1363 Pandolfi.Vp

The skull of Stephanorhinus hemitoechus (Mammalia, Rhinocerotidae) from the Middle Pleistocene of Campagna Romana (Rome, central Italy): biochronological and paleobiogeographic implications LUCA PANDOLFI, MARIO GAETA & CARMELO PETRONIO A fragmentary rhinoceros skull from the “Campagna Romana” was analysed. The results of morphometrical and morphological analysis identify the skull as Stephanorhinus hemitoechus. The petrography and geochemistry of the volcanoclastic sediments containing the rhinoceros skull indicate that its geographic provenance is the northern area of Rome (between the Tiber River and the southern area of the Sabatini Volcanic District). The textural and geochemical features of white pumice indicate that the volcanoclastic sediments were deposited at ca 500 ka during the MIS13. A re- vision of the earliest records of S. hemitoechus in Europe reveals that the skull from Campagna Romana is the earliest re- cord of the species. The time and spatial collocation of this occurrence postdate the diffusion of S. hemitoechus in the Mediterranean Basin, most likely due to the favourable climate. Successively, the species becomes common in the rest of western and northern Europe and reached its maximal geographic extension during MIS5. • Key words: Stephanorhinus hemitoechus, paleobiogeography, biochronology, Middle Pleistocene, Campagna Romana, Sabatini Volcanic District. PANDOLFI, L., GAETA,M.&PETRONIO, C. 2013. The skull of Stephanorhinus hemitoechus (Mammalia, Rhino- cerotidae) from the Middle Pleistocene of Campagna Romana (Rome, central Italy): biochronological and paleobiogeographic implications. Bulletin of Geosciences 88(1), 51–62 (5 figures, 3 tables). Czech Geological Survey, Prague. ISSN 1214-1119. Manuscript received April 24, 2012; accepted in revised form June 21, 2012; published online September 26, 2012; issued December 6, 2012. Luca Pandolfi (corresponding author), Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Largo S.L. Murialdo, 1, 00146 Roma, Italy; [email protected] • Mario Gaeta & Carmelo Petronio, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Sapienza Università di Roma, p.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Roma, Italy; [email protected], [email protected] The area surrounding the city of Rome (Central Italy) is the of these volcanic districts have been reconstructed by pet- result of complex geological processes, which were parti- rographic, geochemical and radiometric data. Thus, in cen- cularly intense during the Quaternary. For this reason, the tral Italy, the Pleistocene volcanic deposits are a useful tool stratigraphic successions of the so-called “Campagna Ro- to establish a regional chronostratigraphic framework mana” have been well known since the beginning of the within which deposits with mammal remains can be placed. 20th century for the peculiarity of their volcanic rocks and Indeed, the volcanic deposits mark the chronological limits the richness of fossil mammal assemblages. Due to the in- of several faunal assemblages, such as Fontana Ranuccio tense urbanisation of Rome between the end of the 19th (Middle Pleistocene, Anagni Basin) and Cerveteri (Middle century and the beginning of the 20th century, a large num- Pleistocene, Rome; Biddittu et al. 1984, Capasso Barbato ber of vertebrate fossil remains were collected from the et al. 1983, Mancini et al. 2006). Campagna Romana (among others Meli 1896a, b; Ponzi At the beginning of the 20th century, a rhinoceros skull 1867, 1878; Portis 1893). The fossil remains were mainly was recovered in an undefined location in Campagna referred to the Middle Pleistocene and were found in alluvial Romana. This skull, which is preserved in the Museum of deposits of the Tiber River and its tributaries (Di Stefano et Paleontology at the Sapienza University of Rome al. 1998, Petronio et al. 2011). These deposits are frequently (MPUR), was filled and covered with volcanoclastic mate- constituted by volcanoclastic materials and are interlayered rial, which was partially enclosed in the bone cavities. The by volcanic deposits of the Sabatini or Colli Albani Volcanic aim of the present paper is to define the stratigraphic origin Districts (Caloi et al. 1998). The chronological successions and chronological position of the above-mentioned skull. DOI 10.3140/bull.geosci.1363 51 Bulletin of Geosciences Vol. 88, 1, 2013 1 2 3 8 7 4 6 5 9 A BC D Figure 1. Sketch map of the Quaternary Sabatini Volcanic District (SVD), Roman Province, and localization of some large-mammal fossil sites. Leg- end: A – SVD volcanism; B – outcrop area of the oldest (?547 ± 5 ka) eruption products; C – caldera rim; D – inferred source areas during the Morlupo (ca 800–500 ka) and Southern Sabatini (ca 500–400 ka) activity periods. The volcano-tectonic depression hosting Bracciano Lake and the Sacrofano Cal- dera are also shown. 