lm Univers i tä t Bonn, Nussa l l ee 8 , 53115 Bonn , Germany

In the past years many h isto logical s tudies have been applied on Metoposaurus

kras ie jowensis. Basical ly, a lmost the whole skeleton except ing the pelvic g irdle

have been sampled. The latest results show a unique growth pattern repeated

in a l l long bones and g ive new much deeper v iew on the animals ’ b io logy, d iet

or even b iomechanics comparing to informat ion pr ovided only by bone

morphology.

Metoposaurus is a temnospondyl amphib ian which or iginated f rom the Late

Triass ic (Nor ian) beds f rom the v ic in i ty of Kras iejów in southwestern Poland.

The bonebed preserves hundreds of foss i l bones but mostly d isart icu lated.

Even though th is makes an ass ignment which bones belong to which spec imen

dif f icu lt , i t a lso provides the oppor tunity to s tudy an unusually for

temnospondyls, large sample s ize. In the l ight of barely known other

temnospondyls, with i ts basal Bauplan observed in each group and therefore

good condi t ions for comparison, the analyses applied on the large sample s ize

due to the precisely carr ied out methodology, g ive the oppor tuni ty to apply the

methodology on other temnospondyl spec imens that are rare in number of

preserved bones to obta in a b ig p icture of the whole c lade.

The perfect ly matching growth pat terns observed in Metoposaurus long bones

(humer i, radi i , ulnae, femora, t ib iae and f ibulae) are represented as two

h istotypes. His totype I is character ized by the al ternat ion of th ick zones and

annuli of the same th ickness, a h igh remodel ing rate present through the ent ire

cortex and a poor to moderate vascular izat ion. However , His totype I I is

character ized by h igh vascu lar ized and extremely th ick zone. The annulus is

incip ient and in some bones not represented around the ent ire sect ion.


100

These resul ts observed in the long bones leave a quest ion unanswered,

whether the h is topat tern can a lso be observed in dermal bones. I t is important

to ment ion that the dermal bones have a d if ferent oss if icat ion or ig in and

therefore probably wi l l make the compar ison imposs ib le. However, i t is

impor tant to look for markers in c lavic le and interc lavic les that could make a

correlat ion possib le and a l low interpret ing the h is to logical pat tern preserved in

dermal bones.


101

THE MIDDLE MIOCENE GLOBAL COOLING EVENT TURNED

CENTRAL IBERIAN PENÍNSULA INTO A SEMI -DESERT:

PALAEOCLIMATIC ANALYSIS OF THE MAMMALIAN FAUNA

FROM THE SOMOSAGUAS FOSSIL SITE

Iris Menéndez 1 ,2 * , Ana R. Gómez Cano3 , 4 and Manuel Hernández

Fernández1 , 2

1.Depar tamento de Pa leonto log ía , Facu l tad de Cienc ias Geo lóg icas , Un ivers idad

Complu tense de Madr id . C / José Anton io Nova is 2 , 28040 Madr id (Spa in )

2 .Depar tamento de Cambio Med ioambienta l , Ins t i tu to de Geoc ienc ias (UCM, CSIC) . C / José

Anton io Nova is 2 , 28040 Madr id (Spa in)

3 .Transm i t t ing Sc ience, C/ Garden ia 2 , 08784 P iera (Spa in )

4 . Ins t i tu t Cata là de Pa leonto log ia Mique l Crusafont , Un ivers i ta t Autónoma de Barce lona .

Carrer de les Co lumnes s /n , Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyo la de l Va l lès , Ba rce lona,

Spain

The Middle Miocene Global Cool ing Event (MMGC) took p lace around 14 Ma

and was l inked to the reestabl ishment of the Eastern Antarc t ic ice sheet,

turn ing overal l warm and humid condi t ions to a more ar id and cooler s i tuat ion.

The Somosaguas ver tebrate fossi l s i te, located at the Madr id Bas in (Spain) ,

has provided c lear evidences of this cool ing shif t (Hernández Fernández et a l. ,

2006). In order to obta in a numerical palaeoenvironmental reconstruct ion of th is

fossi l s i te , we developed new quant i ta t ive palaeoc l imat ic inference models

based on the body s ize st ructure of mammal faunas f rom the Old World tropics

and appl ied them to the Somosaguas Miocene faunas. Our analyses were based

on mult ivar iate and univar iate regress ion models establ ish ing the re lat ionship

among c l imat ic data and body s ize s tructure of 63 modern assemblages f rom

Subsaharan Afr ica and the Indian subcont inent. The resul ts showed an average

temperature of the coldest month h igher than 26 ºC for the Somosaguas foss i l

s i te , and a mean annual thermal ampl i tude around 10 ºC. Our resul ts also

supported previous est imates of h igh hydr ic seasonal i t y, reaching 10 months of

drought length and an annual tota l precip itat ion s l ight ly h igher than 200 mm per

year . This ar id c l imate would be assoc iated to errat ic ra infa l ls , which would

tr igger the debr is f low that accumulated the fossi ls (Domingo et a l. , 2017).

These c l imate condit ions are typical of an ecotonal zone between savanna and


102

deser t b iomes and are congruent wi th the ar id i ty peaks descr ibed over the

middle Aragonian of Spain and par t icu lar ly in the local b iozone E, in which

Somosaguas is s i tuated (Hernández Fernández et a l. , 200 6) . The ar id i ty

increase detected in th is b iozone is assoc iated to the Middle Miocene Global

Cool ing Event (Domingo et a l . , 2009) , which had an important inf luence on the

development of semi-ar id landscapes. The ecosystem of Somosaguas around

14 Ma was sim i lar to the current environments f rom the Sahel region in

nor thern Afr ica, the Horn of Afr ica, the boundary area between the Kalahar i and

the Namib in southern Afr ica, South Centra l Arabia, or eastern Pak istan and

nor thwestern India. Modern vegetat ion in t hese regions shows a complex

mosaic of p lant communit ies , dominated by scat tered xerophi lous shrublands,

semideser t grasslands and azonal vegetat ion l inked to seasonal watercourses

and ponds.

References

1:Domingo, L . , Cuevas -González, J . , Gr imes, S .T. , He rnández Fernández, M. , López -

Mart ínez, N. , 2009. Mult iproxy reconst ruct ion of the palaeoc l imate and

palaeoenvi ronment o f the Middle Miocene Somosaguas s i te (Madr id , Spain) us ing

herb ivore denta l enamel . Palaeogeography, Palaeoc l imato logy, Palaeoecology 272:

53-68.

2 :Domingo, M.S. , Mart ín -Perea, D. , Domingo, L . , Cantero, E . , Canta lap iedra, J .L . ,

García Yelo, B.A. , Gómez Cano, A.R. , Alca lde, G.M., Fesharak i , O. , Hernández

Fernández, M. , 2017. Taphonomy o f mammal ian foss i l bones f rom the debr is - f low

depos i ts o f Somosaguas -North (Middle Miocene, Madr id Bas in, Spain ) .

Palaeogeography, Palaeoc l imato logy, Palaeoeco logy 465: 103 -121.

3 :Hernández Fernández, M. , Cárdaba, J .A. , Cuevas -González, J . , Fesharak i , O. ,

Salesa, M.J . , Corra les, B. , Domingo, L . , Elez, J . , Ló pez-Guerrero, P. , Sa la -Burgos, N. ,

2006. Los yac imientos de ver tebrados del Mioceno medio de Somosaguas (Pozuelo de

Alarcón, Madr id) : impl icac iones paleoambienta les y pa leoc l imát i cas. Estudios

Geológicos 62: 263 -294.


103

BIOGEOGRAPHY AND CHRONOLOGY OF THE PLIO-

PLEISTOCENE EURASIAN RHINOCEROTINI

Luca Pandolfi

Dipar t imento d i Sc ienze, sez ione d i Geo log ia , Un ivers i tà deg l i s tud i Roma T re , Largo S . L .

Mur ia ldo , 1 , I – 00146 Roma, I ta ly

Dipar t imento d i Stor ia , Pa t r imon io cu l t u ra le , Formaz ione e Soc ie tà , Un ivers i tà deg l i s tud i d i

Roma “To r Vergata ” , V ia Co l umbia , 1 , I –00133 Roma, I ta ly

The Tr ibe Rhinocerot in i was widely spread in Euras ia dur ing the Neogene and

Ple is tocene but the extant representat ives of th is group are current ly

d istr ibuted in l im ited areas of southeastern As ia. The systematic posi t ion of

several foss i l spec ies belonging to th is tr ibe, as wel l as their chronological and

spat ia l dis tr ibut ions, are s t i l l debated or poor ly known. A fu l l sys tematic

revis ion of several spec imens, housed in d if ferent ins t i tut ions of Eurasia and

Nor th America and published dur ing the past centu r ies , is provided herein. The

resul t suggests that the s tudied spec imens could be referred to at least 21

a lready descr ibed spec ies belonging to the genera Dihoplus (wi th doubts) ,

Stephanorhinus , Coelodonta , Rhinoceros and Dicerorh inus . Unfortunate ly, a

few spec ies are scarcely documented by fossi l remains and the systemat ic

ass ignat ions appear doubtfu l. "Dihoplus" megarhinus occurred in Euras ia dur ing

the latest Miocene and the Pl iocene. Coelodonta and Stephanorhinus were

widely d is tr ibuted throughout Euras ia, in par t icu lar dur ing the Ple is tocene.

Coelodonta evolved in Asia and reached Western Europe dur ing the Middle

Ple is tocene; wi th in th is genus, the most apomorphies were acquired by

Coelodonta ant iqui tat is . The ear l iest representat i ves of the genus

Stephanorhinus come f rom the Pl iocene of Europe; at least seven spec ies can

be inc luded wi th in th is genus. Rhinoceros evolved a lmost exclusively in

southeastern As ia and in the Indian subcont inent . Dicerorh inus was present in

southeastern As ia s ince the Pl iocene, but the evolut ionary h istory of th is taxon

is st i l l poor ly known. Some taxa belonging to d if ferent b iogeographic areas, i .e.

Ceratother ium s imum (Afr ica) , Coelodonta ant iquitat is (northern Euras ia),

Rhinoceros platyrh inus ( Indian subcont inent) , acquired convergent

morphological characters through their evolut ion, probably dr iven by s imi lar

select ive pressures.


104

NEW SKULLS OF THE BASAL SAUROPODOMORPH

PLATEOSAURUS FROM FRICK,

SWITZERLAND:INTRASPECIFIC VARIABILITY OR

SEPARATE SPECIES?

Jens N. Lallensack 1 , Elzbieta M. Teschner 2

1.Ste inmann Ins t i t u te , D iv i s ion o f Pa leon to logy, Un ivers i ty o f Bonn, Nu ssa l l ee 8 , 53115 Bonn ,

Germany


Evo lu t i on , O leska 22, 45 -052 Opo le , Po land

Upper Tr iass ic (Nor ian) exposures at Fr ick , Switzer land, represent the largest

act ive excavat ion s ite of ear ly d inosaurs in Europe. The s i te yie lded dozens of

par t ia l to complete skeletons of the basal sauropodomorph Plateosaurus ,

including s ix v ir tual ly complete skul ls and an equal number of part ia l skul ls.

Despite the extens ive body of l i terature publ ished on the European

Plateosaurus assemblages, the taxonomy of the genus is s t i l l debated. The

h igh degree of var iabi l i t y wi th in the Fr ick Plateosaurus assemblage has

repeatedly ra ised doubts over the common assumpt ion that a l l sauropodomorph

mater ia l f rom the local i t y belongs to a s ingle spec ies. The poss ible presence of

more than one spec ies in Fr ick might quest ion previous paleobio logical

hypotheses, most important ly the presence of developmental p last ic i t y

proposed by Sander and Kle in (2005) .

We descr ibed a l l skul l mater ia l previous ly excavated f rom the lower and middle

“Saur ierbank” (saur ian level) in Fr ick , most of which is s t i l l undocumented in

the l i terature. The degree of morphological var iabi l i t y is str ik ing, but can be

par t ly ascr ibed to p last ic deformat ion dur ing foss i l izat ion. Dorsoventra l ly

compressed skul ls f rom Fr ick and the German Tross ingen local i t y indicate that

the skul l of Plateosaurus is wider in dorsal v iew than previously thought. Skul l

features showing notable var iabi l i t y unrelated to deformat ion inc lude, amongst

others, the number of premaxi l lary teeth; the anteroposter ior expans ion of the

external nar is; the he ight and shape of the main ramus of the maxi l la anter ior

and poster ior to the dorsal process; as well as the extent of the recessed

media l lamina of the dorsal process of the maxil la.


105

Dif ferent combinat ions of var iable characters in d if ferent skul ls and

intermediate character states are suggest ive of a h igh int raspeci f ic var iabi l i t y

rather than separate spec ies. Geometr ic morphometr ic analys is of

reconstructed skul ls fa i l to recover s ignif icant groupings, again provid ing no

evidence for separate spec ies. This result is in accordance wi th a recent s tudy

suggest ing that h igh intraspec if ic var iabi l i t y is widespread in ear ly d inosaurs ,

and poss ibly represents the ancestral condi t ion of the group (Gr if f in and

Nesbit t , 2016) . Crania l autapomorphies a l low for the referra l of the Fr ick

mater ia l to P. er lenbergiens is (= P. longiceps ) , which is the most common

European spec ies a lso found in the Trossingen and Halberstadt local i t ies

(Pr ieto-Márques and Norel l , 2011).

References

1:Gr i f f in , C. T. , and S. J . Nesbi t t . 2016. Anomalous ly h igh var ia t ion in postnata l

development is ancest ra l for d inosaurs but los t in b i rds. Proceedings of the Nat ional

Academy of Sc iences 113:14757–14762.

2 :Pr ie to-Márquez, A. , and M. A . Nore l l . 2011. Redescr ip t ion of a near ly complete skul l

o f Plateosaurus (Dinosaur ia : Sauropodomorpha) f rom the Late Tr iass ic o f Tross ingen

(Germany) . Amer ican Museum Novi ta tes 3727: 1 –58.

3 :Sander, P. M. , and N. Kle in . 2005. Developmenta l p last ic i t y in the l i fe h is tory of a

prosauropod d inosaur . Sc ience 310:180 0–1802.


106

VARIATION BETWEEN AND WITHIN SPECIES – A CASE

STUDY OF GOBIIDAE AND OXUDERCIDAE

Carolin Gut1 , Bettina Reichenbacher 1* , Radek Šanda 2 , Jasna

Vukić3 ,

1.Depar tment o f Ear th and Env i ronmen ta l Sc iences , Sect ion Pa leon to logy, Ludw ig -

Max imi l i ans -Un ivers i ty Mun ich , 80333 Mun ich , Germany

2 .Depar tment o f Zoo logy, Nat iona l Museum, Vác lavské nám. 68 , CZ - 115 79 Praha, Czech

Repub l i c

3 .Depar tment o f Eco logy, Facu l t y o f Sc ience, Char les Un ivers i t y , V in ičná 7 , CZ -128 44

Praha, Czech Repub l i c

Gobies (Gobiiformes) represent one of the largest groups within the

bony f ishes (Teleostei) and are distr ibuted al l over the world.

