Revising the Villafranchian carnivoran fauna from Libakos (Macedonia, Greece) with some implications for its age

Abstract

ABSTRACT The mammal fauna from Libakos was collected by H. Eltgen (Technical University of Clausthal, Germany) during the end of the 1960s and studied by K. Steensma. The locality is situated within the fluviolacustrine-fluvioterrestrial deposits of the Grevena–Neapolis basin (Macedonia, Greece), which are considered as Pliocene-Pleistocene. The carnivoran collection of Libakos is poor and fragmentary with doubtful or limited determinations. The reconsideration of the carnivorans indicated the presence of the canids Caniscf. arnensis and Canis cf. etruscus, the mustelid Pannonictis nestii recognised for first time in Greece, the large-sized hyaenid Pachycrocuta brevirostris and the machairodontine Homotherium latidens. The available biochronological data, the stratigraphy and the comparison with other well-dated Villafranchian faunas of Greece, indicate a late Villafranchian age for Libakos fauna, more precisely between ~2.0 and 1.5 Ma.