PBDB Collection

Olivola Fauna in Lunigiana district, NW Tuscany (Pleistocene of Italy)

Where: Tuscany, Italy (44.2° N, 10.0° E: paleocoordinates 44.2° N, 10.0° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

When: MN 17 (2.6 - 1.8 Ma)

• Latest Pliocene/Earliest Pleistocene. Olivola fauna unit (roughly 1.8Ma).

• formation-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: fluvial

• Fossils washed in by a flood.

• pink-yellowish matrix.

Size class: macrofossils

Collection methods: First collected by Igino Cocchi and Giovanni Cappellini (material in Pisa and Bologna Universities). Main collection by Forsyth Major in late 1800s (material in Florence University, Palaeontology Museum and The Natural History Museum, London) (possibly also some in Paris).

Primary reference: A. Azzaroli. 2001. Middle and Late Villafranchian vertebrates from Tuscany and Umbria. A synopsis. Bollettino della Societa Paleontologica Italiana 40(3):351-356 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/M. Uhen]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 49254: authorized by Alan Turner, entered by Hannah O'Regan on 12.04.2005

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names

Mammalia
Carnivora - Ursidae	Ursus etruscus Ursus etruscus Cuvier 1823 bear
Carnivora - Felidae	Lynx cf. issiodorensis, Felis lunensis, Homotherium crenatidens, Megantereon cultridens Lynx cf. issiodorensis Croizet and Jobert 1828 lynx an incomplete skull, a maxilla, a jaw, fragments of pelvis and limbs. Felis lunensis Martelli 1906 cat A felid the size of a domestic cat. A jaw, partial fore and hind limbs. Homotherium crenatidens Fabrini 1890 cat Few teeth. Megantereon cultridens Cuvier 1824 cat a partial skull, a jaw, isolated teeth.
Carnivora - Hyaenidae	Chasmaporthetes lunensis Chasmaporthetes lunensis Del Campana 1914 hyaena a partial skull.
Carnivora - Canidae	Canis etruscus Canis etruscus Forsyth Major 1877 canine
Artiodactyla - Suidae	Sus strozzii Sus strozzii Forsyth Major 1881 pig at least one complete skull in BMNH, London.
Artiodactyla - Cervidae	"Pseudodama cf. nestii" = Metacervocerus, Eucladoceros dicranios "Pseudodama cf. nestii" = Metacervocerus deer Eucladoceros dicranios Nesti 1841 deer Eucladoceros dicranios olivolanus. Partial skulls, jaws, antlers, limb bones.
Artiodactyla - Bovidae	Leptobos etruscus, Gallogoral meneghinii Leptobos etruscus antelope Gallogoral meneghinii antelope a partial skull, and distal end of humerus.
Perissodactyla - Rhinocerotidae	Stephanorhinus etruscus Stephanorhinus etruscus Falconer 1868 rhinoceros Skulls, jaws, limb bones.
Perissodactyla - Equidae	"Equus stenonis" = Allohippus stenonis "Equus stenonis" = Allohippus stenonis Cocchi 1867 horse
Proboscidea - Elephantidae	"Archidiskodon sp." = Mammuthus "Archidiskodon sp." = Mammuthus Brookes 1828 mammoth Partially damaged bones of a forelimb.