Delimit ing their extant and fossi l species is an important issue

because a clear taxonomy is the foundation for almost every research

in biology and paleontology. As sof t t issue is not preserved in the

fossil record the question has to be answered: how reliable can

species be dist inguished merely by morphometric and merist ic

characters?

This study uses X-rays of ten extant European goby species (three

species of Gobiidae, seven of Oxudercidae, totally 59 individuals) for

gathering merist ic and morphometric data to test intra - and

interspecif ic variat ion, search for useful characters for species

del imitat ion and to detect probable interspecif ic inf luences based on

shared ecological factors. Twenty -eight characters (sixteen

morphometric and twelve merist ic) were taken into account. The

result ing matrix was analyzed performing ANOVA, t -tests, PCA,

correlat ions and measurements for deformit ies in the vertebral column.

The results revealed that all species can be separated by

morphometric and merist ic characters when al l methods are combined;

however, the merist ic approach showed a better separat ion -potent ial

than the morphometric one. Intraspecif ic var iat ion can be rather high


107

and var ies strongly between the studied species. Ecological factors

seem to inf luence the phenotype of the examined species. In part icular

pol lut ion is assumed to inf luence their skeletal growth and app ears to

cause malformations of the vertebral column. Within the Gobiidae the

three examined species could be separated by the number of the rays

of the second dorsal f in (ANOVA analysis, p≤0.05) and they are plotted

in dist inct groups in the PCA. Good spec ies separat ion was also

achieved for three of the oxudercid species, i.e. Pomatoschistus

minutus (based on caudal peduncle depth), P. microps (based on body

depth at anal f in insert ion) and Knipowitschia caucasica (based on

caudal peduncle length). In the mult ivar iate space all oxudercid

species could be separated using merist ic characters. In Contrast the

two Gobius species showed a small over lap. Based on the new data it

can be concluded that both merist ic and morphometric characters

could be used to conf ident ly dist inguish fossil gobi id and oxudercid

species.


108

PALAEOANTHROPOLOGY


109

MORPHOLOGICAL STUDY OF HUMAN SKELETAL

MATERIAL FROM BURIALS OF THE

CLASSICAL /HELLENISTIC PERIOD FOUND IN THE NORTH

CEMETERY LEFKADA, GREECE (Graves 28,29,32 )

Ioannis Karagiannis1 , George Il iopoulos1 , Vivian Staikou 2

1.Pa laeonto logy and St ra t i g raphy Lab , Un ivers i ty o f Pa t ras , 26504, R io

2.Ai to loakarnan ia and Lefkada Ephora te o f An t iqu i t ies , Ag ios Athanas ios 4 , Naupaktos

30200, Greece

The examinat ion of b io logical remains of the deceased is a pract ice that is

used wor ldwide. I ts s ignif icance is great , as i t contr ibutes in understanding

human his tory and evolut ion and expanding the knowledge of health of

anc ient populat ions, just to name a few. This s tudy revolves around

procedures used to determine the most common character ist ics of a human,

namely the age at death, gender and s tature by us ing corresponding skeleta l

mater ia l as indicator . The s tudied mater ia l comes f rom the Karyotes region

bur ia l s i te (north cemetery) and more spec if ica l ly f rom the property of

G.Aravanis, on the Is land of Leukada, Greece. Based on the var ious

artefacts accompanying the dead, the cemetery was in use dur ing the

Class ical and Hel lenis t ic Per iods (5th – 2 n d cent. BC). From the 52 graves

that were excavated, th is s tudy used skeleta l mater ial f rom three graves

(Graves 28, 29, 32). Every bone and bone f ragment was prepared, removing

sand and mud matr ix f rom the bones wi th water and brushes. Af ter they

dr ied, acryl ic res in solut ion, paralo id B72, was appl ied on them for

conservat ion. Then, corresponding f ragments were g lued together and every

bone was cata logued and ident i f ied. Final ly, the number of indiv iduals in

every grave was determined, as wel l as age at dea th, gender and stature of

every indiv idual . The minimum number of indiv iduals in every grave was

est imated, as a d irec t resul t observed dur ing ident i f icat ion. Age at death

was calculated macroscopical ly, based main ly on teeth wear and secondar i ly

on crania l sutures as wel l as on the aur icu lar surface and pubic symphys is

of the pelv is . Gender, was a lso est imated macroscopical ly, based on

spec if ic character ist ics of the pelv is and skul l . Stature was est imated wi th

the use of equat ions for long bones (Genoves 1967, Trotter and Gleser

1958). In total , the number of indiv iduals was est imated to be 6, one in


110

grave 28, one in grave 32 and 4 in grave 29. Al l ind iv iduals were probably

males. The age at death ranges f rom 22-26 years old for the youngest and

40-50 for the o ldest. The statur e ranges f rom 160 cm to 180 cm.

References

1:W hi te T. D. & Folkens P. A. The Human Bone Manual . 2005 Elsev ie r Academic

Press .

2 :Trot ter M. & Gleser G. C. (1958). A re-evalua t ion of est imat ion of s ta ture based

on measurements of s ta ture taken dur ing l i fe and of long bones af ter death.

American Journal o f Phys ica l Anthropology. Volume 16, Issue 1, pages 79–123.

3 :Genoves S. (1967). Proport ional i t y o f the long bones a nd the i r re la t ion to s ta tu re

among Mesoamer icans. American Journal o f Phys ica l Anthropology . Volume 26,

Issue 1, pages 67–77.


111

MORPHOLOGICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF

HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS RECOVERED FROM A

CLASSICAL/HELLENISTIC BURIAL SITE, NORTH

CEMETERY LEFKADA, GREECE

Danai Kontou1* , George Il iopoulos 1 , Vivian Staikou 2


2 .Ai to loakarnan ia and Lefkada Ephora te o f An t iqu i t ies , Ag ios Athanas ios 4 , Naupaktos

30200, Greece

A tota l of 52 graves that were excavated in 2011 at the bur ia l s i te of the

Tsehl impou region (north cemetery - G. Aravanis property) , on the Greek

is land of Lefkada, yie lded a great number of human skeletal remains. Based

on the var ious ar tefacts accompanyin g the dead, the cemetery was in use

dur ing the Class ical and Hel lenis t ic Per iods (5 t h- 2n d cent. BC) (Sta ikou V.

,2011) .

This s tudy was based on the osteological mater ia l recovered f rom 8 tombs

(T.6, T.18, T.19, T.20, T.22, T.23 , T .25 and T.26), conta in i ng 12 indiv iduals

bur ied e ither s ingle ( tombs 18,19, 23 and 26) or in pairs ( tombs 6 and 22) –

wi th the except ion of tomb 25 where 3 indiv iduals were ident i f ied.

Fol lowing the typical conservat ion methodolog y , the remains were prepared

,coded, ident i f ied and skeletons were reconstructed to a certa in degree

depending on the avai lable osteological mater ia l . The main focus of th is

project was the morphometr ic analys is of the bones a long wi th the

determinat ion of sex and the est imation -where poss ible- of stature and age

at the t ime of death. Our methods were mainly based on the b ioarcheology

protocols descr ibed by Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994) and W hite and Folkens

(2005) us ing crania l and pelv ic features, long bone measurements and

patterns of denta l attr i t i on.

Out of the 12 indiv iduals, 6 were ident i f ied as males ( tombs 18, 19, 22, 23,

25 and 26) and 6 as females ( tombs 6 ,20, 22 and 25).The age group for the

major i ty of the indiv iduals was est imated as middle adul ts (35 – 50 years)

( tombs 18, 19, 20, 23, 25 and 26), wi th the exception of the indiv iduals f rom

tomb 22 where their age could not be est imated due to insuf f ic ient skeleta l


112

mater ia l . The height of 6 indiv iduals ( tombs 19, 23, 25 and 26) was poss ib le

to be est imated ranging f rom 1.48+/ -0.1 to 1.68 +/-0.1 meters .

Future s tudies might inc lude paleopathological analys is of the osteological

mater ia l and a more deta i led examinat ion of the dental mater ial which could

of fer usefu l ins ights into the nutr i t ion habits and everyday l ives of the

inhabi tants of the ancient c i ty of Lefkada.

References

1:Buikst ra , J .E. , Ubelaker , D.H. , 1994. Standards for data co l lec t ion f rom human

skeleta l remains. Fayet tevi l le : Arkansas Archeologica l Survey Research Ser ies No.

44, 3 r d pr in t ing 1997.

2 :W hi te , T. , D. , Fo lkens, P. , A . , 2005. The human bone manual . Bur l ington:

Elsevier ,1 s t ed i t ion, San Diego, Cal i forn ia , pages 364 -398.

3 :Arc .Del t . 2011, Chronic les ( in press) , (Sta ikou V.)


113

MORPHOLOGICAL STUDY OF HUMAN SKELETAL

REMAINS FROM BURIALS OF THE

CLASSICAL/HELLENISTIC PERIOD FOUND IN THE

NORTH CEMETERY OF LEFKAS, GREECE

Maria Vasiliki Konstantopoulou 1 , George Il iopoulos 1 , Vivian

Staikou2

1.Pa leon to logy and S t ra t ig raphy Lab, Un ivers i t y o f Pat ras , 26504, R io


30200, Greece

Morphological s tudy of human skeletal remains is a f ie ld of inquiry that is

very impor tant for many sc ient i f ic f ie lds such as paleontology, archaeology,

phys ical anthropology, anatomy and forensi cs. The signif icance of such

studies is great because they can provide informat ion about heal th, l i fe

expectancy and phys ical character is t ics of anc ient populat ions. This s tudy

focuses on using the skeleta l remains to est imate the age at the t ime of

death, the sex and the stature of each sample. The skeleta l mater ial comes

f rom the nor th cemetery (Mpeis region) and more spec if ical ly f rom the

property of Mikroni /Logothet i on the is land of Lefkas, Greece. Based on the

var ious ar tefacts accompanying the dead t he cemetery was in use dur ing the

Class ical and the Hel lenist ic per iods (5 t h-2n d century BC). From the 85

graves that were excavated, this study used skeleta l mater ia l f rom 5 (graves

23, 26, 28, 33, AT1) . Al l bones and the bone f ragments were prepared us in g

water and brushes in order to remove soi l res idues and then they were lef t

to dry. Af ter the dr ied paraloid B75 (acryl ic res in) solut ion was appl ied for

better conservat ion. Fragmented bones were g lued together and then the

mater ia l was cata logued and ident i f ied. The minimum number of indiv iduals

was est imated in every grave and f inal ly their age at t ime of death, their sex

and their stature were determined. The est imation of age was based on the

denti t ion and on the aur icu lar surface of the i l ium (White and Folkens 2005) .

The determinat ion of the sex was mainly based on morphological

character is t ics of the pelv is and the skul l and secondar i ly on measurements

of the l imb bones, scapula and s ternum where poss ib le (White and Folkens

2005, Mol leson T. and Cruse K. & Mays S. 1998, Valakos S. & Papavas i l iou

S. 2013) . The est imation of stature was based on measurements of l imb


114

bones, appl ied on the appropr iate equations (Genoves 1967, T rot ter and

Gleser 1958) . Tota l ly th is s tudy conta ins results f rom 5 graves con tain ing 6

indiv iduals, one in grave 23, two in grave 26, one in grave 28, one in grave

33 and two in grave AT1. Three indiv iduals were probably males, one female

and two were chi ldren. The age ranges f rom 3 -5 for the youngest and 40 -45

for the oldest . The s tature for the adul ts ranges f rom 155 cm to 173 cm,

whi le for the chi ldren the est imation of stature was not feas ib le due to lack

of data.

References

1:W hi te T. D. & Folkens P. A. The Human Bone Manual . 2005 Elsev ie r Academic

Press .

2 :Trot ter M. & Gleser G. C. (1958). A re -evalua t ion of est imat ion of s ta ture based

on measurements of s ta ture taken dur ing l i fe and of long bones af ter death.

American Journal o f Phys ica l Anthropology. Volume 16, Issue 1, pages 79–123.

3 :Genoves S. (1967). P roport ional i t y o f the long bones and the i r re la t ion to s ta tu re

among Mesoamer icans. American Journal o f Phys ica l Anthropology . Volume 26,

Issue 1, pages 67–77.

4 :Mol leson T. and Cruse K. & Mays S. (1998). Some sexual ly d imorphic features of

the human juven i le sku l l and the i r va lue in sex determinat ion in immature skeleta l

remains.

5 :Valakos S. & Papavas i l iou S. (2013).Phys ica l anthropology ( in g reek) .


115

PALAEODEMOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS OF CLASSIC

PERIOD POPULATION FOUND IN LEFKAS, GREECE

Panagiotis D. Sianis1 , George Il iopoulos1 , Vivian Staikou 2

1.Pa laeonto logy and St ra t ig raphy Lab, Depar tmen t o f Geo logy, Un ivers i t y o f Pat ras ,

26504, R io , Greece


30200, Greece

The ancient c i ty of Lefkas had two cemeter ies located outs ide the c ity wal ls,

one at the Nor th and one at the South. Many tombs have been unear thed

dat ing f rom late Archaic to la te Roman t imes, f rom both bur ia l s i tes . The

osteological content of a decent port ion of bur ia ls ass igned to the Nor th

necropol is was studied as part of a Master thes is and s ix Bachelor

d isser tat ions a iming to draw palaeodemographic conc lusions about the

populat ion. The content cons is ts of 78 separate, indiv idual and commingled

bur ia ls dat ing to the Class ical and Hel lenist ic per iods (2500 -2200 yrs BP)

contain ing 110 indiv iduals of both b io logical sexes, as wel l as var ious age

groups inc luding very young juveniles , adolescents , young adults, mature

adults and o ld adul ts.

The osteological mater ial was f irst ly prepared, removing soi l res idues using

brushes and running water and lef t to dry thereaf ter . Acryl ic res in solut ion

Paralo id B72 was appl ied across every inch of the bones and f ragments, as

wel l as these f ragments were glued togeth er to res tore incomplete

spec imens wherever i t was possib le. Each bur ia l was s tudied separate ly.

The content was segregated into indiv iduals and then morphological scor ing

of crania l and pelv ic features was appl ied in order to determine the sex of

each indiv idual (Buikstra & Ubelaker , 1994). Sex determinat ion was also

strengthened by measur ing the femoral midshaf t c ircumference (Black,

1978). The age of the indiv iduals was determined based on the degree of

natura l dent i t ion wear (Lovejoy, 1985) as wel l as f rom the examinat ion of the

aur icu lar surfaces of the i l ium (Lovejoy et a l. , 1985) and the pubic

symphys is (Todd, 1920) . Methods of scor ing the oss if icat ion degree of

crania l sutures for age est imat ion were exc luded in the spec if ic populat ion

because of important error probabi l i t y. Metr ic measurements of the long

bones were a lso taken for s tature est imation based on equat ions for white


116

europeans (Ruf f et al . , 2012) . Af ter applying rounding, 52% of the adult

populat ion found to be males and the rest 48%, fem ales. Half the populat ion

d ied at the age of 35-50 years and non-adult bur ia ls belong to only 15% of

the tota l group. The average height for females reaches 1.54m, whereas for

males 1.64m respect ive ly.

This s tudy created a safe and wel l es tabl ished database of a Class ical

per iod human col lec t ion of anc ient Greece that can be used for compar ison

wi th other future projects studying Mediterran ean populat ions of that per iod.

