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Rodentia, Mammalia) from Hayranlı, Anatolia: Implications for Paleoecology and Paleobiodiversity

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Rodentia, Mammalia) from Hayranlı, Anatolia: Implications for Paleoecology and Paleobiodiversity Palaeontologia Electronica palaeo-electronica.org Systematics and dental microwear of the late Miocene Gliridae (Rodentia, Mammalia) from Hayranlı, Anatolia: implications for paleoecology and paleobiodiversity Ferhat Kaya and Nuretdin Kaymakçı ABSTRACT New finds of Gliridae (Mammalia, Rodentia) from the late Miocene of Hayranlı, located in central eastern Anatolia, are described. These specimens include Micrody- romys koenigswaldi De Bruijn, 1966, and Myomimus maritsensis De Bruijn et al., 1970. The morphological overlap between Myomimus and Peridyromys makes it difficult to distinguish between the two genera. The last appearance of Microdyromys was previ- ously recorded in Ampudia 3 (MN 10, Duero Basin, Spain), but the Hayranlı collection from the middle Turolian extends its spatiotemporal occurence. Dental microwear anal- ysis indicates that these species of dormice had a diet that involved a combination of insects, fruit, seeds, and grasses, which could point to the development of a more gen- eralist behavior adapted to the seasonal availability of foods. Environmental changes, occurring from the middle Miocene to the late Miocene in Europe and the Eastern Med- iterranean, caused a drastic decrease in the number of species of Gliridae adapted to an arboreal lifestyle and a warm and humid climate. There is a significant faunal exchange from forest dwellers to ground dwelling species, which is characterized by the increase in Myomimus finds from a number of localities during the late Miocene − probably attributable to the vegetational shift from predominating forested wetland environments to open woodland and steppe-like environments. Considering the large herbivore-omnivore mammal collection of Hayranlı the mean hypsodonty value (=1.6) depicts a relatively humid woodland and shrubby paleoenvironment. Ferhat Kaya. Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, PO Box 64 (Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2a), 00014 Helsinki, Finland, [email protected] Nuretdin Kaymakçı. Department of Geological Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Ankara 06531, Turkey, [email protected] Keywords: Gliridae; microwear; late Miocene; Anatolia; paleoecology; paleobiodiversity PE Article Number: 16.3.21A Copyright: Palaeontological Association September 2013 Submission: 15 March 2013. Acceptance: 20 August 2013 Kaya, Ferhat and Kaymakçı, Nuretdin. 2013. Systematics and dental microwear of the late Miocene Gliridae (Rodentia, Mammalia) from Hayranlı, Anatolia: implications for paleoecology and paleobiodiversity, Palaeontologia Electronica Vol. 16, Issue 3; 21A; 22p; palaeo-electronica.org/content/2013/508-gliridae-from-anatolia KAYA & KAYMAKÇI: GLIRIDAE FROM ANATOLIA 1.1 1.3 Quaternary 1490m alluvium red mud alternated with think sandstone and conglomerate 1.2 HAY/02 1417m sandstone HAY/19 1406m sandy red mudstone HAY/84 a,b,c,d small mammal locality 1392m conglomerate HAY/19 sandy red mudstone 1352m Latest Miocene to Pliocene carbonates Fossil localities conglomerate, sandy red mudstone Late Miocene to Early Pliocene clastics Faults alternation Late Miocene-Pliocene volcanic rocks Travertines conglomerate Early to Middle Miocene units Quaternary alluvium 10 m 10 km Pre-Miocene units Plio-Quater. clastics 1305m shallow marine carbonates 1.4 HAY/84d HAY/02 HAY/84 HAY/84c HAY/84b HAY/84a HAY/19 HAY/06 500 m FIGURE 1. 1: Active geodynamic map of eastern Mediterranean region and location of the study area (Kaymakçı et al., 2010). 2: Geologic map of the Sivas Basin simplified from 1/500.000 scale geological map sheet of Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration, with location of the Hayranlı locality. 3: Stratigraphical column of the fossil bearing İncesu Formation and vertical distribution of the important localities. 4: Satellite image of the Hayranlı study area with location of the selected localities. INTRODUCTION small mammal test samples. In 1997 the research- ers returned to the same site and further expanded Hayranlı is located 20 km northwest of Sivas the collection. In 2002, a new survey for large in the central eastern part of Anatolia (Figure 1.1; mammal fossils was conducted in the previously 2). The localities were first discovered in 1993 by discovered area in collaboration with the Archaeol- the Turkey Vertebrate Fossil Research Project ogy Museum of Sivas and Ankara University. Later, (Saraç, 2003). During this field campaign Hans de in 2009 one of us (F.K.) continued sampling for Bruijn and Gerçek Saraç recovered the first set of 2 PALAEO-ELECTRONICA.ORG small mammal fossils to expand on the previous southeastern Anatolia (Çiner et al. 2002). These