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Deinothere and Mastodons from the Brukenthal Museum Natural Science Collection

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Deinothere and Mastodons from the Brukenthal Museum Natural Science Collection North-Western Journal of Zoology Vol. 4, No. 1, 2008, pp.108-118 [Online: Vol.4, 2008: 21] Deinothere and Mastodons from the Brukenthal Museum Natural Science Collection Vlad CODREA1 and Rodica CIOBANU2 1. “Babeş-Bolyai” University, Faculty of Biology and Geology, Department of Geology-Palaeontology, 1 Kogălniceanu Str., 400084 Cluj-Napoca, Rumania 2. Brukenthal Museum, Natural Science Branch, Sibiu, Romania * Corresponding author: Codrea, V., E-mail: [email protected] Abstract. Among the fossil vertebrate collection at the Brukenthal Museum of Natural Science in Sibiu, there are a number of mastodon cheek teeth and a single deinothere premolar. Some of these fossils are rare in Romania, documenting species as Deinotherium giganteum or Gomphotherium angustidens. Another molar fragment, which could be related to Anancus arvernenis, originates form Cheile Dâmbovicioarei. Its origin is strange, because this locality is devoid of Late Miocene or younger deposits, where this species should occur. All these Probiscidean localities are new for Romania. Key words: Deinothere, mastodons, Transylvanian Basin, South Carpathians, Middle Miocene, ?Pliocene Introduction Sciences Society in Sibiu (Siebenbürgische Verein für Naturwissenschaften zu In 1841 as a consequence of Hermannstadt). This new society con- progress in natural history research in ducted research in all natural sciences Transylvania, some Sibiu intellectuals, realms, trying to spread knowledge founded the Society for research of among all those interested in natural Transylvania (Verein für Siebenbürgische sciences. The society members did their Landeskunde), whose aim was to best in forming new collections focused continue research concerning both the on different biological and geological history and natural sciences of the area. samples. As a result the Natural Therefore, the society included several Sciences Museum in Sibiu was opened naturalists whose research results were in May 4, 1895. Among these issued in the review Archives of the collections, the palaeontological section Society for Transylvanian knowledge rapidly expanded so that by 1852 it (Archiv des Vereins für Siebenbürgische already included 1800 items, available Landeskunde). Gradually, their number to the general public. soon increased and after eight years As a result of this rapid expansion, they founded another society, de- the museum building becomes dicated exclusively to the natural disorganized with, some collections sciences, the Transylvanian Natural being stored in other buildings in Sibiu. North-West J Zool, 4, 2008 Oradea, Romania Deinothere and Mastodons from the Brukenthal Museum Natural Science Collection 109 The repeatedly transfers of specimens could not succeed in finding either the from one location to another as well as donator names, or the years when these two world wars and the absence of fossils reached the society collections. It professional palaeontologists for a is possible that the society may have number of years led to gaps in registers bought large collections of fossils data, with some registers being lost, including the Proboscidean items. whilst others now only contain incomplete details on each finding of fossils. Therefore, the actual problem is Systematic Palaeontology not how many inventory numbers a fossil has, but the lack of synchrony Order Proboscidea Illiger, 1811 between the labels and registers and Family Deinotheriidae Bonaparte, 1845 the scantiness of data for a number of Genus Deinotherium Kaup, 1829 samples. Deinotherium giganteum Kaup, 1829 The fossil Proboscideans we de- cided to study are actually curate at (Pl. I, Figs. 1-3) Brukenthal Natural Science Museum in Sibiu (abbreviated, BkNSMS). They Description (the dental nomen- originate from the south Transylvanian clature according Harris, 1975) Basin and from a doubtful locality in This deinothere is documented only the Southern Carpathians (Fig. 1). by a right p4. According to its label, the Their inventory numbers are mention- tooth originated from Vurpăr, a village ed in a register made around the located 26 km NE of Sibiu. The old middle of the last century. However, in inventory number is BkNSMS 839 (now an older register dating from the labeled BkNSMS 32620). In the second half of the 19th century, there collection registry the specimen is are also older numbers for the same labeled as “Mastodon”. samples. As bad luck would have it we The premolar is composed only of its crown, with the roots broken on their proximal thirds. The tooth is biradiculate. The crown is damaged, being broken on its mesio-lingual side. A strong pressure mark can be seen on its distal side. The morphology of the