FOSSILIA - Reports in Palaeontology

The European badger Meles meles from Middle Pleistocene to Early Holocene of Italian Peninsula

 

Beniamino Mecozzi

PaleoFactory Laboratory, Department of Earth Science, Sapienza, University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy.

beniamino.mecozzi@uniroma1.it;  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7097-3217  

 

How to cite: Mecozzi (2020). The European badger Meles meles from Middle Pleistocene to Early Holocene of Italian Peninsula. Fossilia, Volume 2020: 37-40. https://doi.org/10.32774/FosRepPal.2020.0610

Bullet-Points Abstract
  • The first occurrence of Meles meles is form the late Early Pleistocene (1.3 Ma).
  • European badger is widely widespread across Europe during the Early Pleistocene to Late Pleistocene.
  • The size variability of Meles meles is not linked to evolutionary trend through the Middle Pleistocene to Early Holocene and/or considered as response to climatic changes.

Keywords: Mediterranean; Carnivoran; size variability.

 
Download PDF
 

Tab. 1. Extant and fossil remains from Middle Pleistocene to Early Holocene of Meles meles from Italian Peninsula.

Fig. 1. Size variation in Meles meles, as indicated by the length of the upper carnassial (P4/L), upper first molar (M/1L) and lower carnassial (M1L). Geochronology, age in millions of years and Oxygen isotope curves (after Shackleton, 1995) on the left, next the fossiliferous sites and their suggested ages indicated by line. Colors: red – extant specimens; black – Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene specimen; grey - Middle Pleistocene specimen.

