Casa Sgherri, Lower Valdarno, Tuscany (Pliocene to of Italy)

Where: Tuscany, Italy (43.7° N, 10.7° E: paleocoordinates 43.6° N, 10.6° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

When: Pliocene to Pliocene (5.3 - 0.0 Ma)

• Dated to between the Costa san Giacomo and Olivola faunal units (roughly 2.1-1.8Ma), earliest Biharian. In the informal Massarella geological unit, a continental deposit, with a marine and transitional deposit above the Casa Sgherri fauna.

Environment/lithology: "channel"

• Flood plain and filled channel deposit. The Casa Sgherri material is from one of these sandy channel fills.
• 'silty sands and gravels and sometimes bears cross-bedded structures.' P. 245.

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collection methods: Clay units interbedded with the sandy levels contain some fresh water molluscs and rarely land snails (not described here).

Primary reference: F. Marcolini, F. P. Bonadonna, T. Kotsakis, P. Mazza, and G. Zanchetta. 2000. Preliminary data on the micro- and macromammal remains from Casa Sgherri, Lower Valdarno (Tuscany, Italy). Bollettino della Societa Paleontologica Italiana 39(2):243-252 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 51812: authorized by Alan Turner, entered by Hannah O'Regan on 21.06.2005

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• Fauna indicate a 'wooded and humid environment where open spaces were common, under a temperate climate' P. 251.
Mammalia
 Rodentia - Hystricidae
Hystrix refossa porcupine
1 right lower M1.
 Rodentia - Gliridae
"Glis sp." = Myoxus (Glis)
"Glis sp." = Myoxus (Glis) Brisson 1762 dormouse
1 lower molar with very worn occlusal surface.
 Rodentia - Muridae
Apodemus dominans Eurasian field mouse
17 molars including upper: 2 M1, 3 M2, and lower: 5 M1, 3 M2.
 Rodentia - Cricetidae
Mimomys pitymyoides vole
1 right lower M1.
Mimomys cf. pusillus vole
2 left lower M1, one upper M3.
Mimomys "sp. 1" Forsyth-Major 1902 vole
1 very large right lower M1 and two other fragments.
Mimomys "sp. 2" Forsyth-Major 1902 vole
1 fragment of right lower M1.
 Lagomorpha - Leporidae
Oryctolagus lacosti rabbit
1 right upper P2.
 Primates - Cercopithecidae
"Macaca sylvana" = Macaca sylvanus
"Macaca sylvana" = Macaca sylvanus Linnaeus 1758 Barbary macaque
Macaca sylvana florentina, a right lower P4, a left lower M3.
 Artiodactyla - Suidae
Sus strozzii Forsyth Major 1881 pig
1 lower I1, 1 lower I3.
 Artiodactyla - Cervidae
"Pseudodama sp." = Metacervocerus, Capreolus sp.
"Pseudodama sp." = Metacervocerus Dietrich 1935 deer
2 deciduous teeth, upper teeth: 2 M1, 1 M2, 2 M3, some premolar and molar fragments, plus lower teeth: 2 incisors, 4 premolars (including 2 P3 and 1 P4), 1 M1, 2 M2, 2 M3.
Capreolus sp. Gray 1821 roe
one fragmentary molar, plus lower teeth: 1 P2, 1 M2.
 Artiodactyla - Bovidae
Leptobos sp. Rutimeyer 1878 antelope
an isolated talonid of a left lower M2.
 Carnivora - Felidae
Acinonyx pardinensis Croizet and Jobert 1828 cheetah
1 lower P4.
 Carnivora - Hyaenidae
Hyaenidae indet. Gray 1821 hyaena
based on presence of hyaenid coprolites.
 Carnivora - Mustelidae
Enhydrictis ardea Bravard 1828 mustelid carnivore
1 heavily worn right lower M1.