Where: Macedonia, Greece (40.5° N, 21.7° E: paleocoordinates 40.4° N, 21.5° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

When: Ruscinian (5.3 - 3.2 Ma)

• Pliocene, Ruscinian, MN15. 'The A-P-K basin is part of a graben system running in a NW-SE direction from Bitola (Yugoslavia) to Servia. It is suggested that Quaternary faulting caused the fractioning into the Bitola-Florina, the A-P-K and the Kozani-Servia sub-basins.' The Neogene and Pleistocene deposits have been divided into three series, the Basal Series, the Coal Containing Series (subdivided into a. main field beds, b. intermediate sequence and c. south field beds) and the Top Series. 'The main field consist of about 30metres of lignite with intercalations of calcareous muds and lignitic clays. The number and the thicknesses of these intercalations vary from locality to locality. The lignite is well layered and contians a few macroscopic plant remains, xylite is rare. The coal beds contain a variable amount of clay. Molluscs are abundantly present in many coal beds. Intercalated calcareous beds have thicknesses of up to 0.5m; most beds are rich in molluscs and some contain root imprints. A 10 to 20cm thick level of yellowish sand is present in both mines and observed in most boring. This guide level is called layer 9 by the local miners. The site is in the Main field, at the top of the Main Field beds (about layer 20-21), about 18.5m above layer 9, just below the Quaternary Top Series consisting of sand and gravel. The site is a lens of 5-20cm thickness and about 10m horizontal extension. It consists of molluscs (large Unio at the bottom) and coal particles.'

Environment/lithology: mire or swamp

Size class: mesofossils

Preservation: coprolite

Collection methods: bulk, chemical, sieve,

• Excavated in 1976 and 1977 by the State University of Utrecht and the Niedersachsisches Landesamt fur Bodenforschung.

Primary reference: A. van de Weerd. 1979. Early Ruscinian rodents and lagomorphs (Mammalia) from the lignites near Ptolemais (Macedonia, Greece). Proceedings Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (Serie B) 82:127-170 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/L. van den Hoek Ostende]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 35088: authorized by Alan Turner, entered by Hannah O'Regan on 03.11.2003, edited by Lars van den Hoek Ostende

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)