Dietary adaptations of early and middle Pleistocene equids from the Anagni basin (Frosinone, Central Italy)
Strani, Flavia (Sapienza Università di Roma. Dipartimento di Scienze Della Terra (Italy))
Pushkina, Diana (University of Helsinki. Department of Geosciences and Geography (Finland))
Bocherens, Hervé (University of Tübingen. Department of Geosciences, Biogeology (Germany))
Bellucci, Luca (Sapienza Università di Roma. Department of Earth Sciences, PaleoFactory (Italy))
Sardella, Raffaele (Sapienza Università di Roma. Dipartimento di Scienze Della Terra (Italy))
DeMiguel, Daniel (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)

Fecha:	2019
Resumen:	The intermontane Anagni Basin (Frosinone, central Italy) is an important region for Italian biochronology and paleoecology due to the presence of two rich fossil assemblages dated to the Early (Coste San Giacomo) and Middle Pleistocene (Fontana Ranuccio). Thesesiteshaveyieldedavastcollectionoflargefossilmammalswithawell-documented presence of fossil equids in both localities (represented mostly by isolated teeth). Coste San Giacomo is dated to around 2. 1Ma, thereby having recorded the effects of the onset of the Quaternary glacial cycles, which led to a gradual trend toward colder and more arid conditions in the Northern Hemisphere. The fossil equids of this site belong to the first group of grazing stenonid equids of the genus Equus that spread to the Italian Peninsula during the so called "Elephant- Equus" event, which marked the appearance of new large mammals living in herds in open and arid environments. The site of Fontana Ranuccio is dated to around 400 ka, close to the MIS 12-11 succession (the "Mid-Brunhes event"), which marked the end of the Middle Pleistocene Transition. The fossil horses from Fontana Ranuccio represent one of the oldest caballoid (or "true horses") populations of the Italian Peninsula. The Anagni Basin, thus, provides important data to investigate paleoecological adaptations of these groups of equids in response to two critical environmental and climatic shifts of the Pleistocene. We explore their niche occupation by examining long-term dental wear patterns and tooth enamel carbon and oxygen stable isotopic composition. Both taxa appear to have exhibited a narrow dietary niche, displaying a clear abrasive (highly specialized) grass-rich diet. In particular, caballoid equids from Fontana Ranuccio show a more abrasion-dominated mesowear signature. Stenonid equids from Coste San Giacomo exploited broader and more diverse landscapes during the Early Pleistocene, whereas caballoid horses from Fontana Ranuccio appeared to have limited their dietary adaptations to a stricter grazing behavior in more closed environments.
Ayudas:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CGL2016-76431-P
Derechos:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Lengua:	Anglès
Documento:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Materia:	Mesowear ; Isotopes ; Equids ; Equus ; Pleistocene ; Paleoecology ; Paleoenvironment
Publicado en:	Frontiers in ecology and evolution, Vol. 7 (May 2019) , art. 176, ISSN 2296-701X

DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00176

13 p, 2.0 MB

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