Quartarpalaontologie, Berlin 8 (1990), 131 — 151 The Sequence of Early Pleistocene Small-mammal Faunas from the South Russian Plain By ANASTASIA KONSTANTINOVNA MARKOVA, MOSCOW With 23 Figures and 2 Tables Contents 1. The sequence of small-mammal faunas Abstractum .................................................................................131 1.1. The faunas of Zapadnye Kairy and Ushkalka 1. Introduction.................................................................................131 2. The sequence of small-mammal faunas .....................................131 By the second half of the Eopleistocene the VHth terraces of the rivers 2.1. The faunas of Zapadnye Kairy and Ushkalka . 131 flowing to the Black sea had been formed. Faunas of the Noghaisk type 2.2. The Port-Katon fauna .................................................................131 correspond to the beginning of this time. In these faunas the rooted 2.3. The Karai-Dubina fauna .............................................................137 2.4. The Shamin fauna .......................................................................141 microtines are represented by Mimomys intermedius NEWTON, 1884, as 3. Discussion...................................................................................142 well as by the smallsized species (Mimomys pusillus MKHELY. 1914 and Summary ....................................................................................143 Mimomys reidi HINTON, 1910, whose teeth are characterized by an References..................................................................................143 insignificant amount of cement in the valleys, a weakly expressed 3 prismatic fold onM,, and a rapidly disappearing mark on M, and M ). In the genus Villanyia KRETZOI, 1956 predominant at this time were V. Abstractum fejervaryi KORMOS, 1934, while the more ancient V. petenyii MEHELY, 1914, sharply decreases in numbers. In the faunas of this age rootless voles The paper deals with Early Pleistocene small-mammal fauna from five sites in the southern Russian Plain (Zapadnye Kairy, Ushkalka, Port- Allophaio- myspliocaenicus KORMOS, 1932 were very common. Prolagurus Katon, Karai-Dubina, Shamin). Consideration is given to special features (Prolagurus) pannonicus KORMOS, 1930 were also present. In the Noghaisk of the species composition of small mammals and palaeomagnetic data faunas there were no Microtus and Pitymys (TOPACHEVSKY 1965). The are presented for all sections which contain faunal material. faunas of this type compare well with the East European faunas of Osztramos-8 and Villany-5 (FEJFAR and HEINRICH 1983). Die Arbeit behandelt die unterpleistozanen Kleinsaugerfaunen von fiinf Fundstellen im Stiden der Russischen Tafel (Zapadnye Kairy, We have at our disposal material from two sites of this age: Zapadnye Ushkalka, Port-Katon, Karai-Dubina, Shamin). Besondere Kairy and Ushkalka (the lower reaches of the Dniepr river, MARKOVA Beriicksichtigung findet die jeweilige Zusammensetzung der Klein- 1982). These sites are located within the zone of predominantly reversed saugerfaunen. Palaomagnetische Daten werden fur alle Profile ge- geben, magnetization and, according to indirect data, they may be synchronous die Faunenmaterial erbrachten. with the normal episode of magnetization in the Matuyama-Jaramillo Рассматриваются фауны мелких млекопитающих раннего epoch (Figs. 1—5; Table 1) (VELITCHKO et al. 1976). плейстоцена юга Русской равнины (СССР) из пяти местонахождений (Западные Кайры, Ушкалка, Порт-Катон, Карай- Дубина, Шамин). Разбираются особенности видового состава мелких млекопитающих. Для всех разрезов с фауной приводятся палеомагнитные данные. 2.1. The Port-Katon fauna 2. Introduction The last two decades have been notable for the discovery of a A more recent stage in the evolution of small mammals is illustrated considerable amount of small-mammal material, dating from the end of by the fauna from Port-Katon in the Azov region (Fig. 1 and Fig. 6). The the Pliocene (the second half of the Eopleistocene) and the beginning of main components in the Port-Katon fauna are Mimomys intermedius and the Pleistocene (Early Pleistocene as defined by the scale approved at the Mimomys pusillus. There are also some fossils of Villanyia petenyii. 1975 INQUA Congress). In accordance with the stratigraphic scale published in the volume “Stratigraphy of the USSR” (1984), the second Mimomys intermedius, represented by a series of teeth, is characterized by 3 half of the Eopleistocene — Epivilla- franchian — is correlated with the a quite stable structure of M, and M (Figs. 7—12) and by the small size marine deposits of the Apsheron transgression of the Caspian sea and of the teeth: length Mt 2.60—2.93—3.20 (n = 65), width Mj 1.15— with the Gurian deposits of the Black sea. The greater part of this epoch 1.32—1.45 (n = 72), length M3 1.60-1.91-2.05 (n = 59), width M3 0.90- falls within the Matuyama reversed polarity epoch. Only a part of this 1.01-1.05 (n = 60). In Mj and M3 of this species, even in the rootless interval, namely the one corresponding to the time of the Noghaisk fauna, falls within the Jaramillo episode of normal polarity (1000000 yr. B.P. to stage, there is no trace of the prismatic fold and mark. 9 900000 yr.B.P.). 