First finding of a partially articulated elephant skeleton from a Late Pleistocene hyena den in Sicily (San Teodoro Cave, North Eastern Sicily, Italy)

Abstract

Associated and partially articulated fossil remains of the endemic reduced size elephant Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis have been recently discovered at San Teodoro Cave, a large Late Pleistocene hyena den in Sicily. The skeletal elements belong to both cranial and post-cranial portions, and are represented by a semi-complete mandible, a tusk fragment, a cervical vertebra, three thoracic vertebrae, a rib fragment, a scapula, a distal epiphysis of radius, a pyramidal bone, a III metacarpal bone, a coxal bone fragment, a femur shaft, two symmetrical pairs of tibias and fibulas, a patella and an astragalus. The bones were recovered mixed with remains belonging to other taxa, numerous hyena coprolites and with a juvenile elephant mandible in the perinatal stage.On the basis of anatomical representation, spatial distribution and development stages, the partially articulated elephant bones from the San Teodoro Cave belong to a single adult individual, perhaps a female, which probably entered the cave before its death, and was afterwards scavenged and disarticulated by hyenas. This is the first finding of a partially articulated elephant skeleton from a fossil hyena den, and may attest to the intermittent use of the cave by hyenas and elephants.