References

1:Black, T. K. (1978), A new method for assess ing the sex of f ragment ary skeleta l

remains: Femoral shaf t c i rcumference. Am. J . Phys. Anthropol . , 48: 227 –231.

do i :10.1002/a jpa.1330480217 .

2 :Buikst ra , J . E. , Ubelaker , D. H. , (1994). Standards for Data Col lec t ion f rom

Human Skeleta l Remains.

3 :Lovejoy, C. O. (1985) . Denta l wear in the L ibben populat ion: i ts funct ional pat te rn

and ro le in the determinat ion of adul t ske leta l age at dea th. Amer ican Journal o f

Phys ica l Anthropology, 68(1) , 47 –56.

4 :Lovejoy, C. O. , (1985). Eight papers on Todd and L ibben skeleta l mater ia l .

Amer ican Journal o f Phys ica l Anthropology 68:1 -106.

5 :Ruf f e t a l . , (2012) . Stature and Body Mass Est imat ion f rom Skeleta l Remains in

the European Holocene

6:Todd, T. W . (1920). Age changes in the pubic bone: I . The whi te male pubis .

Amer ican Journal o f Phys ica l Anthropology 3:467 -470.


117

PALAEOANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY OF SKELETAL

MATERIAL FROM BURIALS OF THE CLASSICAL PERIOD

FROM THE ALONAKI-MARMARA SITE, NAFPAKTOS:

TOMB I

Paraskevi-Danae Androulidaki1 , Efi Saranti2 , George Il iopoulos 1



30200, Greece

In 2004 excavat ions of the Aeto loakarnania and Leufkas Ephorate of

Ant iqui ty brought to l ight a set of tom bs in the western part of Nafpaktos,

which belongs to the west cemetery and dates back to the Class ical per iod.

From these tombs, only one tomb, “Tomb I” was examined in th is study. This

study a imed to est imate the number of individuals bur ied in “Tomb I” ,

determine their sex, est imate their age at death and their stature, and a lso

to d iagnose poss ib le palaeopathologies in their bones and teeth. The

examinat ion of the skeleta l mater ia l revealed that 8 skeletons were bur ied in

th is tomb, 7 adul ts and one juveni le. W ith regard to the juveni le skeleton, i ts

sex could not be determined, but i ts age was est imated at 11 years and i ts

stature between 114 cm and 119 cm. As for the adul t skeletons, 4 were

determined as males and the other 3 as females. Their age ran ged f rom 20

to 54 years and their stature f rom 154 cm to 174 cm. Detai led examinat ion

of the skeleta l mater ia l revealed both common and less common

pathologies. The common pathologies included osteoar thr i t is and dental

d iseases, such as denta l car ies , and the less common inc luded a trephined

skul l and the case of a lef t humerus, being 9 cm shor ter than the r ight and

having a deformed head.


118

OSTEOLOGICAL STUDY OF BRONZE TO EARLY

PALEOCHRISTIAN AGE HUMAN AND ANIMAL MATERIAL

FROM EASTERN NAFPAKTOS

Irena Pappa1 , 2*, George Il iopoulos 2 , George Mitsainas1 , Fotini

Saranti 3

1.Depar tment o f B io logy, Un ivers i ty o f Pat ras , R io GR -26504, Greece

2 .Depar tment o f Geo logy , Un ivers i ty o f Pat ras , R io GR -26504, Greece

3 .Ephora te o f Ant iqu i t ies o f Ε to loakarnan ia and Lefkada, Ag iou A thanas iou 4 , Na fpaktos

GR-30200, Greece

The object of th is s tudy was to examine osteological mater ia l f rom ancient

bur ia ls in the region of Eastern Nafpaktos . The osteological mater ia l

or ig inated f rom excavat ion work in eight d if ferent arch aeological s i tes , which

was implemented by the ΛΣΤ’ Ephorate of Prehis tor ic and Class ical

Ant iqui t ies of Eto loakarnania and Lefkada. The mater ia l or ig inated f rom

funerary sets and bui ld ings f rom the East region of Nafpaktos, Greece. The

age of the Osteolog ical mater ia l according to archaeological es t imates is

reckoned to range f rom the Bronze t i l l the Ear ly Paleochr ist ian Age (2600

B.C. ,-700 A.D.) .

W ithin th is research, 2125 in i t ia l ly coded samples (complete and bone

f ragments) were examined, which af ter pr eparat ion and conservat ion

procedures were est imated to 1596 samples.

Both human and animal skeleta l remains have undergone preparat ion and

macroscopic observat ion. The study of the anthropological mater ia l involved

the est imat ion of the minimum number of individuals (MNI), the

determinat ion of their age, sex, and stature as wel l as the recording the

paleopathological f ind ings per funerary set . On the other hand, the faunal

mater ia l was determined at the family/ genus level and when poss ible to the

spec ies level. The minimum number of indiv iduals (MNI) (at species level)

was also est imated. Human and faunal mater ia l was examined in order to

detect postmortem modif icat ions ( f rom funerary, human or animal

process ing) .


119

The anthropological mater ia l is composed of adul t and juveni le individuals .

Middle- aged adult males dominated. On the other hand, the juveni le

mater ia l cons is ts of infants, ch i ldren, adolescents as wel l as per inata l

skeleta l e lements.

On the other hand, the faunal mater ia l is composed main ly of domesticated

animals and more spec if ical ly the determined taxa belong to Ovis ar ies,

Capra h ircus, Sus scrofa Bos taurus and Equus afr icanus asinus. In

addit ion, one toad (Bufo bufo) , two spec ies of terrestr ia l tur t les ( Testudo

sp . ) and a hedgehog (Er inaceus roumanicus) were a lso ident i f ied.

Antemortem and postmortem modif icat ions were observed on the human

skeleta l mater ia land were character ised as palaeopathological, human and

taphonomic modif icat ions. Also, the faunal mater ia l presented postmortem

human modif icat ions as well as taphonomic modif icat ions.


120


121

DIDACTIC ADAPTATIONS ON A PALEONTOLOGICAL

WORKSHOP FOR STUDENTS WITH VISUAL OR HEARING

IMPAIRMENT AND LEARNING DISABILITIES

David Martín-Perea1* , Omid Fesharaki 1 , Laura Domingo1 , 2 , 3 , Jessica

Acosta1 , Patricia Carro 1 , María Presumido4 , Fernando Blanco1 ,

Marco Ansón5 , Iris Menéndez 1 , María Soledad Domingo 1 , 6 , David

Borrego1 , Juan Antonio Cárdaba 4 , Ángeles Álvarez Sierra 1 , 2 ,

Manuel Hernández Fernández 1 , 2

1.Pa laeonto logy Depar tment , Complu tense Un ivers i t y (José Anton io Nová is 12 , 28040

Madr id , Spa in) . 2 Sed imen tary Geo logy and Env i ronmenta l Change , Geosc iences Ins t i tu te

(CSIC, UCM) ( José Anton io Nová is 12 , 28040 Madr id , Spa in )

3 . Ear th and P lanetar y Sc iences Depar tment , Un ivers i t y o f Ca l i fo rn ia San ta Cruz, Santa

Cruz (1156 H igh St ree t , Ca l i fo rn ia 95064 ,U .S.A. )

4 .Geos fera C .B. (Madres de la P laza de Mayo 2 , 28523 R ivas Vac iamadr id , Spa in)

5 .Facu l ty o f Ar t s , Complu tense Un ivers i ty (P in tor e l Greco 2 , 28040 Madr id , Spa in)

6 .Doñana B io log ica l S ta t ion -CSIC (Avd . Amér ico Vespuc io s /n , 41092 , Sev i l la , Spa in )

In th is s tudy, we descr ibe a paleontological ac t iv i ty carr ied out dur ing the

Madr id W eek of Sc ience 2016. The main object ive of th is act iv i ty was to

d isseminate the value of Sc ience to the society, wi th spec ia l emphasis on

soc ia l ly- and f inanc ia l ly-d isadvantaged sectors . Despi te the achievements

at ta ined in the last decades to narrow soc ia l and f inanc ia l gap, there is s t i l l

a long way to go and sc ient ists have the respons ib i l i t y to col laborate to

overcome these d if ferences. The d isseminat ion of sc ient i f ic a dvances is key

to accompl ish th is purpose. I t is of paramount impor tance to adapt scient i f ic

terminology and to use d idact ic mater ia ls to a l low the ef fect ive transmission

of sc ient i f ic knowledge. People wi th some degree or k ind of d isabi l i t y have

h istor ica l ly encountered more d if f icu l t ies to get access to Sc ience

d isseminat ion. This is why, over the last decade, the Somosaguas

Paleonto logical Project has developed act iv i t ies specif ica l ly adapted to a

broad audience. W e repor t in th is work , an act iv i ty carr i ed out on two

d if ferent days and spec ia l ly des igned for i) 28 students wi th d if ferent

degrees of hear ing- impairment and/or learn ing disabi l i t ies and i i) 16

v isual ly- impaired persons. Part ic ipants (d iv ided in three groups) part ic ipated

on three d if ferent workshops, tak ing turns unt i l complet ing each of them.


122

The f irs t workshop revolved around the Earth h is tory through some of i ts

most impor tant geobio logical milestones, the second comprised some of the

methods of obta in ing fossi l remains (excavat ions) , and t he th ird, composed

of two complementary act iv i t ies , to expla in some adaptat ions of vertebrates

to environment and their evolut ion through i) var ious evolut ive stages of

equids' l imbs and i i) several teeth types represent ing the main feeding

habits (omnivorous, herbivorous and carnivorous) . For these workshops,

fossi l repl icas of var ious t ime intervals of the Earth h istory, an exper imental

excavation box, three l imbs of equines at d i f ferent s tages of evolut ion, and

several foss i l and actual teeth spec imens were used. The act iv i ty was a

success both in terms of the knowledge acquired by the at tendees and the

soc ia l izat ion component wi th people d if ferent f rom their dai ly scope. This

last fac t is real ly impor tant when disseminat ing sc ience to people wi th

funct ional d ivers ity.


123

PALEOGEOGRAPHIC EVOLUTION OF THE IONIAN ZONE

DURING TRIASSIC TO EOCENE (WESTERN GREECE)

L. Moforis1 and V. Karakitsios 1

1.Nat iona l & Kapod is t r ian Un ivers i t y o f Athens , Facu l ty o f Geo logy & Geo -Env i r onment ,

Depar tment o f H is tor ica l Geo logy – Pa leon to logy, A thens, 15784, Greece

Western Greece is dominated by the external zones of the Hel l in ides fo ld -

and- thrust bel t , namely the pre-Apul ian (or Paxos), Ionian and Gavrovo

zones. Dur ing Tr iass ic Western Greece was par t of the Apulian cont inenta l

b lock, in the southern pass ive margin of Tethys Ocean. The Ionian zone

comprises sedimentary rocks ranging f rom Tr iass ic evapor i tes to Jurass ic -

Upper Eocene carbonates and minor cherts and shales, which are over la in

by Ol igocene f lysch. The purpose of th is study was to determine the

paleoenvironmental condi t ions that took place wi th in the Ionian Zone dur ing

Tr iass ic to Eocene age, in order to v isual ize them through ArcGIS and

create the paleoenvironmental maps for the area. In order to do the

evaluat ion of the carbonate sequences with in the Ionian Zone, a b ig range of

data, l ike: l i tho logy, formation outcrops and wel l data have been analyzed in

detai l . W ithin the Ionian zone the Tr iass ic evapor it ic sequence has more

than 1500m th ickness. The evapor ites are o ver lying by l imestones of Upper

Tr iass ic age which have been depos ited in suprat idal to in ter t idal condit ions.

From the Upper Tr iassic to the middle L iassic, an extens ive shal low sea

spreads wi th in the Ionian zone. Dur ing the Pl iensbachian (Jurassic) ,

extension re lated to the opening of the Neotethys Ocean caused the Ionian

bas in format ion. Dur ing Toarc ian to T i thonian (Jurass ic) the internal

d if ferent iat ion of the bas in in to sub-bas ins wi th half -graben geometry took

p lace. Dur ing the Berr iasian (Ear ly Cret aceous) , a general s ink ing of the

ent ire bas in is attested by the pelagic Vig la l imestones depos i t ion a l l over

the Ionian zone. The pelagic condi t ions pers isted unt i l the Late Eocene.

when f lysch sedimentat ion began. Dur ing late Eocene the Hel lenic

orogenes is caused an act ive subs idence in the Ionian zone which led to the

depos it ion of turb id it ies (Oligocene f lysch) .


124

BENTHIC FORAMINIFERA IN FJORDS AND OPEN

MARINE ENVIRONMENT OF SVALBARD

Agnieszka Kujawa1* , Natalia Szymańska 1 , Małgorzata Kucharska 1 ,

Joanna Pawłowska1 , Magdalena Łącka 1 , Marek Zajączkowski 1

1. Ins t i tu te o f Oceano logy , Po l ish Academy o f Sc iences, Pows tańców Wars zawy 55, 81 -

712, Sopot , Po land

The aim of the study was to invest igate the spat ia l var iabi l i t y of benth ic

foraminifera assemblages in f jords and in the shelf region of the Svalbard

archipelago wi th respect to oceanographic condit ions. The bas ic goal of the

study was to invest igate and compare environmental gradients assoc iated

wi th d if ferent sedimentary regimes and faunal d is tr ibut ion in g lac iated f jords

and open marine set t ings in f ront of large marine t idewater g laciers. The

resul ts of the project wi l l be used to cal ibrate foraminifera l paleo -proxy in

poor ly studied environment in the foreland of large open marine t idewater

g lac iers.

To conduct the study, 18 sampl ing stat ions of d if ferent hydrographic and

sedimentary condi t ions in the Svalbard region were chosen. Ten of the

sampl ing s tat ions were located in f jords (W ijdef jorden, Ri jpf jorden and

Isf jorden) and e ight were located in the open sea in f ront of large marine

t idewater glac iers of Edgeøya and Nordaust landet . Modern foraminifera l

assemblages were analyzed in shor t sediment cores col lected in 2016 f rom

S/Y Oceania dur ing the AREX 2016 cru ise. The documentat ion was

completed wi th the measurements of water temperature, sal in i ty and

turb id i ty.

The obta ined resul ts wi l l a l low to del ineate the sedimentary and

environmental gradients in the s tudied area and to corre late foraminifera l

b iodiversi ty wi th environmental var iables in f jords and in the open sea. The

resul ts wi l l a l low to val idate the well -known models of foraminifera l

d istr ibut ion in f jords a lso in the open mar ine condi t ions and in f ront of open

marine t idewater g lac iers, what is cruc ia l fo r the accurate interpretat ion of

paleo-records.


