18th International Senckenberg Conference 2004 in Weimar

European (Ovibovini, Caprini) from the Plio-: new interpretations

EVELYNE CRÉGUT-BONNOURE Muséum Requien, 67 rue Joseph-Vernet, F-84000 Avignon, France [email protected]

The Caprinae (Artiodactyla, ) are an pallantis suessenbornensis. An increase in bio- important component of the Eurasian diversity occurs later, during the Mindel (Elster), fauna from the end of Pliocene to the beginning indicated by the appearance of H. bonali and of Holocene. The critical revision and study of the re-immigration of O. a. antiqua. During this members of the Ovibovini and Caprini tribes from turnover, the genera are affected by an important about 200 sites, provides new insights concern- evolutionary transformation connected to global ing their immigration into Western Europe, their cooling and a change in the physical environ- origins and their evolution. Neodiagnoses for ment: most of the taxa have been recently proposed • Upper Pliocene and Lower Pleistocene and some determinations corrected, particularly Megalovis, and Praeovibos have those of the Pliocene and Lower Pleistocene taxa mode rately hypsodont cheek teeth with a previously attributed to Capra (CRÉGUT-BONNOURE thick base and lingually pinched lobes; the 2002). Seven genera and nineteen species are metapodials are elongated and slender. now identifi ed: Megalovis latifrons, Megalovis n. Middle Pleistocene Soergelia and Praeo- sp., Soergelia sp., Soergelia nov. sp., S. minor, vibos have more hypsodont teeth with S. brigittae, S. elisabethae, Praeovibos mediter- thinner bases. In P. priscus and Ovibos the raneus, P. priscus, Ovibos pallantis, Ovis sp., O. lingual lobes become more rounded. The ammon, Hemitragus orientalis, H. albus, H. bonali, metapodials are more robust, and in O. H. cedrensis, Capra ibex, C. caucasica and C. moschatus get shorter. In S. elisabethae the pyrenaica. metatarsals get longer. Current knowledge indicates that fi ve taxa • Upper Pliocene and Lower Pleistocene were present at the end of the Pliocene: M. lati- Hemitragus have moderately hypsodont frons, Soergelia sp., O. a. antiqua, Ovis sp. and H. teeth with thick bases that become very orientalis. Diversity subsequently increases, such hypsodont and thin based in Middle Pleis- that the end of the Lower Pleistocene is charac- tocene species. terised by nine species: Megalovis sp., Megalovis Capra immigrated into the Alps at the end of nov sp. (CRÉGUT-BONNOURE & DIMITRIJEVIĆ in prep.), the Middle Pleistocene (Riss/Saale: C. camburg- S. minor, S. brigittae, Soergelia nov. sp. (CRÉGUT- ensis, C. ibex macedonica). The occurrence of BONNOURE & DIMITRIJEVIĆ in prep.), P. mediterraneus, C. caucasica in France is now confi rmed, as the O. a. antiqua, H. cf. orientalis and H. albus. validity of its ancestry to C. pyrenaica. At the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene, Between the Upper Pliocene and the end of an important turnover occurs in the Ovibovini the Pleistocene, there is a progressive decrease and Caprini faunas: all Lower Pleistocene spe- in the number of taxa. A precise lifespan for each cies become extinct. They are replaced by three species is established and new chronological and new immigrants: S. elisabethae, P. priscus and O. geographical charts are proposed.

CRÉGUT-BONNOURE, E. (2002): Les Ovibovini et Caprini (Mammalia, Artiodactyla, Bovidae, Caprinae) du Plio-Pléistocène d’Europe: systématique, évolution et biochronologie. - Thèse de Doctorat d’Etat ès Sciences n° 1-2002: 441 pp., 1 vol. 686 fi gs., XXXIII pls., 1 vol. 212 tabs.; Université de Lyon I. CRÉGUT-BONNOURE, E. & DIMITRIJEVIC (in prep.): The Carnivora and Bovidae from Trlica (Pljevlja, Monte- negro). 88