132 А. К. MARKOVA/Early Pleistocene Small-mammal Faunas Quartarpalaontologie 8 (1990) Table 1. The species composition of Early Pleistocene small mammals from sites of the south Russian Plain species fossil sites Zapadnye Kairy Ushkalka Port-Katon Karai-Dubina Shamin Insectivora: Sorex sp. 1 1 3 Desmana thermalis Kormos 20 Desmana sp. 1 6 Lagomorpha: Lepus sp. 2 3 1 Ochotona sp. 1 8 Rodentia: Citellus sp. 3 2 60 1 Castoridae gen. et sp. indet. 1 Allactaga ex gr. jaculus Pallas 8 Allactagulus ex gr. acontion Pallas 2 Spalax ex gr. minor Topachevsky 1 6 Ellobius sp. 1 Cricetus sp. 1 1 38 Clethrionomys sp. 1 5 Villanyia petenyii MEHELY 9 1 MEHELY Mimomys (Microtomys) pusillus 2 10 Mimomys (Microtomys) intermedius NEWTON 17 8 144 60 12 Mimomys sp. 45 380 Prolagurus (Lagurodon) arankae KRETZOI 3 Prolagurus (Prolagurus) aff. pannonicus KORMOS 18 9 1 96 Prolagurus (Prolagurus) posterius Zazhigin 18 9 Prolagurus sp. 43 Laguridae gen. et sp. indet. 450 Eolagurus cf. argyropuloi I. GROMOV et PARFENOVA 84 8 Allophaiomys pliocaenicus KORMOS 10 32 7 6 2 Microtus (Pitymys) hintoni KRETZOI 110 12 Microtus (Pitymys) sp. 1 Microtus (Microtus) arvalinus HINTON (?) 2 Microtus (Microtus) ex gr. ‘oeconomus'l Pallas 14 2 Microtinae gen. et sp. indet. 300 5 Quartarpalaontologie 8 (1990) A. К. MARKOVA/Early Pleistocene Small-mammal Faunas 133 Fig. 2. Zapadnye Kairy section Fig. 3. Ushkalka section 1 — soil; 2 — loess; 3 — loam; 4 — sand; 5 — limestone; 6 — water surface; 7 — fossil remains of rodents; 8 — fossil remains of mollusks; 9 — moleburrows Fig. 1. Location of the sites with fossil remains of small mammals 134 А. К. MARKOVA/Early Pleistocene Small-mammal Faunas Quartarpalaontologie 8 (1990) Fig. 4. The structure of the vole teeth from Zapadnye Kairy 1—6: Mj of Mimomys intermedius', 7—9: M, of Villanyia ex gr. petenyii', 10—12: Mj of Allophaiomys pliocaenicus', 13—16: Mi of Prolagurus aff. pannonicus; 17: M3 of P. aff. panonicus: 18: Clethrionomys sp. 3 and 1 M , however, do have the mark. It should be noted that all these Table 2. Dimensions of the Mt [mm] of Allophaiomys pliocaenicus teeth are either in the rootless stage or the first pulp intake (Fig. 13). KORMOS These teeth were referred to the species Mimomys pusillus. The sites length width dimensions of of Mimomys pusil- lus are as follows: length 2.70—2.87— 3.20 (n = 9), width Mj 1.20—1.30—1.45 (n = 9), length M3 2.00 mm, lim X n lim X n width M3 1.00 mm. Shamin 2.50 2.50 1 0.9; 1.0 0.95 2 At Port-Katon we have also discovered two fossils of referred to Karai-Dubina 2.50—2.60 2.55 3 0.88—1.00 0.87 6 Prolagurus pannonicus (Fig. 14: 3) and several M[ to Allophaiomys Port-Katon 2.20—2.50 2.28 7 0.80-1.00 0.899 7 pliocaenicus (Fig. 15: 1—8, Table 2). Ushkalka 2.30-2.75 2.51 6 0.90-1.10 0.96 8 The fauna of Port-Katon is characterized by the appearance of the Zapadnye 2.60 2.60 1 1.00-1.20 1.07 4 Kairy subgenus Pitymys. 1 Mt of this subgenus possesses widely marged triangels situated at the base of the paraconid complex and quite a complex front loop on the paraconid (Fig. 15: 9). The structure of the case, some of Allophaiomys from Port-Katon are characterized by a similar front loop precludes referring this fossil to the species Pitymys hintoni. It formation of the front loop of the paraconid and they differ only by a is quite possible that the of Pitymys from Port-Katon is an extreme greater merging of it with the loops at the base of the paraconid (Fig. 15: variant of the Mx of Allophaiomys pliocaenicus. In either 8). Among the fossils of Mj of Allophaiomys there are specimens similar to Allophaiomys pliocaenicus nutiensis CHALINE, 1972 described Quartarpalaontologie 8 (1990) A. К. Markovл/Early Pleistocene Small-mammal Faunas 135 Fig. 5. The structure of vole teeth from Ushkalka 1—4: M, of Mimomys intermedius', 5: M3 of M. intermedius; 6: M, of M. pusillus; 7: M3 of M. pusillus; 8—13: M, Allophaiomys pliocaetiicus; 14, 15: of Prolagurus arankae; 16—22: of P. aff. pannonicus; 23, 24: M3 P. aff. pannonicus from the Valerot site (Figs. 15:5 and 7), as well as similar to the fossils of nearly complete or complete separation of the front loop of the paraconid. Microtus (Suranomys) malei burgondiae CHALINE, 1972. Judging by the It are these features that allow to refer the fossil from Port-Katon to the figures given by CHALINE (1972, Figs. 24: 14—24 and Fig. 25), the latter subgenus Pitymys and on the basis of this fact it is possible to see the species includes fossils of both typical Allophaiomys and ones which are fauna of Port-Katon as more advanced when compared with the faunas of similar to Pitymys (for instance, in Fig.