125

PALEOENVIROMENTAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE

INCREASE IN CaCO3 CONTENT IN THE PRE-

ENVAPORITIC MESSINIAN SEDIMENTS IN CRETE

Andreas Kostis 1* , Assimina Antonarakou 1 , Hara Drinia 1 , Efterpi

Koskeridou1 , George Kontakiotis1

1.Nat iona l & Kapod is t r i an Un ivers i ty o f Athens, Schoo l o f Ear th Sc iences, Facu l t y o f

Geo logy & Geoenv i roment , Depar tment o f H is tor i ca l Geo logy - Pa leonto logy ,

Panep is t im iopo l is Zogra fou, 15784, Greece

The late Miocene palaeoenvironmental evolut ion of the Mediterranean Sea

has been the focus of numerous invest igat ions deal ing wi th the processes

that tr iggered the Mess in ian Sal in i ty Cr is is (MSC). Restr ic t ion of the

Mediterranean-At lant ic connect ion u l t imately resulted in the depos it ion of

massive evapor ites (gypsum and hal i te) . Pr ior to the MSC, several events

occurred throughout the Mediterranean area, one of which is the transi t ion

f rom sapropel- to diatomite -bear ing sequences in the Metochia sect ion on

Gavdos. Contrary to Gavdos, in the main land Crete, a concurrent l i tho logical

change f rom marly to more calcareous sediments is recorded. Surpr is ingly

there are no d iatomites, as would be expected. The scope of th is study is to

invest igate th is trans i t ion by provid ing chemostrat igraphic, b iostrat ig raphic ,

and cyc lostrat igraphic data wich der ived f rom a sect ion near Ayios Miron,

located in the nor thern part of centra l Crete.

Aghios Myron sect ion cons is ts of 25m hemipelagic homogeneous marls and

sapropels in a d is t inc t cyc l ic bedding pat tern which can be roughly d iv ided

in three intervals f rom the base to the top. The f irs t in terval cons ists of two

couples of two cyc les, wi th the second sapropel of each set fo l lowed by a

th icker homogeneous bed. The second interval cons ists of three sets of

three cyc les, wi th the last cyc le of each set fo l lowed by a thick

homogeneous bed. The f irs t and th ird set of cyc les have a turbid ite layer in

the th ick homogeneous bed, whi le the second set has two th in sapropels

(cyc les) in i ts th icker homogeneous bed. Towards the top of the sect ion, the

last in terval cons ists of thin sapropels and homogeneous beds with no

apparent d ist inct ion.


126

The biostrat igraphic f ramework of Aghios Myron sect ion is based on

p lanktonic foraminifera quant i ta t ive and qual i ta t ive analys is , which was

carr ied out on 150 samples. Biostrat igraphical ly, the most s ignif icant taxa

were revealed to be Globorota l ia miotumida, Globorota l ia sc itu la,

Globorota l ia nicolae and Globoturborotal i ta nepenthes . The f irst occurrence

(FO) of G. miotumida co incides wi th the Tor tonian/Mess in ian (T/M)

boundary, at 7.24 Ma. The presence of G. miotumida spec imens in a l l the

samples, inc luding the marly bot tom sediments , indicate a Mess inian age for

th is sect ion. The corre lat ion between Aghios Miron (Crete Is la nd) and the

Metochia (Gavdos Is land) sect ion is based on the character is t ic sedimentary

cyc le pat tern, tephrostrat igraphy and b iostrat igraphy as wel l . Moreover , the

p lanktonic foraminifera l d ist r ibut ion pat terns wi l l prec isely def ine the

palaeoenvironmenta l condi t ions prevai l ing dur ing depos i t ion of such

d if ferent sedimentary set t ings.


127

STRATIGRAPHY AND PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL

EVOLUTION OF A LOWER PLEISTOCENE SECTION

(SOUSAKI, NORTHEASTERN CORINTH GULF)

Maria Arkadianou¹, Penelope Papadopoulou¹, George Il iopou los¹

1.Depar tment o f Geo logy , Un ivers i ty o f Pat ras , Panep is t im ioupo l i Pat ron 265 04, Greece

The aim of th is s tudy is the palaeoenvironmental reconstruct ion of a

sedimentary sect ion in Sousak i bas in (Greece) us ing s trat igraphy and

micropalaeontology. The study area l ies 65 Km SW of Athens, at the east

coast of Cor inth gulf , between the Is thmus of Cor inth and Ag. Theodoroi

town. The s tudied sect ion consis ts of cyc l ic a lternat ions of conglomerates,

sandy sediments, marls and organic r ich hor izons. Strat igraphic logging and

detai led sampl ing was conducted aiming at the palaeoenvironmental

reconstruct ion of the sect ion. 20 samples f rom the f ine gra ined sediments

were micropalaeonto logical ly analyzed. 100gr f rom each sample were

washed us ing tap water, s ieved through 2mm, 250μm and 63μm mesh s ieves

and dr ied. The micropalaeonto logical tes ts were af terwa rds handpicked and

ident i f ied us ing a stereoscope. 8 out of the 20 samples were barren. In the

rest of the samples 28 ostracode spec ies were ident i f ied belonging mostly to

the famil ies Cyther ideidae, Candonidae, and Hemicyther idae. Their

preservat ion condi t ion var ied cons iderably. According to the presence of

Cypr ideis torosa f . l i t tora l is , Candona neglecta , Candona angulata,

Tyrhhenocythere amnicola and Tyrhhenocythere strauchi , the age of the

studied sediments was est imated to Lower Ple is tocene. The ostra cod valves

were depos ited or /and transported in a brack ish environment of h igh energy,

according to the presence of Loxoconcha e l l ip t ica and I lyocypr is dec ip iens .

This informat ion combined to the cyc l ic a l ternat ions of th ick to f ine gra ined

sediments leads to the conc lus ion that the depos it ional palaeoenvironment

was a lagoon close to the mouth of a r iver which migrated per iodical ly.


128

A CHRONOSTRATIGRAPHIC BIO-ECOZONAL

METHODOLOGY AS A TOOL FOR CORRELATING DEEP-

SEA MARINE RECORDS DURING THE LAST

DEGLACIATION

Evaggelia Besiou 1 , * , Assimina Antonarakou 1 , Aristomenis P.

Karageorgis2 , George Kontakiotis 1 , Graham P. Mortyn 3 , 4 , Hara

Drinia1

1.Nat iona l & Kapod is t r i an Un ivers i ty o f Athens, Schoo l o f Ear th Sc iences, Facu l t y o f

Geo logy & Geoenv i r onmen t , Dep ar tment o f H is tor ica l Geo logy - Pa leonto logy ,

2 .Panep is t im iopo l is , Zogra fou, 15784 , Greece

He l len i c Cent re fo r Mar ine Research , Ins t i tu te o f Oceanography , 19013 Anavyssos,

Greece

3. Ins t i tu te o f Env i ronmen ta l Sc ience and Techno logy ( ICTA) , Un ivers i ta t Au tonoma de

Barce lona (UAB) , Ed i f i c i Cn -Campus UAB, Be l la te r ra 08193, Spa in

4 .Depar tment o f Geography, Un ivers i ta t Au tonoma de Barce lona (UAB)

During the last half -century, there is considerable interest in the role

of the (sub)tropical oceans in cl imate change. Part icular ly, there is

great interest in oceanic sub-basins and marginal seas, which are

usual ly more responsive to paleoceanographic/paleocl imat ic changes

than global oceans, due to their smaller size and part ial isolat ion. A

typical example is the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), which is one of the most

studied marginal basins due to: a) its lat itudinal posit ion; b) the semi -

enclosed character; c) the high sedimentat ion rates and d) the close

atmospher ic and oceanic connect ions with the north Atlantic region.

For these reason GOM constitutes an important heat and moisture

source for the north Atlantic region, and acts as a key regulator of the

subpolar north At lantic oceanography and cl imate. Nevertheless, a

detai led eco-chrono-strat igraphical control o f the var iabi l i ty of late

Quaternary climate in this sett ing is missing. The aim of the present

work is to i l lustrate an “ecozonal methodology” which allows to def ine

a high-resolut ion bio-chronostrat igraphic scheme, and to provide a

detai led integrated st rat igraphic reference record for the GOM for the


129

last 21 ka. For this purpose, a mult idiscipl inary approach, based on

planktonic foraminifera eco-biostrat igraphy (GOMPFE 1-12) coupled

with δ1 8O results and radiocarbon 1 4C AMS datings, was applied to the

sedimentary record of the high-sedimentat ion core JPC-26 recovered

f rom the NW margin of the GOM basin. The Bryant Canyon area ,

where the core was recovered, is ideal ly located for studying the

interplay between the Mississippi River discharges and open oce an

water masses, and offers a strat igraphic record with the potential to

l ink the eco-strat igraphic and paleoceanographic observat ions in the

GOM.

Previous eco-biostrat igraphic schemes for the investigated area are

ref ined and extended, and the strat igraph ic relat ionship between

foraminiferal and cl imatic events since the last glacial period is further

highl ighted. A high resolut ion planktonic foraminiferal distr ibut ion

pattern is reported, and the recognized eco -bioevents are correlated

with Mg/Ca-based sea-surface temperatures. The achieved updated

and comprehensive reconstruct ion could be considered as a useful

paleocl imatic and strat igraphic reference record, facil i tat ing

correlat ions with the Greenland ice core events and their cl imat ic

relat ionships, and providing a solid strat igraphic f ramework useful for

correlat ions with other paleoclimat ic and paleoceanographic records in

the circum-GOM/Caribbean region. This mult idisciplinary approach

under l ines the ut i l i ty to support conventional dating methodolog ies

with dif ferent constraints, and further reveals a powerful tool for

rel iably correlat ing marine records between comparable deep -sea

sett ings and/or an original dat ing tool for coeval sequences of this

region.


130

CLIMATIC VARIABILITY IN THE NORTH AEGEAN SEA

(EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN) DURING THE LATE

QUATERNARY

Georgia Gkaniatsa 1 * , Assimina Antonarakou 1 , George Kontakiotis1 ,

Hara Drinia 1 , George Anastasakis 1

1.Facu l ty o f Geo logy & Geoenv i ronmen t , Schoo l o f Ear th Sc iences, Depar tment o f

H is tor ica l Geo logy -Pa leonto logy, Na t iona l & Kapod is t r i an Un ivers i t y o f Athens,

Panep is t im iopo l is , Zogra fou, 15784, Greece

Over the last decades, considerable interest exists in the role of the

tropical oceans in cl imate change, and in part icular, oceanic sub-

basins and marginal seas, which are of ten more responsive to

paleoceanographic and paleocl imatic changes than global oceans. The

Eastern Mediterranean is of part icular importance to

paleoceanography, as its small volume compared with ocean basi ns,

and its intermediate posit ion between the higher - lat itude ( i .e. North

Atlantic- inf luenced) and lower -lat itude ( i.e. monsoonal ly inf luenced)

cl imate systems promote rapid responses to cl imatic change, which

seems to be recorded virtually instantaneously in palaeoceanographic

proxy data, such as stable isotope and other geochemical rat ios, and

microfossi l abundances. Moreover, the Aegean basin’s l imited

communication with the open ocean implies amplif ied cl imatic signals

of parameters, such as temperature , salinity, and specif ic elemental

concentrat ions.

We present a study of two marine sediment cores (cores M 22 -67, and

M 22-68) recovered along the northern margin (Chios basin, north

Aegean) of the eastern Mediterranean. The except ional ly high

sedimentat ion rates and the robust bio -chronostrat igraphical

f ramework of the cores studied al low a detailed paleoceanographic

and paleoclimat ic reconstruct ion for the Late Glacial -Holocene archive

in the Aegean Sea. The combination of downcore planktonic

foraminiferal distr ibut ion patterns and the relevant var iat ions of the


131

planktonic paleocl imatic curves, coupled with paleoceanographic

indices (e.g. product ivity and strat if icat ion indices) show large cl imate

var iabi l i ty dur ing the late Quaternary. Moreover, using

sedimentological observations, we determine the dynamics of sediment

del ivery, redox condit ions and preservation, especial ly during the

formation of the identif ied sapropel events.


132

LATE QUARTENARY BENTHIC FORAMINIFERAL

RECORD AND PALEOENVIRONMENTAL

RECONSTRUCTION OF SARONIKOS GULF, CENTRAL

AEGEAN, GREECE

Konstantinos Daioglou 1* , Markella Asimina Louvari 1 , Theodora

Tsourou1 , Hara Drinia1 , Assimina Antonarakou 1 , George

Anastasakis 1 , George Kontakiotis 1

1.Nat iona l & Kapod is t r i an Un ive rs i ty o f Athens, Facu l ty o f Geo logy & Geoenv i r onment ,

Depar tment o f H is tor ica l Geo logy & Pa laeon to logy, Panep is t im iopo l is 15784 A thens ,

Greece

This research aims to reconstruct the Late Quaternary

paleoenvironmental evolut ion of Saronikos Gulf (W -central Aegean),

by means of the benthic foraminiferal record.

Saronikos Gulf is typical of many semi -enclosed marine areas in

Mediterranean Sea. I t is surrounded by the Athens metropol i tan area,

the Piraeus harbour, and the industr ial zone of Elefsis Bay, and it is

subjected to a number of anthropogenic pressures, with urban waste

eff luents and result ing organic enr ichment being the main source of

pol lut ion (Simboura et al. , 2014).

I ts neotectonic basin is divided into a western and an eastern part, by

a very shal low N-S platform, part of which emerges as the islands of

Methana, Angistr i, Aegina, and Salamina. The eastern part has a

smooth bottom morphology, with a maximum depth of 200 m. The

western part is deeper, with over 400 m maximum depth

(Papanikolaou, 1988).

Benthic foraminiferal analysis was carr ied out on 50 samples of a 260 -

cm long sediment core (SAR 39). The sedimentary record, dri l led at

140 m water depth, in the western part of the gulf ’s basin (N

37.52’23.38" E 23.15’40"), covers more than 16935+50 cal. yrs BP.


133

Three main benthic foraminiferal assemblages alternate along the

core, revealing a gradual transit ion f rom a shallow infralit toral to a

circal it toral mar ine environment:

▪ A wel l-oxygenated and wel l -vegetated mesohal ine shal low

marine assemblage, consist ing of Elphidium spp. (E.

margaritaceum , E. macel lum , E. complanatum , E. cr ispum , E.

advenum), accompanied by Ammonia tepida , dominates f rom the

bottom to about 70 cm of the core.

▪ From 70 cm to 50 cm, Boliv ina spp. (B. spathulata , B. str iatula),

Bulimina spp. (B. marginata , B. aculeata , B. gibba , B. str iata , B.

elogata), Cassidul ina spp. (C. carinata , C. oblonga) and

Hyalinea balthica are indicative of a periodical oxygen -stressed

environment, due to high organic f luxes at the seaf loor, in an

outer shelf environment.

▪ From 50 m to the top of the core, the assemblage of Uviger ina

spp. (U. mediterranea , U. peregrina), Bulimina spp., Bolivina

spp, Cassidul ina spp., Hyalinea balthica , Textylar ia agglut inans

introduces a circal l i toral environment, under eutrophic

condit ions.

Comparable pattern of paleoenvironmental evolut ion was also

established by Daioglou et al. (2017), studying the Late Quaternary

ostracods record of Saronikos Gulf .

References


134

1:Daioglou K. , Tsourou Th . , Dr in ia H. , Antona rakou A. , Anastasak is G. ,

2017.Ostracod assemblages as a too l for document ing dynamics in marg ina l semi -

c losed mar ine envi ronments : a case s tudy f rom Late Quaternary sediments of

Saronikos Gul f (At t ica, centra l Greece). Geophys ica l Research Abst rac ts Vol . 19,

EGU2017: 8240 -1.

2 :Papaniko laou, D. , Lykous is , V. , Chronis , G. , Pavlak is , P. , 1988 . A comparat ive

s tudy of neotectonic bas ins across the Hel len ic arc : the Mess in iakos, Argol ikos,

Saronikos and Southern Evoikos Gul fs . Bas in Research 1: 167 -176.

