Kerassia 3 (K3) (Miocene of Greece)

Where: Euboea, Greece (38.9° N, 23.3° E: paleocoordinates 38.6° N, 23.0° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: MN 12 mammal zone, Late/Upper Miocene (11.6 - 5.3 Ma)

• Combining the above given data, an MN12 age is plausible for the fauna of Kerassiá, although MN11 cannot be rejected. A biochronological distinction of the two fossiliferous levels found in Kerassiá is not possible for the moment.

Environment/lithology: terrestrial; lithified, silty, conglomeratic sandstone

• The numerical dominance of bovids and hipparions in the fauna of Kerassiá indicates an open and rather dry environment. Forest elements as cervids and suids are rare or absent. The giraffids, as well as Tragoportax, may have lived in open woodland environments (Gentry et al. 1999). A paleoecological shift between the lower and the upper fossiliferous level is possible due to the small differences in the faunal content, but such an assumption requires more material from both levels.
• They belong to the so-called "reddish-brown fluvial deposits" (Mettos et al. 1991) in the lower layers of the upper sequence of the Límni–Istiéa Basin. The lower sequence, as well as the ophiolithic basement, are exposed NE of the village Kerassiá. The superposed reddish-brown fluvial deposits include clays, conglomerates, sands, and siltstones in succession. Their total thickness is about 250–300 m.

Size class: macrofossils

Collected by G. Theodorou Team in 1992; reposited in the AMPG

Collection methods: surface (in situ),

• AMPG, Museum of Palaeontology and Geology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Primary reference: G. Theodorou, A. Athanassiou, S. Roussiakis and G. Iliopoulos. 2003. Preliminary remarks on the Late Miocene herbivores of Kerassiá (Northern Euboea, Greece). In J.W.F. Reumer, W. Wessels (eds.), Deinsea, Distribution and Migration of Tertiary Mammals in Eurasia. A volume in honour of Hans de Bruijn 10:519-530 [E. Vlachos/E. Vlachos]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 195434: authorized by Evangelos Vlachos, entered by Evangelos Vlachos on 08.08.2018

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• In this paper (Theodorou et al. 2003) they describe the herbivore fossils. The carnivores are described in another paper.
Mammalia
 Carnivora - Hyaenidae
cf. Ictitherium pannonicum Kretzoi 1952 hyaena
Plioviverrops sp. Kretzoi 1938 hyaena
 Perissodactyla - Equidae
Hipparion sp. de Christol 1832 hipparionine horse
 Perissodactyla - Rhinocerotidae
Ceratotherium neumayri Osborn 1900 white rhino
 Artiodactyla - Giraffidae
Palaeotragus sp. Gaudry 1861 giraffe