Fosso de la Fittaia 2013: Tortonian, Italy
collected 2013

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Amphibia - Temnospondyli
Anura indet. (Fischer von Waldheim 1813)
IGF102236: one squamosal, one mandible, one humerus, two femura, ten tibiofibulae, one vertebra, one urostyle, and three indeterminate fragments.
Amphibia - Temnospondyli - Alytidae
Discoglossinae indet. Günther 1859
IGF102233: one fragmentary right ilium; IGF102234: one fragmentary right ilium; IGF102235: three fragmentary right ilia
Mammalia - Rodentia - Gliridae
Anthracoglis marinoi Engesser 1983
four isolated cheek teeth; one M2 (IGF102262) and a lower molar series (m1-m3) belonging to a single individual (IGF102263)
Mammalia - Rodentia - Muridae
Huerzelerimys oreopitheci (Engesser 1989)
One maxillary fragment with an M1 (IGF102266), one fragmentary mandible with an m2 (IGF102267) and seven isolated cheek teeth: one M1 (IGF102268), four M2 (IGF102269, IGF102270, IGF102271, IGF102272), one m1 (IGF102273) and one broken m2 (IGF102274)
Mammalia - Lagomorpha - Ochotonidae
Paludotona sp. Dawson 1959
a single upper molariform tooth (IGF102261)
Mammalia - Soricidae
cf. Lartetium sp. Ziegler 1989
IGF102256: upper right incisor; IGF102257: isolated right m1; IGF102258: fragmentary right mandible with m1- m2; IGF102259: fragmentary right mandible with m2; IGF102260: fragmentary right mandible with m2-m3
Mammalia - Bovidae
Tyrrhenotragus sp. Thomas 1984
one isolated lower cheek teeth m1 (or m2) (IGF102275)
Reptilia - Testudines - Testudinidae
Testudo sp. Linnaeus 1758
IGF102237: isolated right ilium; IGF102238: fragmentary cervical vertebra; IGF102239: 24 fragmentary girdle, appendicular or vertebral fragments; IGF102240: six costal fragments, one partial peripheral and 27 shell fragments; IGF102241: one block of sediment hosting several shell and few girdle and appendicular elements; IGF102242: one isolated partial left xiphiplastron.
Reptilia - Serpentes
Serpentes indet. Linnaeus 1758
IGF102255: one fragmentary trunk vertebra, five fragments of a large vertebra, one fragmentary caudal vertebra
Reptilia - Boidae
cf. Erycinae indet. Bonaparte 1825
IGF102251: incomplete trunk vertebra
Reptilia - Colubridae
Colubridae indet. Oppel 1811
IGF102252: one fragmentary trunk vertebra; IGF102253: one vertebral fragment; IGF102254: one fragmentary trunk vertebra
Reptilia - Lacertilia
Lacertilia indet. Owen 1842
IGF102250: one highly fragmentary tooth bearing bone, one frontal and five vertebral fragments
Reptilia - Anguidae
Anguinae indet. Gray 1825
IGF102244: one trunk vertebra; IGF102245: highly fragmentary trunk vertebra; IGF102246: fragmentary tail vertebra; IGF102247: one osteoderm; IGF102248: one osteoderm; IGF102249: 38 osteoderms or osteoderm fragments
Anguis sp. Linnaeus 1758
IGF102243: one trunk vertebra
Actinopteri - Gobiiformes - Gobiidae
? Gobiidae indet. Bonaparte 1832
IGF102232, a single fragmentary left premaxilla
see common names

Geography
Country:Italy State/province:Tuscany County:Grosseto
Coordinates: 42.8° North, 11.4° East (view map)
Paleocoordinates:42.0° North, 9.6° East
Basis of coordinate:estimated from map
Geographic resolution:outcrop
Time
Period:Neogene Epoch:Miocene
Stage:Tortonian 10 m.y. bin:Cenozoic 6
Key time interval:Tortonian
Age range of interval:11.62000 - 7.24600 m.y. ago
Age estimate:8.3 to 8.1 Ma (paleomagnetic)
Stratigraphy
Formation:Synthem CB1 Member:Unit CB1a
Local section:Fittaia Local bed:14 m
Local order:bottom to top
Stratigraphic resolution:bed
Stratigraphy comments: In the summer of 2013 a natural exposure of the lowermost portion of synthem CB1, known as the Fosso della Fittaia section (Figs 1, 2), was discovered, which had been made well accessible due to catastrophic erosion caused by large floods during the preceding autumn.
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:massive mudstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: The upper portion of the series consists of mudstones similar to the previous ones, except for the occurrence of isolated siderite concretions. Lenticular beds of pebbly sandstone of decimetric thickness are interbedded within the mudstones, showing crude trough-cross lamination that indicates a paleocurrent directed to WSW.
Environment:wet floodplain
Geology comments: Mudstones will correspond to a poorly-oxygenated floodplain though siderite nodules, which are more common in the uppermost portion of the section (Fig. 2), suggesting the occurrence of temporary shallow water bodies. Siderite may form in river bogs and marshes (Pye 1981; Postma 1977) and is reported to occur at the alluvial-palustrine facies transition (Cabrera et al. 1995). Pebbly sandstones would correspond to the infill of shallow and narrow channels by downcurrent migration of small sinuous-crested dunes.
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body,replaced with siderite
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Collection methods and comments
Collection excludes:some macrofossils
Collection methods:selective quarrying,surface (in situ),sieve,field collection,observed (not collected)
Minimum sieve size:0.500 Maximum sieve size:10.000
Collection size:170 specimens
Rock censused:100 kg
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Collection dates:2013
Collection method comments: In order to recover microvertebrates we followed the classical approach described by MacKenna (1962). The total of 100 kg of sediment sampled was completely dried. Afterwards, it was immersed in water which produced its disaggregation. The sediment was then screen-washed using professional wet sieves (Controls Srl) with mesh sizes of 10, 2.5, 0.7 and 0.5 mm respectively. Screen-washing removed all the mud and left a residue that has been inspected under a stereomicroscope in order to recover and isolate the small mammal remains and other vertebrate fossils.

All the material studied in the systematic part of this work is housed within the collections of the Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università di Firenze (Sezione Geologia e Paleontologia)
Metadata
Also known as:FdF2013; Fosso della Fittaia
Database number:190848
Authorizer:E. Vlachos Enterer:E. Vlachos
Modifier:T. Cleary
Created:2017-12-19 10:59:55 Last modified:2019-02-12 11:08:08
Access level:the public Released:2017-12-19 10:59:55
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:

64149. O. Cirilli, M. G. Benvenuti, G. Carnevale, I. Casanovas Vilar, M. Delfino, M. Furió, M. Papini, A. Villa, and L. Rook. 2016. Fosso della Fittaia: the oldest Tusco-Sardinian late Miocene endemic vertebrate assemblages (Baccinello-Cinigiano Basin, Tuscany, Italy). Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia 122(2):13-34 [E. Vlachos/E. Vlachos]