Cited References

  • Abramov A.V. & Puzachenko A.Y. (2006). Geographical variability of skull and taxonomy of Eurasian badgers (Mustelidae, Meles). Zoologicheskii Zhurnal, 85: 641-655.
  • Abramov A.V. & Puzachenko A.Y. (2013). The taxonomic status of badgers (Mammalia, Mustelidae) from Southwest Asia base on cranial morphometrics, with the redescription of Meles canescens. Zootaxa, 3681(1): 44-58. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3681.1.2
  • Anelli F. (1959). Prime ricerche paleontologiche della grotta della Masseria del monte Conversano (Murge di Bari). Le grotte d’Italia, 3: 1–27.
  • Baryshnikov G.F., Puzachenko A.Y. & Abramov A.V. (2003). New analysis of variability of cheek teeth in Eurasian badgers (Carnivora, Mustelidae, Meles). Russian Journal of Theriology, 1: 133-149.
  • Blanford W.T. (1875). Descriptions of new Mammalia from Persia and Balúchistan. Annales de Magazine of Natural History, 4(16): 309-313. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222937508681858
  • Bonifay M.F. (1971). Carnivores quaternaries du Sud-Est de la France. Mèmoires du Musèum National d’Historie Naturelle Nouvelle Sèrie C Tome, 21(2): 1-377.
  • Caloi L. & Palombo M.R. (1978). Anfibi, rettili e mammiferi di Torre del Pagliaccetto (Torre in Pietra, Roma). Quaternaria, 20: 315-428.
  • Del Campana D. (1914). Mammiferi nuovi o poco noti della Grotta di Cucigliana (Monti Pisani). Bollettino della Società Geologica Italiana, 31: 412-418.
  • Del Cerro I., Ferrando A., Marmi J., Chashchin P., Taberlet P. & Bosch M. (2010). Nuclear and mitochondrial phylogenies provide evidence for four species of Eurasian badgers (Carnivora). Zoologica Scripta, 39: 415-425. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2010.00436.x 
  • Driesch Von den A. (1976). A guide to the measurement of animal bones from archaeological sites. Peabody Museum Bulletins, 1: 1-137.
  • Fabiani R. (1919). I Mammiferi Quaternari della regione veneta. Memorie dell’Istituto di Geologia della Regia Università di Padova, 5: 1-173.
  • Hodgson B.H. (1847). On the Tibetian badger (Taxidea leucurus). Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 16: 763-771.
  • Iurino D.A. (2014). Body size reduction and tooth agenesis in Late Pleistocene Meles meles (Carnivora, Mammalia) from Ingarano (Southern Italy). Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia (Research In Paleontology and Stratigraphy), 120(1): 109-118. https://doi.org/10.13130/2039-4942/6053
  • Kormos T. (1914). Drei neue Raubtiere aus den Präglazial Schichten des Somlyòhegy bei Püspükfürdö. Mitteilungen aus der Jahrberichte Königliche Ungarische Geologische Reichsanstalt, 22: 223-247
  • Koufos G.D. (1992). The Pleistocene carnivores of the Mygdonia basin. Annales des Paleontologie 78: 205-257
  • Kurtén B. (1968). Pleistocene mammals of Europe. Aldine Publishing Co, Chigago, 317 pp.
  • Linnaeus C. (1758) Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. In: Tomus, vol I. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm,p 824
  • Macdonald D.W. (2001). The new encyclopedia of mammals. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 930 pp. 
  • Madurell-Malapeira J. (2010). The Villafranchian carnivores from the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula and the Early-Middle Pleistocene transition. Dissertation, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès. 
  • Madurell-Malapeira J., Santos-Cubedo A., Marmi J. (2009). Oldest European occurrence of Meles (Mustelidae, Carnivora) from the Middle Pliocene (MN16) of Almenara-Casablanca-4 karstic site (Castellòn, Spain). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 29: 961-965. https://doi.org/ 10.1671/039.029.0322
  • Madurell-Malapeira J., Alba D.M., Marmi J., Aurell J. & Moyà-Solà S. (2011a). The taxonomic status of European Plio-Pleistocene badgers. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 31(5): 885-894. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 02724634.2011.589484
  • Madurell-Malapeira J., Martínez-Navarro B., Ros-Montoya S., Espigares M.P., Toro I. & Palmqvist P. (2011b). The earliest European badger (Meles meles), from the Late Villafranchian site of Fuente Nueva 3 (Orce, Granada, SE Iberian Peninsula). Comptes Rendus Palevol 10(8): 609-615. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2011.06.001
  • Mecozzi B., Coppola D., Iurino D.A., Sardella R. & De Marinis A.M. (2019). The Late Pleistocene European badger Meles meles from Grotta Laceduzza (Brindisi, Apulia, Southern Italy): the analysis of the morphological and biometric variability. The Science of Nature, 106(5-6): 13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-019-1604-2
  • Neal E. & Cheeseman C. (1996). Badger. Tand AD Poyser Ltd, London, 271 pp.
  • Petrucci M., Cipullo A., Martínez-Navarro B., Rook L. & Sardella R. (2013). The late Villafranchian (Early Pleistocene) carnivores (Carnivora, Mammalia) from Pirro Nord (Italy). Palaeontogrhica Abteilung A, 298(1–6): 113-145.
  • Pitti C. & Tozzi C. (1971). La Grotta del Capriolo e la Buca della Iena presso Mommio (Camaiore, Lucca). Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche, 26: 213-258.
  • Proulx G., Abramov A.V., Adams I., Jennings A.P., Khorozyan I., Rosalino L.M., Santo-Reis M., Veron G. & Do Linh San E. (2016). World distribution and status of badgers - a review. Systematics, Biology, Conservation, and Research Techniques. Alpha Wildlife Publications, Sherwood Park, Badgers, pp 31-116.
  • Rabeder G. (1976). Die Carnivoren (Mammalia) aus dem Altpleistozän von Deutsch-Altenburg 2. Mit Beiträgen zur Systematik einiger Musteliden und Caniden. Beiträge Paläontologie Österreich, 1: 5-119.
  • Shackleton N.J., (1995). New data on the evolution of pliocene climatic variability. In: Vrba E.S., Denton G.H., Partidge T.C. and Burckle L.H. (Eds.) Paleoclimate and Evolution, with Emphasis on Human Origins. Yale University Press, New Haven. 242–248.
  • Tashima S., Kaneko Y., Anezaki T., Baba M., Yachimori S., Abramov A.V., Saveljev A.P. & Masuda R. (2011). Phylogeographic sympatry and isolation of the Eurasian badgers (Meles, Mustelidae, Carnivora): implication for an alternative analysis using maternally as well as paternally inherited genes. Zoological Science, 28: 293–303. https://doi.org/10.2108/zsj.28.293.
  • Temminck C. (1844). Apercu general et specifique sur les mammiferes qui habitent le Japon et les Iles qui en dependant. In: von Siebold P (ed) Fauna japonica. Muller, Amsterdam, pp 25-59.