Durfort, Gard, Southern France (Pleistocene of France)

Where: France (43.9° N, 4.0° E: paleocoordinates 43.9° N, 4.0° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

When: Middle Pleistocene (0.8 - 0.1 Ma)

• Early Middle Pleistocene, interglacial (climatic temperate episode). Probably Zone 20 in Guerin's scheme.

Environment/lithology: lacustrine

• 'un ancien lac ou marecage.'
• 'couches limoneuses'. There are some lignite levels intercalated in the clays.

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils, microfossils

Collection methods: Site discovered in 1869. Macrofauna and plant macro and microfossils have also been found here. The lignite levels contain amphibians, fish, molluscs and more plant remains including tree trunks, fruits and leaf imprints, as well as 6 extra mammal species.

Primary reference: J.-P. Brugal. 1994. Le bison (Bovidae, Artiodactyla) de Pleistocene moyen ancien de Durfort (Gard, France). Bulletin Musee Nationale de Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 4th Series, Section C 16(2-4):349-381 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]more details

Purpose of describing collection: biostratigraphic analysis

PaleoDB collection 42673: authorized by Alan Turner, entered by Hannah O'Regan on 04.08.2004, edited by Evangelos Vlachos

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Mammalia
 Proboscidea - Elephantidae
Mammuthus meridionalis Nesti 1825 mammoth
3 skeletons.
 Perissodactyla - Equidae
Equidae indet. Gray 1821 horse
MNI = 1.
 Perissodactyla - Rhinocerotidae
Stephanorhinus etruscus2 Falconer 1868 rhinoceros
MNI = 1. Dicerorhinus etruscus brachycephalus.
 Artiodactyla - Hippopotamidae
Hippopotamus amphibius Linnaeus 1758 hippo
MNI = 4. Hippopotamus amphibius major.
 Artiodactyla - Cervidae
Cervidae indet. Gray 1821 deer
MNI = 4.
 Artiodactyla - Bovidae
Bison schoetensacki bison
MNI = 5. largely postcranial, with 2 young adult horncores.
 Carnivora - Canidae
Canidae indet. Fischer de Waldheim 1817 canid
MNI = 1.
Amphibia
 Salientia - Bufonidae
Bufo bufo1 Linnaeus 1758 toad
Angiospermae
 Fagales - Juglandaceae
Pterocarya sp. Kunth 1824 wingnut
Carya sp. Nuttall 1818 hickory
 Fagales - Fagaceae
 Rosales - Ulmaceae
Zelkova ungeri Kovats 1865 zelkova
 Saxifragales - Hamamelidaceae
Pinopsida
 Pinales - Pinaceae
Pinus sp. Linnaeus 1753 pine
Tsuga sp. Carrière 1855