tooth has nothing to differentiate it from similar teeth already described (e.g. Tobien 1988, Gasparik 1993). It closely resembles the p4 mentioned by Codrea Figure 1. Location of the new Probocidean et al. (1991b) in Minişu de Sus (Arad localities within Romania. district). The Vurpăr premolar is more worn, in a most advanced wear stage North-West J Zool, 4, 2008 110 Codrea, V. & Ciobanu, R. compared with Minişu de Sus: the Codrea 1994). Some authors rejected wear figures are extended on the whole the latter of these species (e.g. Harris protolophid, and more than a half of 1978, Huttunen 2002a), while others the hypolophid. Only the entoconid is (Codrea 1994, Göhlich 1999) consider it still pristine. The protoconid is by far valid. the largest and tallest cusp. It is well known that in European Dimensions (mm): Deinotherium representatives, the cheek-tooth morphology is extremely L Wa Wp H conservative. In these circumstances, a ======================= distinction of the genus’ species based 69.5 +54.5 55.6 43 on morphological features is a hopeless task (Gasparik 1993, Huttunen 2002a). L - length; Wa – anterior width; Wp Therefore, the different species are – posterior width; H – height; + - distinguished by the size of the teeth. incomplete. In Europe, this genus is restricted to The Vurpăr tooth is highly elon- only two species, D. giganteum and D. gated in comparison to the p4 at proavum Eichwald, 1835 (D. gigantissi- Minişu de Sus, but its width is nearly mum Ştefănescu, 1892 is a junior the same. The comparisons with other synonym of this species; for details, see p4 are given in Fig 2. 70 Vurpăr 65 Minişu de Sus 60 Hungary Kettlasbrunn 55 Width Belvedere 50 Oswaldgasse Wilfersdorf 45 Montredon 40 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00 90.00 Length Figure 2. Last lower premolar (p4) L/W (mm) scatter diagram for different Deinotherium giganteum localities. Data from Bachmayer & Zapfe (1976), Tobien (1988), Codrea et al. (1991 b), Gasparik (1993), Huttunen (2002 b). North-West J Zool, 4, 2008 Deinothere and Mastodons from the Brukenthal Museum Natural Science Collection 111 Discussion mentions the presence of “Tapirus giganteus” at Guşteriţa (= Hammers- Deinotheres first occurred in Europe dorf). “Tapir gigantesque” is the former in the Early Miocene (Tobien 1986, name of Deinotherium, as used by Göhlich 1999), more exactly in the MN4 Cuvier (p. 174; 1822). Surprisingly this unit (Orleanian; Steininger et al. 1985), taxon had never been mentioned in this or MN 4a subunit (Tassy 1990). Their locality in previous, or subsequent cradle was in Africa, where they had a contributions by Ackner (1848, 1854). long geological history, from the Late The geological age of the Guşteriţa Oligocene until the Early Pleistocene. Formation Lubenescu, 1981 is Panno- In Romania, the oldest known nian s. str. (Popescu et al. 1995). deinothere is the one at Minişu de Sus The museum registers do not give (Codrea et al. 1991b), found in Lower any data about the rocks where the Sarmatian (Volhynian) diatomite. The fossil originated. However, the mammal assemblage already known geological map of the Vurpăr region (1: from the Minişu de Sus diatomite 200 000, folio 27; Dessila-Codarcea & includes, apart from this deinothere: Dimitrescu 1968) indicates there is an Gomphotherium angustidens (Cuvier, area where only Pannonian rocks are 1817), Allicornops simorrense Lartet, exposed. This geological age is in 1851, Anchitherium aurelianense Cuvier, accordance with this deinothere 1812, Dorcatherium crassum Lartet, 1851, species’ stratigraphic extension. Its size Listriodon splendens splendens von is slightly larger than the specimen Meyer, 1846 (Codrea et al. 1991a, b, from Minişu de Sus and could be 2007, Codrea 1992, 1996). It is a typical interpreted as a more progressive Upper Astaracian Anchitherium fauna evolutionary stage. (MN 7+8), indicative of forested The presence of this fossil at Vurpăr environments, riparian to a brackish- is important for interpreting the water gulf. Pannonian Transylvanian paleobiogeo- D. giganteum is also mentioned in graphy too. It documents the existence the Middle Sarmatian (Bessarabian) at during the Pannonian of a lake with Deleni-Hârlău (Macarovici & Zaharia low levels tendency episodes and an 1967), in a poorly known stratigraphic extension of land environments on the level (probably Kersonian or Meotian) south Transylvanian Basin border. The at Drăgeşti (Şova 1963) as well as in paleogeographical reconstructions al- younger formations as in Derna (Latest ready issued (Magyar et al. 1999) are Pannonian or Pontian; Jurcsák 1973b, pointing out just a variable relationship 1983). between the submerged vs. emerged In the Sibiu region, only one re- land, at the boundary between the ference could be linked to deinotheres. Transylvanian Basin and the South An anonymous list of fossils in Michael Carpathians.
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