Bovidae (Mammalia: Artiodactyla) from the late Miocene of Sivas, Turkey

Abstract

Craniodental remains of fossil bovids from the late Miocene İncesu Formation, from sites near the city of Sivas, Turkey, are described. The bovid remains represent at least five species: Gazella cf. G. capricornis, Prostrepsiceros houtumschindleri syridisi, cf. Protoryx sp., Tethytragus cf. T. koehlerae, and Tragoportax cf. T. amalthea. The Sivas fossil bovid assemblage is fairly typical for the Greco-Iranian-Afghan paleobiological province, and compares well with the classic Turolian sites of Samos, Pikermi, and Maragheh. Biochronological correlations using these fossil bovids suggest the Sivas fossil assemblage is MN11 or early MN12 in age, or somewhere between 9–7 Ma. The presence of Tethytragus at Sivas represents only the second occurrence of this typically mid-Miocene (MN5–8) taxon from the late Miocene. Paleoecological attributes of the Sivas fossil bovids suggest local paleoenvironments at Sivas comprised shrubland to woodland biomes, perhaps devoid of expansive grasslands or dense forests. The presence/absence and relative abundances of bovid taxa within and among different Greek and Anatolian late Miocene fossil sites is compared and contrasted by way of correspondence analysis. Sivas plots among a number of sites all characterized by high proportions of Gazella, Tragoportax, and Protoryx/Pachytragus, and these in turn are readily distinguished from sites in which Palaeoreas/Majoreas, Protragelaphus, Oioceros, and Miotragocerus are more common. It is suggested that Sivas and similar sites (e.g. Sinap, Akkas¸daği) may have sampled drier, more open habitats than those with strongly differing faunal compositions (e.g. Nikiti-1, Çorakyerler).