3 :Simboura N, Zenetos A, Pancuc c i - Papadopoulou M.A. , 2014. Benth ic communi ty

ind icators over a long per iod of moni tor ing (2000 –2012) of the Saronikos Gul f ,

Greece, Easte rn Medi te rranean. Envi ronmenta l Moni tor ing and Assessment 186:

3809-21.


135

SEA LEVEL FLUCTUATIONS OF NW-CENTRAL AEGEAN

SHELF ENVIRONMENTS, DURING THE PAST 20,000

YEARS, BY MEANS OF BENTHIC FORAMINIFERAL

ASSEMBLAGES

Markella Asimina Louvari 1* , Hara Drinia1 , Assimina Antonarakou 1 ,

George Anastasakis 1

1.Nat iona l & Kapod is t r i an Un ive rs i ty o f Athens, Facu l ty o f Geo logy & Geoenv i r onment ,

Depar tment o f H is tor ica l Geo logy & Pa laeon to logy, Panep is t im iopo l is 15784 A thens ,

Greece

This research provides an ins ight in to the Upper Pleis tocene to Holocene

benth ic foraminifera l record of two sediment cores (DEH 1, DEH 5), dr i l led

f rom the South Evoikos Gulf , at 70 and 75.5 m water depth, respect ive ly.

The s tudy a ims to invest igate the ef fec ts that the post -Last Glac ia l Maximum

sea level f luctuat ions have on the shelf environments of NW -centra l Aegean

(Eastern Medi terranean).

South Evo ikos Gulf const i tutes a shal low neotectonic epicont inenta l bas in,

formed in Miocene in the back -arc area, at the northern pro longation of

Cycladic Platform, in central Greece and progress ively f i l led s ince the Ear ly

Quaternary.

The tota l sedimentary record covers more than the last 13,540 cal yr BP,

reveal ing the paleoceanographic h is tory of South Evoikos Gulf , f rom the

t ime i t was a landlocked lagoon, when the sea level in the Aegean Sea was

lower than 60 m b.p.s . l . to the complete re -entry of the sea and the

insta l la t ion of marine condit ions, s imi lar to the current ones.

Benth ic foraminifera l analys is pointed out three bas in -evolut ion stages:

Stage 1: Pre-Holocene Sea Level Rise

South Evoikos Gulf const i tuted a brack ish lagoonal sett ing, descr ibed by

three b iofacies: (a) Pr ior to 13.21 cal . kyr ΒΡ: a s trongly s tressed landlocked

brack ish lagoon, around 10 m deep, was insta l led, accommodating a

monospec if ic to o l igospec if ic fauna of euryhal ine and to lerant species. (b) At

the end of Ple is tocene (12.89 to 13. 21 cal . kyr BP) : the ear ly ret reat of the


136

stressed condit ions was in it iated af ter establ ishment of wel l -oxygenat ion

and food avai labi l i t y. However , the faunal content remains poor. (c) Towards

the onset of the Holocene: the ear ly “opening” of the gulf led to the

consequent development of a r ich benth ic foraminifera l assemblage, st i l l

brack ish, in the open lagoon of <30 m water depth.

Stage 2: Holocene Sea Level Rise

In the Middle Holocene, the study area has evolved into an inf ra l i t tora l to

shal low c ircal i t tora l b iotope, wi th a mean water depth of 60 m where: (a)

ini t ia l ly, a mi ld eutrophicat ion der ived f rom an increased product iv i ty and/or

cont inenta l inf lux was presented. Spec ies indicat ive of wel l -oxygenat ion

were poor ly developed and (b) subsequent ly, a poss ib le del taic progradat ion

into the preceding mar ine environment af fected the faunal content .

Stage 3: Holocene High-stand

In the Late Holocene, the prevalent ecological component is the h igh

hydrodynamic energy. Mar ine currents have mixed together inf ral i t tora l and

c ircal i t tora l benthic foraminifera l assemblages, making d i f f icul t the

evaluat ion of a s ingle water depth. Howeve r, the ins ta l lat ion of marine

condit ions s imilar to the current ones is evident.


137

MICROFAUNAL ASSEMBLAGE OF THE GÖLBAŞI -

HARMANLI (SE ANATOLIA) COAL SEAM:

INTERPRETATIONS ON QUATERNARY GEOGRAPHIC

DISTRIBUTION OF SOME EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN

TAXA

Alaettin Tuncer1* , Cemal Tunoğlu1 , Burçin Aşkım Gümüş2 , Al i Ihsan

Karayiğit1 , Rıza Görkem Oskay1

1.Hacet tepe Un ivers i t y , Depar tmen t o f Geo log ica l Eng ineer ing , Ankara , Turkey

2 .Gaz i Un ivers i ty , Depar tment o f B i o logy (Zoo logy) , Anka ra , Turkey

The Gölbaşı -Harmanlı coal seam is located wi thin the pul l -apart Gölbaşı

Basin (Adıyaman, SE Anatol ia) contro l led by the NE -SW trending East

Anato l ian Faul t Zone (EAFZ). This s tudy focuses on micropaleontological

analyses of twenty-one samples that were obtained f rom the Gölbaşı ope n-

pit coal mine (GOCM) sect ion. Six ostracod taxa ( Cypr idopsis v idua ,

Herpetocypr is cf . chevreux i , Humphcypr is subter ranea , Psychrodromus

ol ivaceous , Candona sp. and Gomphocythere cf . gearey i) , seven gastropod

taxa (Theodoxus anato l icus , Bithynia phia lens is cf . syr iaca, Horat ia parvula,

Byth inel la sp. , Valvata (Cinc inna) p isc inal is, Galba truncatu la, Gyraulus

p iscinarum acut issiumus ) and as wel l as one b ivalve ( Pisid ium personatum )

taxa were ident i f ied f rom the GOCM ( this study). Fur thermo re, charophyte

gyrogoni tes and f ish teeth remains were obta ined. Cons ider ing the ostracod

assemblage determined f rom the GOCM, and the micromammal data f rom

intercalat ions of the Gölbaşı coal seam (Suata -Alpars lan and Dinçars lan,

2011), the Gölbaşı coal seam depos ited dur ing the Middle Ple is tocene. The

ident i f ied microfaunal assemblage suggests that d if ferent b iogeographic

realm were hosted in the GOCM dur ing the Middle Ple istocene, such as

Cosmopol i tan (C. v idua ) , widely d istr ibuted (H. chevreux i ) , Holarct ic (G.

truncatu la ) , Palearct ic (P. o l ivaceous, V. pisc inal is and P. personatum ) ,

Eastern Mediterranean (H. subter ranea, G. gearey i and B. phia lens is

syr iaca) and endemic (G. p isc inarum acut iss iumus, H. parvula and T.

anato l icus) spec ies. Nevertheless, several of these taxa were commonly

repor ted f rom Neogene and Quaternary bas ins in Turkey, the most

s ignif icants are G. cf . geareyi , H. subterranea and B. phia lens is cf . syr iaca

in the GOCM where their nor thernmost l im its were ident i f ied. The presences


138

of these taxa also suggest the poss ib le transpor tat ion of them f rom the other

Eastern Medi terranean areas (e.g. Orontes (Syr ia) and Jordan Val ley

( Israel)) dur ing the Quaternary.

References

1: Suata-Alpars lan, F. and Dinçars lan, İ . , 2011. The Middle Ple is tocene fauna f rom

Southeastern Anato l ia (Gölbaşı -Adıyaman, Turkey) . Proc. 11 t h In t . Mul t id isc ip l inary

Sc ient i f ic Geo Conf . (SGEM2001), 277 -282.


139

SEDIMENTOLOGY AND PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL

RECONSTRUCTION OF AG-1 CORE FROM TUZ GOLU

LAGOON, AYVALIK REGION, NW TURKEY:

PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Konstantinos Nikolaou 1 , Konstantina Karanika 1 , Alexandros

Emmanouilidis 1

1.Un ivers i t y o f Pat ras , Depar tment o f Geo logy, 26500, Pa t ras Greece

Coastal areas include coasta l lagoons and such ecosystems are of great

s ignif icance in geology, as they are af fected by both the marine and the

cont inenta l realms. Coastal evolut ion depends on the local geological and

geomorphological condit ions, c l imate, tec tonism and the re lat ive sea level

changes.

These sens i t ive ecosystems are host ing unique types of fauna and f lora

adjusted to the f luc tuat ing annual sal ini ty. Being on the border of both

marine and terrestr ia l realms they are vulnerable to eustat ic and tectonic

changes and recent ly to human intervent ion. Tota l organic carbon (TOC) and

tota l n i trogen (TN) are important sediment character is t ics , used to

d iscr iminate the or ig in of the organic mat ter (marine -terrest r ia l) , def in ing the

depos it ional condi t ions, the contaminat ion factors and the product iv i ty

indicators (Carol l et a l. , 2003; Schaanning, 1994). Grain s ize d istr ibut ion

and geochemical data such as measurements of to ta l organic carbon (TOC),

tota l n itrogen (TN) and a var iety of elements, provide s ignif icant informat ion

on the sediments and the respect ive depos it ional environments.

This s tudy presents sedimentological and palaeonto logical data retr ieved

f rom a coasta l lagoon near Ayval ik in NW Turkey. The object ive of th is study

is to in terpret the depos it ional environments and reconstruct the evolut ion of

the s tudy area dur ing the late Holocene. 42 sediment samples have been

retr ieved f rom a 13m core. Sedimentological analyses such as gra in s ize

analys is, moment measures of mean, sort ing, skewness and kur tos is ,

def in i t ion of total organic carbon (T.O.C.) , to ta l n itrogen (T.N.) , co lour and

CaCO3 (%) were employed. Moreover , macro and microfossi ls were col lected

to reconstruct the depos i t ional environments. The palaeoenvironmental -

palaeoecological analyses indicated a c losed shal low shelf environment


140

(around 4000 to 2400 yr BP) that gradually tu rned into a leaky lagoon

(around 2400 yr BP to present) .

Refe rences

1 :Carro l l , M.L , Coc hrane, S . , F ie ler , R. , Ve l v i n , R. , W hi te , P . , 2003. Organ ic enr ichment o f

sed iments f rom sa lmon fa rm ing in Norway: env i ronmenta l fac tors , management p rac t ices ,

and moni to r ing techn iques . Aquacul tu re 226 , 165 -180pp.

2 :Schaanning, M.T. , 1994 . Dis t r ibu t ion o f sed iment p roper t i es in coas ta l a reas ad jacent to

f i sh farms and env i ronmenta l eva luat ion o f f i ve locat ions su rveyed in Oc tober 1993.

Norwegian Ins t i tu te for Water Research (NIVA) , Repor t No. O -93205, O -93062 , Os lo ,

Norway.


141

PLIOCENE- MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE PLANKTONIC

FORAMINIFERAL BIOSTRATIGRAPHY FROM CYPRUS

ISLAND (EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN)

Efthymios Tsiolakis1 , Stella Tsaila-Monopoli 2 , Assimina

Antonarakou3 , Maria Geraga 2 , George Ferentinos 2 , George

Theodorou3 ,George Kontakiotis3

1.Cyprus Geo log ica l Survey Depar tment , Le f konos, 1 , 1415, N icos ia , Cyprus

2 .Facu l ty o f Geo logy, Un ivers i t y o f Pa t ras , Panep is t im ioupo l i Pa t ron , Pa t ra 265 04,

Greece

3 .Facu l ty o f Geo logy & Geoenv i ronment , Nat iona l & Kapod is t r i an Un ivers i t y o f Athens,

Panep is t im iopo l is Zogra fou 157 84 Athens, Greece

A cont inuous Pl iocene to Middle Ple istocene record is provided by the study

of Essovouyes-Exovouyes sect ion and MP7 borehole f rom both s ides of the

Troodos Ophio l i te Complex, which dominates the centra l par t of the is land

and const i tutes the geological backbone of Cyprus. The 90 m th ick

Essovouyes-Exovouyes sect ion, which is located northeast of the Troodos

Mountain Range, on the southern margin of the Mesaor ia bas in, is cons is ted

of p ink ish and brown marls, brownish organic -r ich f inely laminated

sapropel i t ic layers a l ternat ing wi th grey homogeneous marls , ye l low to

brownish marls , ye l lowish sandy mar ls, marly sands and calcarenites. The

MP7 core borehole, which is located southwest of the Troodos Mountain

Range, in the town of Pafos, consis ts of 130 m th ick of greyish white marls ,

p ink ish mar ls, grey marls, grey and yel low sandy mar ls and calcarenites.

This h igh resolut ion study a l lowed us to recognise several Pl iocene to

Middle Ple istocene bioevents and to p rovide a deta i led d is tr ibut ion pat tern

of the recognised taxa. The qual i ta t ive and quant i tat ive analyses of the

p lanktonic foraminifera l assemblages revealed the presence of eighteen ( in

tota l) as tronomical ly dated p lanktonic foraminifera l b ioevents which were

used to constra in an age model through l inear in terpolat ion cover ing the

intervals 5.22-2 Ma and 5.33-0.899Ma for Essovouyes-Exovouyes and MP7

borehole respect ive ly.

In par t icu lar, in Essovouyes -Exovouyes were recognized 13 b ioevents: (1)

the top of the Sphaeroid inel lops is acme zone, (2) FCO (Firs t Common


142

Occurrence) of Globorotal ia margar i tae , (3) FO (F irs t Occurrence) of

Globorota l ia punct icu lata , (4) LCO (Last Common Occurrence) of

Globorota l ia margar i tae , (5) LO (Last Occurrence) of Globorota l ia

margar itae , (6) FO of Globorota l ia crassaformis , (7) d isappearance of

Globorota l ia punct icu lata , (8) reappearance of Globorota l ia crassaformis , (9)

reappearance of Globorotal ia punct icu lata/ Globorota l ia bononiens is , (10)

LO of Sphaeroidinel lops is , (11) CO (Common Occurrence) of

Neogloboquadr ina at lant ica at lant ica in the Mediterranean, (12) LO of

Globorota l ia bononiensis , (13) FO of Globorota l ia in f la ta . In MP7 borehole

were recognized 18 b ioevents : (1) one s in is tra l sh if t of N. acostaens is , (2)

the base and the top of the Sphaeroid inel lops is acme zone, (3) FCO of

Globorota l ia margar itae , (4) FO of Globorota l ia punct icu lata , (5) LCO of

Globorota l ia margar i tae , (6) LO of Globorotal ia margar i tae , (7) FO of

Globorota l ia crassaformis , (8) d isappearance of Globorotal ia punct icu lata ,

(9) reappearance of Globorota l ia crassaformis , (10) reappearance of

Globorota l ia punct icu lata/ Globorota l ia bononiens is , (11) LO of

Sphaeroid inel lops is , (12) CO of Neogloboquadr ina at lant ica at lant ica in the

Mediterranean, (13) LO of Globorota l ia bononiensis , (14) FO of Globorota l ia

inf lata , (15) FO of Globorota l ia truncatul inoides , (16) FCO of s in is tral

Neogloboquadr in ids , (17) the base and the top of the s in istra l

Neogloboquadr in ids paracme zone and (18) FCO of Globorota l ia

truncatu l inoides excelsa .

