Apidima Cave C (Pleistocene to of Greece)

Where: Lakonia, Greece (37.0° N, 22.6° E: paleocoordinates 37.0° N, 22.6° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

When: Middle Pleistocene to Middle Pleistocene (0.8 - 0.0 Ma)

• The Apidima caves are karstic formations within the MIddle Triassic-Late Eocene limestone (Plattenhalk) of depth 500m, from 4m to 23m above sea level. Dated using ESR on travertine calcite and fossils - two samples with dates of 250-450,000BP and 200-300,000BP. "As the Apidima fauna is stratigraphically mixed, careful interpretation is required"

Environment/lithology: cave

• Temperate climate, with mixed and variable steppe like during sea regression, interrupted by forests (mainly of coniferous trees, wild olive trees, pistachio and other Mediterranean flora).

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collection methods: bulk,

• Total of 20,000 specimens refers to all four cave sites. Material stored in the Museum of Anthropology, Athens University.

Primary reference: E. Tsoukala. 1999. Quaternary large mammals from the Apidima Caves (Lakonia, S. Peloponnese, Greece. Beitraege zur palaeontologie 24:207-229 [A. Behrensmeyer/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 32082: authorized by Anna Behrensmeyer, entered by Hannah O'Regan on 04.06.2003, edited by Denne Reed and Evangelos Vlachos

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• rodents, birds (mostly beaks), leporids and turtles are also mentioned.
Mammalia
 Carnivora - Mustelidae
Meles meles Linnaeus 1758 European badger
Martes foina Erxleben 1777 marten
 Carnivora - Canidae
Vulpes vulpes Linnaeus 1758 red fox
 Carnivora - Felidae
Lynx lynx2 Linnaeus 1758 Eurasian lynx
Panthera pardus Linnaeus 1758 leopard
 Artiodactyla - Cervidae
Megaloceros sp. Brookes 1828 Irish elk
Dama dama Linnaeus 1758 fallow deer
 Artiodactyla - Bovidae
Capra ibex Linnaeus 1758 Alpine ibex
 Primates - Hominidae
Homo sapiens1 Linnaeus 1758 human
LAO 1/S3
 Proboscidea - Elephantidae
Elephantidae indet. Gray 1821 elephant