Çeştepe, a new early Pliocene vertebrate locality in Central Anatolia and its stratigraphic context

Abstract

The new locality of Çeştepe in the Kazan Basin, 45km NNW of Ankara, yielded the remains of three species of reptiles (cf. Lacerta sp., Anguinae indet. and Varanus sp.) and an ochotonid lagomorph, Ochotona mediterranensis Suata Alpaslan, 2009. The latter species suggests an early Pliocene age (MN14). The fossil layer is included in the Sinap Formation that delivered abundant remains of Mio-Pliocene mammals in the southern part of the basin, but in the northern part of the basin Çeştepe is currently the unique fossil site. The age assigned by the fauna led to revise the stratigraphy of sedimentary formations in the Çeştepe area, previously confusing because of the various lithostratigraphic unit names and ages given in previous work. The taxa described in this note are still poorly known in Turkey. Varanus has been previously reported from Çalta, a locality 16.3km SW to Çeştepe in the same basin, and O. mediterranensis from Iğdeli in the Sivas Basin. Although represented by a few taxa, the Çeştepe faunule shows Eurasian affinities.