The wel l establ ished b iostrat igraphic f ramework contr ibutes to unravel the

paleoenvironmental evolut ion of the two studied areas dur ing Pl iocene to

Middle Ple is tocene.


143

CONTRIBUTION OF FOSSIL COLOR PATTERNS FOR THE

SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF TERTIARY TO RECENT

GASTROPODS FROM CRETE, GREECE

Christos Psarras 1*, Efterpi Koskeridou 1 , Didier Merle 2 , Asimina

Antonarakou1

1.Nat iona l & Kapod is t r ian Un ivers i t y o f Athens, Schoo l o f Ear th Sc ience, Facu l ty o f

Geo logy and Geoenv i r onment , Depa r tment o f H is tor ica l Geo logy - Pa leonto logy ,

Panep is t im iopo l is , Zogra fou, 15784, Greece

2 .Muséum Nat iona l d ’ H is to i re Na ture l l e , Dépar tement H i s to i r e de la Te r re , Cen t re de

Recherches sur la Pa léob iod ivers i té e t les Pa léoenv i ronnemen ts , Par is , F rance

Color pat terns of shel ls are well known characters that help us ident i f ying

spec ies for a lmost two hundred years and hence, this is a method to impr ove

the typological and t radit ional methods. Unfortunate ly, they are rare ly v is ib ly

preserved in foss i ls and therefore they are not part icular ly used as a

d iagnost ic feature in systemic descr ipt ions of foss i l mol luscs. In th is

research, we wi l l be us ing gastropods f rom Crete (Tortonian) and wi l l

compare them with recent representat ive spec ies of each genus, by

observing their co lor pat terns under u lt raviolet rays. This method, which

cons is ts a non-destruct ive treatment of samples ( impregnat ion in sodium

hypochlor i te) , is part icu lar ly usefu l in species that do not present many

d iagnost ic characters , as i t helps in uncover ing their co lor patterns, and

cons is ts a good example for an eas ier and more accurate d iscr iminat ion

between gastropod spec ies as wel l . Resu l ts f rom similar s tudies show that

th is technique is rel iable for the ident i f icat ion and d if ferent iat ion of spec ies.

This method can also be used for other research goals, such as est imat ing

phylogenies and evolut ion of spec ies over t ime.


144

DISENTANGLING PHYLOGENETIC FROM CLIMATIC

SIGNAL IN LEAF PHYSIOGNOMY AND IMPLICATIONS IN

PALEOCLIMATIC STUDIES

Mélanie Tanrattana 1*, Dario De Franceschi 1 , Anaïs Boura 1

1.UMR7207, CR2P, MNHN -CNRS-UPMC, Sorbonne -Un ivers i t és , CP38, 8 rue Bu f fon ,

75231 Par is Cedex 05, F rance

The re lat ionship between leaf phys iognomy and c l imate has been studied for

more than a century. Var ious methods have been developed by

paleobotanists to use leaf phys iognomy as a terrestr ia l paleoc l imat ic proxy.

Nearest L iv ing Relat ive methods are based on the ecological s imi lar i t y

between foss i ls and their c losest ex tant re lat ives. Phys iognomic leaf -based

cl imate reconstruct ion methods, for ins tance CLAMP or CLANN, are taxon -

f ree methods based on the under lying assumpt ion of an adapt ive

convergence of leaf tra i ts in a l l p lant famil ies, under the same cl imat ic

constraints. For example, the propor t ion of untoothed -margin spec ies and

leaf area are pos it ive ly correlated to mean annual temperature (MAT) and

annual prec ipi tat ions (MAP) respect ive ly. In pract ise, both types of methods

are used to reconstruct the paleoc l imate of a foss i l local i t y.

In the past decades, several s tudies have enl ightened the impact of

b iogeographic province on phys iognomy-c l imate re lat ionships and

phylogenet ic s ignal in leaf tra i ts, suggest ing a re lat ive importance of

evolut ionary h istory in the d is tr ibut ion of leaf tra its . Most s ignif icant

outcomes were s ignif icant phylogenet ic s ignals in some leaf characters for

several famil ies and greater uncer ta inty in predic t ions of c l imate af te r

phylogenet ic re lat ionships were taken into account . Therefore, fur ther work

is needed to assess the impact of phylogenet ic h is tory on leaf tra its

d istr ibut ions at a lower taxonomic level.

This study is the f irs t step of an on -going project , star ted in Oc tober 2016,

conducted on several genera in the Lauraceae and Fagaceae famil ies. We

star ted our invest igat ions us ing a taxa -based approach on the widely

d istr ibuted subtropical to tropical genus Cinnamomum (Lauraceae). Foss i l

leaves of Cinnamomum are qui te abundant in the Cenozoic foss i l record of

Europe and wel l known for their inter - and intra-spec if ic var iabi l i ty. However ,


145

studies on th is fossi l and extant tra i t var iabi l i t y and i ts l ink wi th phylogeny

and c l imate through geologic t imes are scarce. Thus, t he a ims of th is study

are (1) to evaluate the potent ia l phylogenet ic s ignal in leaf tra its in extant

Cinnamomum , us ing a phylogenet ic comparat ive analys is and (2) to confront

present-day leaf trai ts var iabi l i t y in Cinnamomum to the d ispar ity observed

in the foss i l record for fur ther comprehens ion of leaf phys iognomy evolut ion

of th is genus towards c l imate var iat ion dur ing the Cenozoic. Quant i tat ive

and qual i tat ive leaf t ra its of 33 spec ies were extracted us ing wor ldwide

d istr ibuted herbar ium spec imens and m orphometr ics methods. The expected

resul ts might corroborate and improve our interpretat ion of paleoc l imat ic

est imates obta ined wi th c lass ical methods for several Paleocene to Miocene

local i t ies where Cinnamomum are recorded (Menat, Sézanne, Célas and

Saint-Bauzi le) .


146

MIOCENE CLUPEIDAE FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN

AND PARATETHYS: A TAXONOMIC STUDY OF

SELECTED SPECIES

Charalampos Kevrekidis* 1 , 2 , Bettina Reichenbacher 1

1.Depar tment o f Ear th - and Env i ronmenta l Sc iences , Pa laeonto logy&Geob io logy, Ludw ig -

Max imi l i ans -Univers i tä tMünchen, R ichard -Wagner -St r . 10 , 80333, Mun ich , Germany

2.Pa leon to log ica l -H is tor i ca l Museum of Pto lemaida , 28 Oktovr iou 1 , 50200 Pto lema ida ,

Greece

Clupeidae (herr ing) f ishes form a substant ial par t of the Miocene

ichthyofaunas of Europe, but their taxonomy is poor ly invest igated. This is

par t ia l ly due to the lack of informat ion on the osteology of extant c lupeids,

as wel l as on their in ter - and intraspec if ic var iat ion. Here, a study of the

merist ics, morphology and body proport ions of se lected foss i l and extant

c lupeids is presented. Nine extant and 14 fossi l spec ies of c lupeids were

examined. The data were obtained through microscopic observat ions,

radiographs and d ig ita l images. Landmark -based measurements were taken

on X-rays (extant) or photos of the specimens ( fossi ls) . Pr inc ipal Component

Analys is and Cluster Analys is were used to analyze the data.

One new spec ies f rom the Miocene of Aidonochor i, N. Greece, is recognized

and des ignated here as Clupea sp. The reexaminat ion of e ight fossi l spec ies

conf irmed previous c la ims that most nominal spec ies are in need of revis ion,

espec ial ly those f rom the Central Paratethys. Only two of these spec ies

were val idated in our study; four have been reass igned to d i f ferent genera

or spec ies. Two other spec ies represent nomina dubia because of the lack of

d iagnost ic features, due to the bad s tate of preservat ion of their holotypes.

A c luster analysis of the foss i l and extant c lupeids based on seven mer ist ic

characters , fa i led to g ive monospec if ic groups for the foss i l spec ies, which

c lustered wi th each other rather than jo in ing their corresponding extant

re lat ives. Dif fer ing f rom the merist ic analys is, the results of the analys is of

re lat ive body propor t ions general ly agree wi th previous phylogenet ic

hypotheses for the extant c lupeids, but the foss i ls s t i l l most ly grouped

together . Some taxonomical ly usefu l qual i tat ive branchiocranial characters

were also introduced or reexamined, and the extant genera Clupea , Alosa ,


147

and Clupeonel la can be d ist inguished f rom each other us ing a combinat ion

of these features.

Current resul ts wi l l be ver i f ied by a more extens ive taxon sampling, but

a lready indicate that some Miocene spec ies of the genera Clupea , Alosa ,

and Clupeonel la f rom the Mediterranean and Paratethys Basins were more

s imilar to each other concerning body proport ions and meris t ics, than their

l iv ing re lat ives. W e conc lude that the ident i f icat ion of c lupeid genera can be

ef fect ive ly done in wel l preserved foss i l spec ime ns us ing a combinat ion of

morphological characters, morphometr ic and merist ic features.


148

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF IRATI (BRAZIL) AND

NAUJOJI AKMENĖ (LITHUANIA) FORMATIONS

(PERMIAN) ACCORDING TO THE ICHTHYOFAUNAL

ASSEMBLAGES

Darja Dankina 1* , Andrej Spiridonov1 , Sigitas Radzevič ius1 , Artur

Chahud2

1.Depar tment o f Geo logy and M inera logy , V i ln ius Un ivers i t y , M. K . Č iur l i on io 21 / 27,

LT03101, V i ln ius , L i t huan ia

2 .Pos t -doctora l resea rche r . Depar tamento de Geo log ia Sed imen tar e Amb ienta l . Ins t i tu to

de Geoc iênc ias - USP. R . do Lag o 562, CEP 05508 -080, Sao Pau lo

Dur ing the late Paleozoic, the rapid ly subs id ing (g iant salt deposi ts)

Zechste in Bas in was located wi thin the lat i tudinal bel t 20 -30º N in the center

of the Pangea supercont inent (Weissf log et a l. , 2008). Based on the mater ia l

f rom the Karpėnai quarry (nor thern L i thuania), the l i tho strat igraphic units of

the Naujoj i Akmenė Formation should be relat ive ly complete. They cons is t of

a lower micr i t ic l imestone, a middle prox imal tempest i te and an upper

dolomite l imestone (Raczynsk i et a l. , 2014) .

The int racratonic Paraná Bas in was par t of Gondwana in the Southern

Hemisphere. The Irat i Format ion (Passa Dois Group, Cisural ian) is d iv ided

into the lower Taquaral Member, compr is ing sandstones, s i l ts tones and

mudstones wi th d ivers if ied ic thyofauna (Chahud et a l . , 2015), and the upper

Assistência Member , formed by organic -r ich mudstones and shales

interbedded wi th l imestones (packstones, wackestones) and poor

ic thyofauna.

The most famous foss i ls of the Irat i Format ion are the Mesosaur idae of the

Assistência Member which is character ized by an exc el lent ly preserved

fauna, wi th complete spec imens. The depos its of th is Member are

interpreted as anox ic or hypersal ine paleoenvironments wi th a low var iety of

f ishes which are usually represented by scales of Oste ichthyes and the

occurrences of the Chondr ichthyan, Xenacanthus pr ice i. Al l f ragi le f ish

f ragments (dermal dent ic les or del icate scales) which were transpor ted to

the bas in by r ivers consequently were not preserved in the Irat i Format ion.

This character ist ic d i f fers f rom the carbonates of the Naujoj i Akmenė


149

Format ion which have wel l preserved autochthonous remains as scales and

teeth f rom an ext inc t Paleonisc iformes order and dermal dent ic les f rom the

Euselachi i cohort .

The a im of th is work is to explore the mar ine b iodivers ity t rends through the

Permian us ing the comparat ive analys is of taphonomy and preservat ion. W e

have used data of marine genera f rom the recent ly explored s ites .

The obtained resul ts have provided us the improved record of the

ichthyofaunal assemblages in both regions. This s tudy wi l l inc rease our

understanding of the evolut ion, palaeoecology and palaeogeographic

d istr ibut ion of f ishes dur ing the Permian.

References

1:Chahud, A. , Petr i , S. , 2015. Geology and Taphonomy f rom the Base of the

Taquara l Member, I ra t i Format ion (Permian, Paraná Bas in) , Brazi l . Acta Geologica

Polonica 65(3) : 379-387.

2 :Raczynsk i , P. , Biernacka, J . , 2014. Zechste in in L i thuania -Latvia Border Region .

Geologi ja 2(86) : 57 -62.

3 :W eissf log, L . , Elansky, N. F. , Kot te , K . , Keppler , F. , Pfennigsdorf f , A. , Lange, C.

A. , Putz, E. , L is i tsyna , L . V. , 2008. Late Permian Changes in Condi t ions of the

Atmosphere and Envi ronments Caused by Halogenated Gases. Dok lady Earth

Sc iences 425(1) : 291 -295.


150

INVESTIGATION OF THE MIDDLE MIOCENE

MEDITERRANEAN ICHTHYOFAUNA AND

PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL REPRESENTATIONS ON

CYPRUS ISLAND (ALASSA, LEMESOS)

Aggelos Agathaggelou 1 , Konstantina Agiadi 2 , Spyros

Sfenthourakis1 , George Il iopoulos3

1.Depar tment o f B io log ica l Sc iences, Un ivers i t y o f Cyprus, Labora tory o f Eco logy and

Biod ive rs i ty , Panep is t im iou 1 , 2109 Ag lantz ia , N icos ia , Cyprus

2 .Facu l ty o f Geo logy and Geoenv i romen t , Nat iona l and Kapod is t r ian Un ivers i t y o f A thens ,

Depar tment o f H is tor i ca l Geo logy and Pa leon to logy , Panep is t im ioupo l i s Zogra fou , 15784,

Athens, Greece

3 .Depar tment o f Geo logy, Un ivers i t y o f Pa t ras , Labora tor y o f Pa laeon to logy and

St ra t ig raphy , 26500, Pat ras , Greece

The f ish otol ith assemblages identif ied in the Serravall ian sediments of

Alassa sect ion (Limassol, Cyprus) were analyzed in order to def ine the

paleoenviromental condit ions in the study area dur ing the Serraval l ian

age.

5 samples, weighting approximately 30 Kg each, were col lected along

the Alassa sect ion. Al l sediment samples were di luted in tap water

overnight, and were sieved through 250 μm diameter mesh sieve,

while the otol iths and foraminifera were handpicked under a

stereoscope. The palaeobathymetric est imation method of Nolf &

Brzobohaty (1994) was appl ied and the assemblages were further

analyzed palaeoecological ly on the basis of present -day ecological

information of the identif ied taxa. To reinforce palaeobathymetric

est imat ion, a micropalaeontological analysis was employed, based on

the col lected foraminifera. More specif ically, the oceanity index

(Gibson 1989) was used to def ine palaeodepth. The 426 studie d otol ith

specimens (sample 1) belong to the following 9 taxa: A)

Myctophiformes: Diaphus befralai Brzobohaty and Nolf , 2000, Diaphus

cavallonis Brzobohaty and Nolf , 2000, Ceratoscopelus maderensis


151

(Lowe, 1839), Benthosema suborbitale (Gilbert, 1913), Myctophum cf .

f i tchi Schwarzhans, 1979, Diaphus sp.1 and Diaphus sp.2. B)

Gadiformes: Bregmaceros sp. Tompson, 1840, C) Stomiiformes:

Phosichthyidae.

