Abstract
A classic but very rare “Arpad-type” mollusk assemblage, representing the endemic fauna of the Late Miocene–Early Pliocene Lake Pannon, was discovered in Kozarmisleny (near Pecs, southern Hungary). The fossils were collected from silt layers deposited in the shallow sublittoral zone of Lake Pannon, and exposed by an 8–10 m high road cut. The assemblage contained some very rare species, including the type species of genus Lymnocardium, L. haueri (M. Hornes). Palynological investigations from the same layers failed to yield age-diagnostic dinoflagellates, and pointed to strongly freshened water and warm, subtropical climate.
Highlights
Much of the sedimentary fill of the Neogene Pannonian Basin System was deposited in the Late Miocene – Early Pliocene Lake Pannon, a large, long-lived, brackish lake populated by a highly endemic “Ponto-Caspian-type” biota
Whereas high diversity in some other groups, such as the gastropods, was achieved by a combined effect of in situ evolution and inheritance from Early – Middle Miocene lakes (HARZHAUSER & MANDIC, 2008), Lake Pannon cardiids probably all originated from ancestors living in the restricted marine environment of the Middle Miocene Sarmatian sea (e.g. VRSALJKO, 1999)
Similar faunas are well-known from the southern regions of the Pannonian Basin, especially in Croatia (e.g. BRUSINA, 1884; BASCH, 1990), some of the Árpád species are very rare elsewhere
Summary
Much of the sedimentary fill of the Neogene Pannonian Basin System was deposited in the Late Miocene – Early Pliocene Lake Pannon, a large, long-lived, brackish lake populated by a highly endemic “Ponto-Caspian-type” biota. The first significant endemic cockle assemblage from the lake was described by HÖRNES (1862) from the village of Árpád (today part of Pécs), southern Hungary. Later these cardiids played an outstanding role in the classification of Miocene and Pliocene brackish cockles of the entire Paratethyan region. Similar faunas are well-known from the southern regions of the Pannonian Basin, especially in Croatia (e.g. BRUSINA, 1884; BASCH, 1990), some of the Árpád species are very rare elsewhere. The 10 bivalve (including 8 cardiid) and 4 gastropod species correspond to the classic Árpád fauna, containing the same morphological types and including some of the rarities (L. haueri, L. hungaricum, L. arpadense, Pteradacna pterophora). This paper gives a brief account of the outcrop and its mollusc fauna, complete with the results of palynological investigations
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