findings. marine deposits are overlain unconformably by flu- The stratigraphic sequence of the Hayranlı vio-lacustrine deposits mainly in the northwestern deposit is approximately 185 m thick from bottom part of the Sivas Basin and are delimited mainly by to top (Figure 1.3). The fossil deposit consists of a ENE-WSW to NE-SW trending faults developed series of large mammal bone-bearing lenses, during the Neotectonic period (Kaymakçı et al., which are dispersed vertically in different levels 2010). These continental deposits are named as ranging from 1300 m to 1430 m and horizontally İncesu Formation (Çiner et al., 2002) and are over- within an area encompassing around 50 km2. The lain conformably by lacustrine marls and carbon- core study area where the recent survey and exca- ates intercalated with fine clastics. All these units vations have been done includes Hayranlı village, are overlain unconformably by Plio-Quaternary an area that stretches over 10 km2 (Figure 1.4). alluvial deposits accumulated along the current Since 1993, a total of 92 large and small mammal drainage networks and adjacent to active faults. fossil bearing localities have been discovered, and The Hayranlı fossil locality is part of the İnc- the richest of these (58-HAY/02-06-19-84) are esu Formation in the NW margin of the Sivas Basin exhibited on the stratigraphic sequence. Bovids (Figure 1.2). The sequence has a very distinct from the localities 58-HAY/14, 19, 23, and 70 have cyclic nature characterized by rhythmical alterna- been assigned to late MN11 or early MN12 (Bibi tion of medium to thick bedded conglomerates, thin and Güleç, 2008). Additionally, lower MN11 is a to thick bedded red mudstones and siltstones, and suggested age for Hayranlı (58-HAY/2 and 19) medium bedded sandstone at the bottom. Towards based on the evolutionary stage of the suid the middle part of the sequence a very thick and (Microstonyx major) collection (Made et al., 2013). widespread conglomerate level with pebble imbri- In 2009, the localities 58-HAY/84a, b, c, d, horizon- cations and scour-and-fill structures occur. The tal continuations of the 58-HAY/84, yielded new sequence continues upwards with similar facies small mammal fossils. The relatively rich collection above this conglomerate except for the thin to of small mammal fauna recovered from these medium bedded limestone levels intercalated with localities includes: insectivores, murids, cricetids, similar red beds. The occurrences and thickness of squirrels, flying squirrels, and glirids. In this article the limestone levels increase upwards while the the combined collection of Gliridae (Myomimus and amount of coarse clastics decreases, indicating Microdyromys) from the Hayranlı localities 58-HAY/ that fluvial conditions were gradually replaced by 84, 84a, b, c, and d are described. Additionally, the lacustrine environments. Finally, the sequence evolutionary and ecological history of both genera gradually grades into lacustrine limestones interca- is reviewed within the framework of paleoenviro- lated with gray marls, indicating that lacustrine con- mental change during the last 40 Ma. ditions completely dominated in the basin. Although a number of horizons contain vertebrate GEOLOGICAL SETTING fossils, the large mammal fossils are recovered mainly from the sandy red mudstones and our The Sivas Basin is in eastern Central Anatolia small mammal collection obtained from the green and comprises two very distinct sequences extend- marl horizon between the conglomerate and sandy ing from 1) Paleocene to Middle Miocene and 2) red mudstone. In the Kangal Basin the Late Mio- Late Miocene to Recent. The first configuration cene-Pliocene sequence comprises similar facies belongs to the closure of the Neotethys Ocean and except for the domination of lacustrine facies and collision of intervening continental blocks including intercalated volcanics (Kaymakçı et al., 2010). Pontides in the north and Tauride-Anatolide plat- from in the south. While the later configuration was AN OVERVIEW OF GLIRIDAE formed by the end of middle Miocene during the Neotectonic period out of a collision and north- Both the origin and classification of the Gliri- wards convergence of the Arabian Plate along the dae (Myoxidae) are still somewhat controversial. Bitlis-Zagros Suture Zone (Şengör and Yılmaz, Some researchers use Gliridae while others use 1981). The Paleocene to Eocene sequence in the Myoxidae; they are synonyms for one another that basin corresponds to marine environments while both represent the same family of dormice studied much of Oligocene and lower to middle Miocene by different experts over time (Holden, 2005). G.G. sequences relate to continental settings except for Simpson (1945) brought back the name Gliridae in a late Burdigalian to Serravalian diachronic marine his benchmark work "Principles of Classification incursion developed in large areas in eastern
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