From the strat igraphic range of the accompanied Foraminifera the age

of the studied sample is est imated as Lower to Middle Serraval l ian.

The f ish assemblages consist mainly of pelagic and mesopelagic taxa,

thus can be considered typical of a continental s lope environment of

depths >500 m. Bregmaceros sp. is the most abundant species in

Alassa. The existence of such tropical species, not found in the

Mediterranean today, indicates a warmer climate during the Middle

Miocene in the eastern Mediterranean.


152

STUDY OF CRICETODON (RODENTIA, MAMMALIA) FROM

THE EARLY MIOCENE LOCALITY OF KARYDIA

(RHODOPE, NORTH GREECE)

Panagiotis Skandalos1*

1.Nat iona l Kapod is t r ian Un ivers i t y o f Athens, Facu l ty o f Geo logy and Geoenv i r onment ,

Panep is t im iopo l is , 15784 Athens, Greece

Two of the r ichest MN4 assemblages wi th small mammals in Greece come

f rom the local i t ies of Karydia (Nor th Greece) and Al iver i (Evia is land). Both

geographical areas include taxa dat ing f rom the Lower Miocene, assoc iated

wi th humid condit ions. One of the c ommon genera in these local i t ies is the

rodent Cricetodon . This genus is represented in Al iver i local i t y by

Cricetodon a l iver iensis . However , the same species was ment ioned in

Karydia, but was never conf irmed. This s tudy inc ludes the results of the

analys is of the Cricetodon mater ia l f rom both local i t ies . A deta i led

descr ipt ion of the morphology and numerous stat is t ica l methods were

appl ied and conf irmed that the Cricetodon mater ia l f rom the three

fossi l i ferous local i t ies, Karydia 1, Karydia 2 and Karydia 3 , is the same. As a

resul t , they have been merged as one (Karydia) . Moreover, the compar ison

of the Cricetodon f rom Karydia and Al iver i conf irms the presence of C .

a l iver iens is in the f irst local i t y. Fur thermore, the same spec ies in Al iver i

appears to be smaller and more “pr imit ive” than in Karydia.


153

PALEOBIOGEOGRAPHY OF THE LATEST MIOCENE

RHINOCEROTIDAE FROM THE BALKANO-IRANIAN

BIOPROVINCE

Luca Pandolfi1 ,2 , Tassos Kotsakis 1

1.Dipar t imen to d i Sc ienze, sez ione d i Geo log ia , Un ivers i tà deg l i s tud i Roma Tre , Largo S.

L . Mur ia ldo , 1 , I – 00146 Roma, I ta ly

2 .Dipar t imen to d i Stor ia , Pat r imon io cu l t u ra le , Fo rmaz ione e Soc ie tà , Un ivers i tà deg l i

s tud i d i Roma “Tor Verga ta” , V ia Co lumbia , 1 , I –00133 Roma, I t a l y

The Late Miocene (Turol ian) Balkano-I ranian (or Greco- Iranian) b ioprovince

roughly corresponds to the recent Balkans, Turkey, Iran and Afghanis tan. I t

was cons idered an ecological area character ised by a par t icu lar savanna -

type large mammal community (Solounias et a l. , 1999; Kostopoulos, 2009) .

Nevertheless, dur ing most of the Turol ian age, Anato l ia and Southeastern

Europe appear to have had d if ferent environmental condi t ions (Kostopoulos ,

2009). Since the 19 t h century, the taxa col lected f rom the Balkano - Iranian

area have been s tudied in several contr ibut ions and the family

Rhinocerot idae is par t icular ly wel l -documented. The goal of th is research is

to provide new cons iderat ions and an update overview on the

palaeobiogeography o f the Balkano- Iranian rh inocerot ids . Two subfamil ies,

Elasmother i inae and Rhinocerot inae, are documented, wi th at least seven

genera. Elasmother i inae are represented by remains of the large -s ized

grazer I ranother ium morgani in the Iranian Late Miocene faunas, but the

spec ies is absent in the Southeastern European assemblages. This spec ies

a lso occurs in the latest ear ly Val les ian - late Val lesian faunal assemblages

of L inx ia Bas in (Western China) . Concerning Rhinocerot inae, the ear l ies t

occur rence of Ceratother ium neumayr i is repor ted f rom the ear ly Val les ian of

Anato l ia (Turkey) . The spec ies also occurs in the middle and late Turol ian of

Samos and Pikermi (Greece) , in the Maragheh fauna complex ( lower and

middle Maragheh; I ran), in several local i t ies of Anato l ia, Bulgar ia and also in

Caucasus. The westernmost boundary of the C. neumayri d istr ibut ion is

usual ly p laced in the Balkan Peninsula. However, the rh inocerot id mater ia l

f rom Gravite l l i (Sic i ly, I ta ly) seems to be morphological ly c lose to th is

spec ies. The genus Dihoplus is represented by the spec ies D. p ikermiens is

in the Balkan Peninsula and Anatol ia. The acerathere rh inocerot ines (sensu

Anto ine et a l. , 2003) are represented by at least three genera:


154

Pers iather ium , Acerorhinus and Chi lother ium . Persiather ium is current l y

documented at Kopran ( Iran) and in the Turk ish Thrace (European Turkey);

i ts c losest relat ive is P. huadeens is f rom the late Turol ian of Inner Mongol ia

(China). The most abundant and d ivers if ied rh inocerot id is the acerat here

Chi lother ium , which occurred in several local i t ies of Iran, Anato l ian, Greece

and Bulgar ia wi th d if ferent spec ies, e.g. , C. pers iae , C. samium , C.

schlosser i (= C. kowalevsk i i ) , C. k i l ias i (= C. samium?) . A pr imit ive

chi lo there, cf . Chi lother ium sp., is documented at around 10 Ma BP in

Anato l ia. The genus Acerorhinus is reported in Anato l ia , Bulgar ia and

Macedonia. The spec ies A. neleus has recent ly been descr ibed f rom some

Greek local i t ies . The latest representat ives of the genus Brachypother ium in

Europe are repor ted f rom Bulgar ia (Geraads & Spassov, 2009) .

References

1:Anto ine, P. -O. , Duran thon, F. , W elcomme, J . -L . , 2003. Al icornops (Mammal ia ,

Rhinocerot idae) dans le Miocène supér ieur des Col l ines Bugt i (Balouchis tan,

Pak is tan) : impl icat ions phylogénét iques. Geodivers i tas 25 (3) : 575-603.

2 :Geraads, D. , Spassov, N. , 2009. Rhinocerot idae (Mammal ia) f rom the Late

Miocene of Bulgar ia . Palaeontographica Ab te i lung A 287: 99 -122.

3 :Kostopoulos, D.S. , 2009. The Pikermian Event : Tempora l and spat ia l resolut ion

of the Turo l ian large mammal fauna in SE Europe. Palaeogeography,

Palaeoc l imato logy, Palaeoecology 274: 82 -95.

4 :Solounias, N. , Plavcan, J .M. , Quade, J . , W i tmer, L . , 1999. The paleoecology of

the Pikermian Biome and the savanna myth. In : Agust i , J . , Rook, L . , Andrews, P.

(Eds.) , Hominoid Evolut ion and Cl imat ic Change in Europe. Volume I , The Evolut ion

of Neogene Terrest r ia l Ecosystems in Europe. Cambr idge Univers i ty Press,

Cambr idge, pp. 436–453.


155

CANIS (MAMMALIA, CANIDAE) FROM THE HOLOCENE

DEPOSITS OF GROTTA LA SASSA (LATINA, CENTRAL

ITALY)

Marco Merella 1* , Tassos Kotsakis 1 , Mario Federico Rolfo 2 , Luca

Pandolfi1 ,2

1.D ipar t imen to d i Sc ienze, sez ione d i Geo log ia , Un ivers i tà deg l i s tud i Roma Tre , Largo S.

L. Mur ia ldo , 1 , I – 00146 Roma, I ta ly


s tud i d i Roma “Tor Verga ta” , V ia Co lumbia , 1 , I –00133 Roma, I t a l y

In this paper , several remains of Canis f rom the Holocene depos its of Grotta

la Sassa (Sonnino, Lat ina) are invest igated. The foss i l i ferous local i t y is

character ised by several strat igraphic layers chronological ly referred to

d if ferent ages: Eneol i th ic Age (5200 – 4200 yr BP) , Bronze Age (4200 –

3000 yr BP) and His tor ical t imes (Pre Roman/Roman per iod – 0 yr BP). This

pre l im inary s tudy inc ludes 12 P 4 and 13 M1 of Canis , helpfu l for the purpose

of th is research. The post -crania l remains of La Sassa are not inc luded here

because they wi l l be objec t of future and more e laborate s tudies. The

cons idered spec imens were morphological ly and morphometr ica l ly compared

wi th several remains belonging to Canis lupus and Canis fami l iar is and

col lec ted f rom dif ferent la test Ple is tocene and Holocene local i t ies o f I ta ly.

Concerning the morphology , the s tudied specimens d isplay features of both

C. lupus and C. fami l iar is : as an example a l l the dentary cusps indeed

present the same characters . A tradi t ional morphometr ic analys is suggests

the presence of two spec ies at Grotta La Sassa. Three M 1 co l lec ted f rom an

undef ined layer , were ass igned to C. lupus . Compared wi th la te Ple istocene

spec imens, the teeth of wolf f rom Grotta la Sassa are s l ight ly smaller and

their values fa l l wi th in the d imensional range of the extan t C. lupus i ta l icus.

The other remains, 2 M 1 f rom the Eneol i th ic Age, 2 P 4 and 3 M 1 f rom the

Bronze Age and 10 P 4 and 5 M1 f rom His tor ical t imes, were ass igned to C.

fami l iar is . Fur ther morphometr ic analyses have been performed on several

C. fami l iar is carnass ial teeth f rom dif ferent I ta l ian Holocene local i t ies ,

including Grotta la Sassa. The results revealed that the carnassial range

d imensions were wider dur ing the Neo – Eneol i th ic Age than dur ing the

Bronze and I ron Ages. In addi t ion, dur ing the Bronze Age the carnassia l


156

dimensions were s l ight ly smal ler than dur ing the I ron Age (see a lso De

Gross i Mazzor in & Tagl iacozzo, 2000).

References

1 :De Gross i Mazzor in , J . , Tagl iacozzo, A. , 2000. Morphologica l and osteolog ica l

changes in the dog f rom the Neol i th ic to the Roman per iod in I ta ly . In : Crockford

S.J . (ed.) , Dogs th rough Time: An Archaeologica l Perspect i ve. Archaeopress,

Oxford: 141-161.


157

URSUS ARCTOS (URSIDAE, MAMMALIA) FROM THE

LATEST PLEISTOCENE OF GROTTA LA SASSA (LATINA,

CENTRAL ITALY)

Roberta Martino¹ * , Tassos Kotsakis¹, Mario Federico Rolfo², Luca

Pandolfi¹ ,²

1.Dipar t imen to d i Sc ienze , sez ione d i Geo log ia , Un ivers i tà deg l i s tud i d i Roma Tre , Largo

S. L . Mur ia ldo 1 , I -00146, Roma, I ta l i a .


s tud i d i Roma ‘To r Vergata ’ , V ia Co lumb ia 1 , I -00133 Roma, I ta l ia .

In th is work the morphological and morphomet r ical characters of denta l and

postcrania l urs id remains f rom Grot ta La Sassa (Sonnino, Lat ina) are

invest igated. The mater ia l inc ludes 5 lower teeth (a P 4 , two M1 , two M2) , 2

upper teeth (a P⁴, a M¹), an astragalus and a humerus. These spec imens

were col lec ted f rom a latest Ple is tocene depos it and were chronological ly

dated at around 30 ka BP. The s tudied foss i ls were compared wi th remains

of the Ple is tocene and extant European bears ( U. spelaeus , late Ple istocene

U. arctos ssp and the extant U. arctos marsicanus ) . The morphology of the

denta l remains can be ass imilated to U. arc tos ssp. and U. arc tos

marsicanus .The teeth d if fer f rom U. spelaeus by lack ing accessory cusps

and by being smaller . The humerus d isplays morphological features that are

usual ly recognised in U. arc tos , such as not prominent humeral and del to id

crests . The morphometr ic values of the s tudied humerus fa l l wi thin the

d imensional ranges of U. arctos . The astragalus f rom Grotta La Sassa is

morphological ly c loser to U. arc tos and dif fe rs f rom U. spelaeus by having a

less deep groove between the two poster ior ar t icu lar surfaces for the

calcaneus and a wider la tera l ar t icu lar surface for the calcaneus. W ith

respect to the morphometr ic analys is on the humerus, the d imensions of the

astragalus are not useful to d iscr iminate between U. arc tos and U. spelaeus .

The morphological and morphometr ic studies of the urs id mater ia l f rom

Grot ta La Sassa, enabled to ascr ibe the col lec ted spec imens to U. arctos

ssp. The d iscovery of these remains adds an important knowledge about the

past d is tr ibut ion of th is taxon in I ta ly. Indeed, remains of this spec ies are

re lat ive ly poor ly known dur ing the late Ple istocene in the I ta l ian Peninsula


158

and potent ial ly can contr ibute to the invest igat ions on the or ig in of the

extant I ta l ian U. arctos mars icanus .


159

THE ELBOW OF MESOPITHECUS PENTELICUS

(COLOBINAE: PRIMATES) FROM PIKERMI, ATTICA,

GREECE: A MORPHOMETRIC APPROACH

Margarita Dagla 1* , Dionisios Youlatos 2

1. Independent researcher

2 .Ar i s to t l e Un ivers i ty o f Thessa lon ik i , Schoo l o f B io logy , Depar tmen t o f Zoo logy , GR -

54124 Thessa lon ik i , Greece

Forel imb morphology has a lways been a good indicator of substrate

preferences among pr imate taxa. Furthermore, the e lbow jo int is part icu lar ly

impor tant in s tudying locomotor adaptat ions as i t is d irect ly l inked to

fore l imb posture in d i f ferent modes on va r ious substrates. In th is context,

we s tudied the elbow jo int of the foss i l co lobine Mesopithecus pente l icus

f rom the c lass ic middle Turol ian (MN12) local i t y of Pikermi (Att ica, Greece).

We attempted a morphometr ic analysis of se lected l inear measurements on

the d ista l humerus and prox imal u lna. In th is study, 15 humeral and 8 u lnar

measurements were cons idered v ia standardizat ion and log transformation

for M. pentel icus as wel l as for 11 Afr ican and As ian colobine extant

spec ies. A ser ies of one-way ANOVAs was compl imented wi th a Discr iminant

Funct ion Analys is (DFA). Our uni - and mult ivar iate analyses indicate that

several e lbow features of M. pente l icus are morphofunct ional ly s imilar to

those of ex tant arboreal - terrestr ia l or semi- terrestr ia l spec ies, suggest ing

analogous fore l imb postures for th is ear ly colobine foss i l .


