Vialette, Haute Loire (Pliocene of France)

Where: France (45.1° N, 3.9° E: paleocoordinates 45.2° N, 3.6° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

When: MN 16 (3.2 - 2.6 Ma)

• Villanyian, Villafranchian.

Environment/lithology:

Size class: macrofossils

Collection methods: Tapir remains are held in Paris, Lyon and Basle, etc. Rhinoceros specimens held in Basle, Musee Crozatier in Puy-en-Velay, MNHN, Paris and Lyon.

Primary reference: E. Heintz, C. Guerin, R. Martin and F. Prat. 1974. Principaux gisements villafranchiens de France: Listes fauniques et biostratigraphie. Memoires du Bureau de Recherches Geologiques et Minieres 78(1):169-182 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]more details

Purpose of describing collection: biostratigraphic analysis

PaleoDB collection 47099: authorized by Alan Turner, entered by Hannah O'Regan on 08.02.2005, edited by Evangelos Vlachos

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• This paper contains a revised faunal list. Where the information is available the previous identification of the specimens has also been entered.

•Earlier reports of Equus stenonis or Hipparion from the site are likely to be due to poorly provenanced specimens in museum collections, later excavations have not recovered any specimens and the authors therefore did not include these identfications in this list.

•Four specimens in Bale Museum are marked as bovid, (2 phalanges, a calcaneum and a maxilla fragemnt) but are again poorly provenanced.

Mammalia
 Primates - Cercopithecidae
"Dolichopithecus" cf. arvernensis Depéret 1929 monkey
1 upper molar (Vt 326, Museum of Bale).
 Perissodactyla - Rhinocerotidae
Stephanorhinus jeanvireti2 Guérin 1972 rhinoceros
Many specimens including a skeleton in Lyon and a mandible in Le Puy en Velay.
 Perissodactyla - Tapiridae
Tapirus arvernensis Croizet and Jobert 1828 tapir
 Perissodactyla - Equidae
Equus sp.1 Linnaeus 1758 horse
Crozatier collection
 Artiodactyla - Cervidae
""Cervus" perrieri" = Praeelaphus perrieri Croizet and Jobert 1828 deer
Arvernoceros ardei Croizet and Jobert 1828 deer
""Cervus" pardinensis" = Metacervocerus pardinensis Croizet and Jobert 1828 deer
""Cervus" cusanus" = Procapreolus cusanus Croizet and Jobert 1928 deer
cf. Eucladoceros sp.1 Falconer 1868 deer
Crozatier collection
Croizetoceros ramosus Croizet and Jobert 1828 deer
Croizetoceros ramosus ramosus
 Artiodactyla - Bovidae
Gazella cf. borbonica1 gazelle
Crozatier collection
Pliotragus ardeus Deperet 1883 antelope
1 upper molar (3502, Faculty of Sciences Lyon) and 1 right calcaneum (5306, MNHN, Paris).
 Carnivora - Felidae
Lynx issiodorensis Croizet and Jobert 1828 lynx
1 mandible in Puy.
 Carnivora - Hyaenidae
? Pliocrocuta perrieri2 Kretzoi 1938 hyaena
1 cubitus in Puy and 2 lower teeth (V 151 and 152, in Lyon Museum whose attribution to Vialette is not absolutely certain).
 Carnivora - Ursidae
Ursus sp.1 Linnaeus 1758 bear
1 canine (Vt 94, Museum of Bale)
 Carnivora - Canidae
Canis sp.1 Linnaeus 1758 canine
at least 1 mandible in Puy en Velay.
 Proboscidea - Gomphotheriidae
Anancus arvernensis Croizet and Jobert 1828 gomphothere
 Proboscidea - Mammutidae