The mammalian assemblage of Mazan (Vaucluse, France) and its position in the Early Oligocene European palaeobiogeography

Abstract

The locality of Mazan (Provence, South-Eastern France) yielded numerous remains of vertebrates, including numerous isolated teeth and a few bone fragments of mammals. A preliminary faunal list was published by Triat et al; the present systematic revision of the mammalian remains and the description of new specimens reveal that the assemblage comprises 18 taxa belonging to 7 orders and 10 families. Among the mammalian remains, the theridomyids and cricetids are the two most abundant groups. This revision confirms the ascription of the locality to the biochronological unit MP21, which corresponds to the very beginning of the Oligocene. As this locality overlies the Late Eocene faunas of Mormoiron, it clearly illustrates the drastic changes induced by the European ‘Grande-Coupure’ in Southeastern France like in the rest of Europe. A palaeobiogeographic analysis based on a comparison with 22 other Early Oligocene localities allows deciphering the European mammalian palaeobiogeography at the beginning of the Oligocene. The mammalian assemblage of Mazan shows significant affinities with other localities from Western Europe (especially French and Spanish localities), while localities from the eastern part of Europe (Anatolian, Bavarian and Bohemian localities) are noticeably different, even though these were not subjected to strong palaeobiogeographic differentiation nor endemism. The locality of Paguera 1 (Majorca)–possibly already insular in the Early Oligocene–shows peculiar affinities with Anatolian and Bavarian localities rather than with those in Western European. This, together with the absence of strong endemism, suggests the existence of land connections with the Anatolian region, but also between the Anatolian and the Bavarian regions, permitting faunal exchanges.