160

TOOTH MORPHOLOGY, MOLAR ENAMEL THICKNESS

AND DENTAL MICROWEAR TEXTURAL ANALYSIS WITH

APPLICATION ON EUROPEAN

PARADOLICHOPITHECUS/PROCYNOCEPHALUS AND

COMPARISONS WITH PLEISTOCENE PAPIONINS

C.A. Plastiras 1* , D.S. Kostopoulos 1 and G. Merceron 2

1.Ar i s to t l e Un ivers i ty o f Thessa lon ik i , Schoo l o f Geo logy, 54124 Thessa lon ik i

2 . iPHEP UMR 7262 CNRS INEE, Un ivers i ty o f Po i t ie r s , Facu l té des Sc iences, I ns t i t u te

Pa léopr imato log ie , Pa léon to log ie Humaine: Evo lu t ion e t Pa léoenv i ronnemen ts

In th is study, we explore the feeding ecology of the recently unear thed

cranium of the foss i l pr imate genus Procynocephalus f rom the Ear ly

Ple is tocene s i te of Dafnero, Nor thern Greece. To succeed that we compare

denta l microwear tex tura l analysis data f rom the Greek spec imen, us ing

confocal microscopy, in compar ison with a set of foss i l Papio spec imens and

a lso extant pr imates wi th known dietary d i f ferences ( Papio cynocephalus

n=27, Papio urs inus n=12, Theropithecus gelada n=12, Semnopithecus

entel lus n=8, Gor i l la ber ingei n=16, Macaca fasc icular is n=20) . To explore

the dietary capabi l i t ies of Procynocephalus f rom Dafnero 3 we measure 2D

and 3D enamel th ickness (us ing CT scan imaging) and two indices: m olar

f lare index (MF ) and dentine f lare index ( DFI) , in comparison wi th modern

Papio and three d ietary groups of hominoids. Addit ional ly, to explore the

feeding ecology of a set of foss i l Papio f rom Omo val ley, Afr ica we compare

the var iat ion of complex ity (Asfc) and anisotropy (epLsar) var iables,

focus ing our ef for ts on contemporaneous assemblages wi th the foss i l f rom

Greece. Results indicate that the microwear tex ture f rom Dafnero 3

spec imen dif fers f rom the extant fo l ivorous pr imates compared and ins tead

resemble more c losely the hard object feeders/omnivorous pr imates. Resul ts

of the enamel th ickness combined with data f rom the two indices that

descr ibe the morphology of the molars (MF and DFI) , ind icate that

Procynocephalus f rom Dafnero 3 was capable of consuming hard food

objects and may have played an impor tant par t of i ts d iet depending on

spat ia l and seasonal avai labi l i t y. The denta l microwear texture

character is t ics of Procynocephalus f rom Dafnero 3 and the foss i l Papio f rom

Omo val ley, suppor ts the hypothes is of the expans ion of grass lands at Ear ly


161

Pleis tocene and h ighl ight a trend towards more open environments between

2.36 and 1.9 Ma.


162

PALAEOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY OF HUMAN SKELETAL

REMAINS OF ANCIENT POPULATIONS FROM LEFKAS

AND NAFPAKTOS, IN WESTERN GREECE

Efthymia Tsitsou 1 , Vivian Staikou 2 , Efi Saranti 2 , George Il iopoulos1

1.Pa laeonto logy and St ra t i g raphy Lab , Un ivers i ty o f Pa t ras , 26504, R io , Greece.

2 .A i to loakarnan ia and Lefkada Ephora te o f An t iqu i t ies , Ag ios Athanas ios 4 , Naupaktos

30200, Greece

The study mater ia l belongs to two d if ferent palaeoanthropological

osteological co l lect ions f rom two s ignif icant anc ient great cemeter ies in

Southwestern Greece. The f irst one, cons ists the largest part of the

mater ia l , comes f rom the nor th cemetery of Lefkas and dates back to the

Class ical and Hel lenist ic Per iods (5th – 2nd century BC). The second

col lec t ion comes f rom the west cemetery of Nafpaktos, f rom which the

Class ical per iod (at about 5th century BC) “Tomb I” was examined in th is

study. This s tudy inc luded deta i led macroscopic observat ions of each bone

of the skeleta l mater ia l, that was of ten achieved us ing v isual a ids such as

low magnif icat ion (10x) magnif ying lences, photographic documentat ion of

character is t ic spec imens, recording, process ing a nd analyzing the col lected

data. Thus var ious bone manifested d iseases (skeletal pathologies) ,

injur ies/f rac tures, denta l hygiene, and cases of malnutr i t ion and general ly

bad nutr i t ion were examined. There were l im itat ions at the examinat ion of

some bone categor ies , such us ver tebrae or phalanges f rom the mater ia l of

Nafpaktos due to the fact that i t inc ludes bur ials consis t ing of several

ind iv iduals making the separat ion and matching of such bones to a certa in

indiv idual imposs ib le. For th is reason, some d iseases, l ike spondyloar thr i t is

were not cons idered for th is study. Also, some specimens f rom both

cemeter ies present taphonomical damages that do not a l low their proper

examinat ion. The research wi l l involve some case s tudies of uncommon

populat ion d iseases and wi l l be cont inued inc luding stat is t ica l analys is

a iming in drawing conclusions regarding the percentage of occurrence of the

common found d iseases and general ly to draw conc lus ions concerning the

health of both populat ions, cons ider ing as wel l the t aphonomic ef fects and

other l im itat ions. Herein, we wi l l present some of the most severe cases of

common diseases that have been ident i f ied across the osteological mater ia l

accompanied by character ist ic spec imens. One of the most common and


163

f requent pathologies that has been ident i f ied in the studied mater ia l,

af fect ing a s ignif icant propor t ion of the populat ion, is os teoarthr i t is . Other

common diseases that have occurred are denta l diseases, such as denta l

car ies , denta l ca lculus and enamel hypoplas ia, ske leta l trauma such as

f ractures, infect ious manifes tat ions l ike per ios t i t is , c ibra orb ita l ia and

congeni ta l anomal ies l ike sacral izat ion.


164

PARTICIPANTS


165

A

Agathaggelou Aggelos: [email protected], Univers ity of Cyprus,

Cyprus

Andritsanos, Vassil is: da.bi l l is55@gmai l.com , Universi ty of Patras,

Greece

Androulidaki , Paraskevi-Danae: danae.bio logia@gmai l.com , Univers ity of

Patras, Greece

Arkadianou, Maria: mairyboo@windowsl ive.com , Univers i ty of Patras,

Greece

Arp, Trine: t r [email protected] , Natural History Museum of Denmark,

Denmark

B

Bairaktari, Asimina: minauko@hotmai l .com , Univers ity of Patras, Greece

Besiou, Evaggelia: wwweua@hotmai l .com , Nat ional & Kapodistr ian

Univers ity of Athens, Greece

Blanco, Fernando: fb lancosegovia@gmai l .com , Complutense Universi ty of

Madr id, Spain

C

Clarac, François: f rancois.c [email protected] r , Univers ity Pier re and Mar ie

Cur ie, France

Cousin, Gui ll iaume: guil laume.cous [email protected] r , National Museum of

Natura l History, France

mailto:[email protected]











166

D

Dagla, Margarita: margar i tadagla@hotmai l .com , Ar is tot le Univers ity of

Thessalonik i , Greece

Daioglou, Konstantinos: [email protected] , National & Kapodistr ian


Dankina, Darja: dar ja.dank ina@gmai l .com , Department of Geology

and Mineralogy, L i thuania

Del Rio, Cédric: cedr ic.del-r [email protected] r , Nat ional Museum of Natura l

His tory, France

Diamantis, Konstantinos: [email protected] , Univers ity of

Patras, Greece

Džinić, Bojana: bojana.dzin ic@rgf .bg.ac.rs , Univers ity of Belgrade, Serbia

F

Fitros, Michalis: michalis . f i t ros92@gmai l.com , Universi ty of Patras, Greece

G

Georgopoulos, Athanasios: thanos.georgop@gmai l.com , Univers ity of

Birmingham, UK

Gkaniatsa, Georgia: gorgiagkan@gmai l.com ,National & Kapodistr ian


Gkeme, Anastasia: [email protected] , Ar is tot le Univers ity of


Gut, Carolin: [email protected] , Ludwig-Maximi l ians-Univers ity Munich,

Germany













167

I

I l iopoulos, George: i l [email protected] , Univers i ty of Patras, Greece

J

Jovanović, Mihai lo: mica.rex@gmai l .com , Univers i ty of Belgrade, Serbia

K

Kantzaris, Vassil is: vas ikantz@hotmai l .com , Univers ity of Patras, Greece

Kapiotas, Evangelos: Univers i ty of Patras, Greece

Karagiannis, Ioannis: giankaskar@gmai l.com , Universi ty of Patras, Greece

Karakosta, Evangelia : Univers i ty of Patras, Greece

Karanika, Konstant ina : kostant inapat@gmail .com , Univers i ty of Patras,

Greece

Katral i , Eva: ekatra l i@gmai l.com , Univers i ty of Patras, Greece

Kevrekidis, Charalambos: xaralamboskevrek id [email protected] , Ludwig-

Maximi l ians-Univers ity Munich, Germany

Kokotini, Marianna: k_marianna@hotmai l .com , Univers i ty of Patras, Greece

Kolendrianou, Maria: kolendr ianou.mar ia@gmai l.com , Univers i ty of Patras,

Greece

Konstantinopoulos, Iasonas: mrjaaason@gmai l.com , Univers ity of Patras,

Greece

Konstantopoulou, Maria-Vasi l iki: _mariava_@windowsl ive.com , Univers ity

of Patras, Greece













168

Kontou, Danai: danaekontou@gmai l.com , Univers i ty of Patras, Greece

Kostis, Andreas: [email protected] , National & Kapodis tr ian Universi ty

of Athens, Greece

Kotsimpou, Evangel ia: geo10059@gmail .com , Univers i ty of Patras, Greece

Koutsodendris, Andreas: andreas.koutsodendr [email protected] -heidelberg.de

,Heidelberg Univers i ty, Germany

Kucharska, Małgorzata: [email protected] l , Inst i tu te of Oceanology of

Pol ish Academy of Sc iences, Poland

Kujawa, Agnieszka: [email protected] , Inst i tute of Oceanology of Pol ish

Academy of Sc iences, Poland

Kynigopoulou, Zoi: [email protected] , Ar istot le Univers ity of


Kyriakouli , Christ ina: chrkyr iakoul i@gmail .com , Univers ity of Crete,

Greece

L

Łącka, Magdalena: [email protected] l , Inst i tu te of Oceanology of Pol ish


Lal lensack, Jens: jens. la l [email protected] , Univers i ty of Bonn,

Germany

Liapi , Eleni: eleni . l ia .2093@gmail .com , Univers ity of Patras, Greece

Linares Ruiz Manuel: lo lo_fos i ls_93@hotmail .com , Complutense Univers it y

of Madr id, Spain

Louvari Markella Asimina: [email protected] , National &

Kapodistr ian Universi ty of Athens, Greece















169

Lyras, George: [email protected] , Nat ional and Kapodis tr ian Univers ity of

Athens, Greece

M

Maniakas, Ioannis: [email protected] , Ar istot le Univers ity of


Martino, Roberta: roberta.aska@gmai l.com , Univers i ty of Roma Tre, I ta ly

Martín -Perea, David: [email protected] , Complutense Univers ity of

Madr id, Spain

Matsouka Maria: maria.ma29@hotmai l .com , Univers i ty of Patras, Greece

Menéndez González Iris: i r [email protected] , Complutense Universi ty of

Madr id, Spain

Merel la Marco: marcomerel la1994@gmai l .com , Universi ty of Roma Tre, I ta ly

Michai l Sotiris: sot ir ismichai l@out look.com , Univers i ty of Patras, Greece

Moforis Leonidas: leomof@geol .uoa.gr , Nat ional and Kapodistr ian


N

Nedelkos Vagios: Univers ity of Patras, Greece

O

Olivier, Chloé: ch loe.o l iv [email protected] r , Natural Museum of Natura l His tory,

France












170

Oskay, Rıza Görkem: [email protected] , Hacettepe Univers ity, Turkey

P

Pandolfi , Luca: luca.pandolf i@uniroma3. it , Univers ity of Roma Tre, Greece

Papadopoulou, Penelope: [email protected] , Univers ity of

Patras, Greece

Papaioannou, Dimitra: geo13124@upnet .gr , Univers i ty of Patras, Greece

Pappa, I rena: i rpappa89@gmai l .com , University of Patras, Greece

Pawłowska, Joanna: [email protected] , Ins t i tute of Oceanology of Pol ish


Plastiras, Chris Alexander: Ar is tot le University of Thessalonik i, Greece

Protopapas, Dimitris: dimitr is -protopapas@hotmai l .com , Univers ity of

Patras, Greece

Psarras, Christos: xpsarras@gmai l.com , Nat ional and Kapodistr ian


R

Rabota, Evi: evi.rabota@hotmai l .com , University of Patras, Greece

Redoumi, Evangelia: l ia .redoumi@gmai l .com , Universi ty of Patras, Greece

Robin, Ninon: ninonrobin@neuf .f r , Nat ional Museum of Natura l His tory,

France

Rodogiannis, Spyridon: Univers ity of Patras, Greece

Ruiz-Galván, Adrián: [email protected] , Complutense Univers ity of Madr id,

Spain














171

S

Sianis, Panagiot is: panos_s [email protected] , Univers ity of Patras, Greece

Skandalos, Panagiot is: pskaldalos@geol .uoa.gr , Nat ional and Kapodistr ian


Smirl is, Nikolas: [email protected] , Univers ity of Patras, Greece

Spiropoulos, Spiros: spysyrop@gmai l.com , Univers ity of Patras, Greece

Szymańska, Natal ia: natal [email protected] l , Ins t i tute of Oceanology of

Pol ish Academy of Sc iences, Poland

T

Tanrattana, Mélanie: [email protected] r , Nat ional Museum of

Natura l History, France

Telesiński , Maciej: mteles insk [email protected] , Ins t i tute of Oceanology of Pol ish


Teschner, Elzbieta: [email protected] l , Opole Univers i ty, Poland

Thivaiou, Danae: dthivaiou@geol .uoa.gr , Nat ional and Kapodistr ian


Tsitsou, Efthymia: ef . ts i ts@gmai l.com , Univers ity of Patras, Greece

Tsiolakis Efthymios: ets io lak i [email protected] .cy , Geo log ica l Survey Depar tmen t ,

Cyprus

Tsoni, Maria: tsoni.mar ia@hotmai l .com , Univers ity of Patras, Greece














172

Tuncer, Alaett in: alaett [email protected] , Hacet tepe Univers ity,

Turkey

Tunoğlu, Cemal: tunay@hacet tepe.edu. tr , Hacettepe Univers ity, Turkey

V

Valavani, Dimitra Evdoxia: d imeuval@gmail .com , Univers ity of Patras ,

Greece

Voulgari , Natalia: natal ia .voulgar i@gmai l.com , Universi ty of Patras, Greece

Y

Yucel , Al i : aliosmanyucel@gmai l.com , Is tanbul Technical Univers i ty, Turkey

Z

Zidianakis, Giannis: zid [email protected] , Universi ty of Patras, Greece

Zouros, Nikolaos: [email protected] , University of the Aegean, Greece









173

Thank you for a great Meeting!

See you next year in Opole, Poland…

2nd IMERP Organizing Committee

21-5-2017 Sigri (Lesvos) Greece


174

ISBN: 978-618-83193-7-0