Mammal faunas in Europe at the end of the Early – Beginning of the Middle Pleistocene

Abstract

Problems of mammal evolution in the Early and Middle Pleistocene are widely discussed in the literature. The stages of mammal evolution considered in their relation to other paleontological data, geological units and the paleomagnetic scale provide a solid basis for correlation of natural events within this time interval. The analysis of the data on the European mammal fauna makes it possible to compare the evolutionary stages of large and small mammal faunas and the evolutionary changes in indicator phyletic lineages between different regions and to find regional features of similarity or distinction. In this paper the authors made an attempt to analyze data on large and small mammal faunas in Eastern Europe within the interval from the Jaramillo paleomagnetic event to the beginning of the early Middle Pleistocene (1.07–∼0.7 Ma BP) and to compare them with analogous data from Western Europe. Main trends in evolution and distribution of large and small mammals (primarily Arvicolidae) during the studied time interval are revealed. The characteristics of the established principal stages in small mammal faunal sequences are given. The position of these stages with reference to the paleomagnetic and climatic-chronological scales are proposed.