Maragheh Ungulate Mesowear: Interpreting Paleodiet and Paleoecology from a Diverse Fauna with Restricted Sample Sizes

Abstract

This study explores the extent to which researchers might be able to interpret a fauna's paleoecology using mesowear analysis on ungulate maxillary molars when there are diverse taxa represented by few specimens. We compared our mesowear results on Maragheh ungulates with those of extant ungulates and with known mesowear score distributions of the two classical Greek Pikermian faunas of Samos and Pikermi, and with the late Miocene of China. The Maragheh equid and bovid species display a range of dietary abrasiveness, whereas the giraffids and chalicothere have fairly abrasive mesowear signals. Despite small sample sizes for some taxa, our results are consistent with long-held taxon-based interpretations of Maragheh paleoecology: a Pikermian woodland habitat. In addition, our results are consistent with climatic changes of the Paratethyan realm at the end of the Miocene.