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

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