1 – Riano; 2 – Capena; 3 – Cava Redicicoli; 4 – Prati Fiscali, Monte Sacro; 5 – Sedia del Diavolo, Saccopastore, Casal dei Pazzi; 6 – Cava Nera Molinario, Tor di Quinto, Ponte Molle (= Ponte Milvio); 7 – La Polledrara; 8 – Torre in Pietra; 9 – Collina Barbattini, Castel di Guido. Finally, a palaeontological analysis of the skull identi- Geological setting fies it as a late Middle-Late Pleistocene European species. and selecting vertebrate-bearing sites The records of the species during the Middle Pleistocene of Campagna Romana are revisited in light of the chronological interval related to the analysis of the volcanic material. The so-called “Campagna Romana” is a relatively large, flat zone around Rome (central Italy) crossed by the Tiber Abbreviations. – Marine Isotopic Stage – MIS; Sabatini River and bounded at the southwest by the Tyrrhenian Sea, Volcanic District – SVD. at the east by the Pre-Apennine, at the north by the Sabatini Volcanic District (SVD) and at south-southeast by the Institutional abbreviations. – MPUR – Museum of Paleon- Colli Albani Volcanic District (Di Stefano et al. 1998; Pet- tology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy; MCAUR – ronio & Sardella 1999; Petronio et al. 2011; Sottili et al. Museum of Comparative Anatomy, Sapienza University of 2010, 2011, and references therein). The rocks outcropping Rome, Italy; MPP – Museum of Paleontology, University in the Campagna Romana are represented by Plio- of Parma, Parma; MPAVC – Paleontological and Archaeo- Pleistocene sedimentary sequences partly covered by the logical Museum “Virginio Caccia”, San Colombano al volcanic products of the above-mentioned volcanic dis- Lambro, Milan; IGF – Natural History Museum of Flo- tricts. In particular, the sedimentary rocks located in the rence, Geological and Paleontological Section, Florence; right bank of the Tiber are covered or interfingered with the BNHM – British National History Museum, London; middle-distal pyroclastic products of the Sabatini Volcanic IQW – Institute für Quartärpaläontologie, Weimar; District. It is noteworthy that the majority of fossil verteb- SMNK – Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Karlsruhe; rates have been sampled in this part of the “Campagna Ro- SMNS – Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Stuttgart; mana”. The rocks of the Sabatini Volcanic District extend MNHM – Museum NaturHistorisches, Mainz. over an area of ~1800 km2 (Fig. 1) and are derived from 52 Luca Pandolfi et al. Stephanorhinus (Mammalia, Rhinocerotidae) from the Middle Pleistocene of Italy Table 1. SVD volcanic products used for comparison with the pumice in Table 2. Selecting specimens of rhinoceros skulls considered in the the skull MPUR/1522. morphological analysis. Eruptive Unit Label Composition Age Species Location Label First Ash-fall FAD Phonolite 582 ± 1 ka S. hemitoechus MPAVC sn Deposits Low SiO2 S. hemitoechus IGF 1105 S. hemitoechus IGF 1109 Lower Tufo Giallo LTGVT Phonolite 561 ± 1 ka S. hemitoechus IGF 10792 della Via Tiberina Low SiO 2 S. hemitoechus MPUR V2832 Upper Tufo Giallo UTGVT Phonolite 548 ± 3 ka S. hemitoechus BNHM 45 205 della Via Tiberina Low SiO2 S. hemitoechus SMNS 16295-1929 Grotta Rossa GRPS Phonolite 514 ± 5 ka S. hundsheimensis MPP sn Pyroclastic Sequence Low SiO2 S. hundsheimensis IQW 1965-2 513 (Suss. 9 615) S. hundsheimensis IGF 1931V Fall A Fall A Phonolite <514 ka S. hundsheimensis MPUR 1956 sn High SiO >485 ka 2 S. hundsheimensis MNHM PW 1945-172 Fall B Fall B Trachyte 485 ka S. hundsheimensis MNHM PW 1977-13 S. hundsheimensis MNHM PW 1963-156 Tufo Rossoa Scorie TRSNS Phonolite 450 ka S. hundsheimensis MNHM PW 1956-62 Nere Sabatino fall High SiO 2 S. hundsheimensis MNHM PW 1958-764 Tufo Rossoa Scorie TRSNS Trachyte ‘D.’ kirchbergensis SMNK PAL 4254 Nere Sabatino flow ‘D.’ kirchbergensis SMNS 6516.4.2.66.4 Fall E Fall E Trachyte 420 ka ‘D.’ kirchbergensis SMNS 6616.2.11.89.13 ‘D.’ kirchbergensis SMNS 6616.17.10.83.8 Tufo Giallo di Sacrofano TGS Phonolite 285 ± 1 ka ‘D.’ kirchbergensis SMNS 6617.2.12.67.3 PW Low SiO 2 ‘D.’ kirchbergensis MNHN 1949-238 Tufo di Bracciano TBR Trachyte 190 ka Tufo di Baccano TBA Phonolite 85 ka The Campagna Romana is rich in fossil mammal as- Low SiO2 semblages corresponding to the late Early Pleistocene and Middle Pleistocene. a wide spectrum of ultrapotassic magma compositions The earliest assemblages have been recovered in the (e.g., Masotta et al. 2010, Sottili et al. 2011). The available sites of Capena, Cava Redicicoli and in the “Helicella clays” volcanologic and geochronologic data (e.g., Sottili et al. of Ponte Galeria (= sensu Conato et al. 1980 and Petronio & 2010) show that the SVD volcanism included a variety of Sardella 1999; Fig. 1). They are

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