Also known as CR-1; Cretesti-1

Where: Ilfov, Romania (46.6° N, 28.0° E: paleocoordinates 47.0° N, 27.2° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

When: MN 12–11 mammal zone, Moldavian Platform Group, Tortonian (11.6 - 7.2 Ma)

• The geological age of this locality was previously considered Vallesian, MN 9 (sensu Vangengeim & Tesakov 2013; Codrea et al. 2017). However, subsequent finds of some micromammals have cast doubt on this date. These concern the presence of a small-sized Lophocricetodon, and also of the pika Ochotona cf. eximia (Sen 2003; Čermák 2016; see Delinschi 2014, for a discussion about the unclear status of this genus) very similar to those reported from the Maeotian locality of Taraklia, in the Republic of Moldova (Tortonian, MN 12; Sevket Sen, pers. comm., 2021). Lungu et al. (2007) considered the late Miocene ‘Proochotona eximia Chom.’, where the vertebrate localities of the Republic of Moldova are located, as ‘early Maeotian–early Pontian’.

•The Maeotian was recently reassessed. In recent stratigraphical charts (Raffi et al. 2020; Krézsek & Olariu 2021), the Maeotian in the Dacian Basin was restricted to 7.6–6.1 Ma, referring only to units MN12–MN 13 (Steininger 1999). In this context, the pika implies dating to either to Maeotian (MN 12) or Khersonian (MN 11).

•As the correlations between the MN units from western and central Europe are being reconsidered (Vangengeim & Tesakov 2008, 2013), it is possible that some age boundaries will be re-assessed also, based on future advances in the knowledge of small mammals from this part of Europe and their evolutionary trends. Therefore, the geological age of Crețești 1 is re-interpreted as younger than previously presumed, being either Maeotian (MN 12), or late Khersonian (MN 11).

Environment/lithology: "floodplain"; green mudstone and silty sandstone

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collection methods: surface (in situ), sieve,

Primary reference: V. Codrea, M. Venczel, L. Ursachi and B. Răţoi. 2017. A large viper from the early Vallesian (MN 9) of Moldova (Eastern Romania) with notes on the palaeobiogeography of late Miocene ‘‘Oriental vipers". Geobios 50:401-411 [T. Cleary/T. Cleary]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 199755: authorized by Terri Cleary, entered by Terri Cleary on 13.02.2019, edited by Grace Varnham and Evangelos Vlachos

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)