Slivnitsa (Pliocene to of Bulgaria)

Where: Bulgaria (42.9° N, 23.0° E: paleocoordinates 42.7° N, 22.9° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

When: Pliocene to Pliocene (5.3 - 0.0 Ma)

• Similar date to Seneze, latest Pliocene rather than early Pleistocene, MNQ 18.

Environment/lithology: cave

• A former cave in a limestone quarry.

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collection methods: Only large mammals are given in this paper - 20 bird species and rodent remains were still under study. The total size of the collection (900 fragments) is based on identifiable macromammal remains (therefore doesn't include birds and micromammals).

Primary reference: N. Spassov. 1998. A new Late Villafranchian locality of vertebrate fauna - Slivnitsa (Bulgaria) and the carnivore dispersal events in Europe on the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary. Historia naturalis bulgarica 9:101-113 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 58809: authorized by Alan Turner, entered by Hannah O'Regan on 24.02.2006

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• Seven members of the Caprinae are present.
Mammalia
 Carnivora - Hyaenidae
Hyaenidae indet. Gray 1821 hyaena
not P. brevirostris
 Carnivora - Felidae
Homotherium crenatidens Fabrini 1890 cat
 Carnivora - Mustelidae
Lutrinae indet. Baird 1857 otter
Meles thorali Viret 1951 badger
 Carnivora - Canidae
Canis ex gr. etruscus Forsyth Major 1877 canine
Vulpes cf. alopecoides Forsyth Major 1877 fox
 Perissodactyla - Equidae
"Equus cf. stenonis" = Allohippus stenonis
"Equus cf. stenonis" = Allohippus stenonis Cocchi 1867 horse
 Artiodactyla - Cervidae
Eucladoceros ? senezensis deer
E. cf. senezensis ? senezensis
Cervus rhenanus deer
= C. philisi - 'Dama' nestii
 Artiodactyla - Bovidae
Bovidae "indet. 1" Gray 1821 antelope
Bovidae "indet. 2" Gray 1821 antelope
Megalovis sp. Schaub 1924 antelope
Hemitragus sp. n. sp. Hodgson 1841 antelope
Pliotragus cf. ardeus Deperet 1883 antelope
Ovis sp. Linnaeus 1758 sheep
 Primates - Cercopithecidae
? Papio (Paradolichopithecus) arvernensis Deperet 1929 monkey
? primates, aff. Cercopithecidae, ? P. (Para.) arver. aff. geticus