Fintina lui Mitilan (upper faunal level), Tetoiu 2 middle faunal horizon (Pleistocene of Romania)

Where: Romania (44.7° N, 23.9° E: paleocoordinates 44.7° N, 23.8° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

When: Early/Lower Pleistocene (2.6 - 0.8 Ma)

• Early Pleistocene. Faunal comparison indicates that the Middle Faunal Horizon (Tetoiu 2) correlates with the ?Tasso faunal unit, Seneze zone, Eburonian cold stage and Domashkinianhorizon/Odessan faunal complex. The middle faunal horizon corresponds to a general cooling and drying of the climate. The deposits consist of a basal succession of clays and sands, 8m thick, which underlies a sequence 6m thick, consisting predominantly of sands with gravel lenses. The upper faunal level consists of sands and gravels 0.5m thick, 0.7-1.0m above the main (lower) faunal level.

Environment/lithology: fluvial-lacustrine

• The Middle faunal horizon is at the top of a 40m sequence of sands with gravel and pebble lenses and thin clay intercalations. 'The beds have an average dip of 1 to 2 degrees SE.' 'Two metres above the upper faunal level, frost structures (ice wedges, involution pockets) were recorded.'
• Sands and gravels.

Size class: macrofossils

Primary reference: C. Radulesco and P. Samson. 1990. The Plio-Pleistocene mammalian succession of the Oltet Valley, Dacic Basin, Romania. Quatarpalaontologie 8:225-232 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]more details

Purpose of describing collection: biostratigraphic analysis

PaleoDB collection 39866: authorized by Alan Turner, entered by Hannah O'Regan on 10.06.2004

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• Allohippus stenonis mitilanensis is a medium sized form with slender limbs.
unclassified
  -
Mammalia
 Proboscidea - Elephantidae
Mammuthus meridionalis Nesti 1825 mammoth
 Perissodactyla - Equidae
"Equus ex gr. major" = Equus complicatus1, "Equus stenonis" = Allohippus stenonis1
"Equus ex gr. major" = Equus complicatus1 Leidy 1858 horse
"Equus stenonis" = Allohippus stenonis1 Cocchi 1867 horse
Allohippus stenonis mitilanensis
 Perissodactyla - Rhinocerotidae
Stephanorhinus etruscus2 Falconer 1868 rhinoceros
 Artiodactyla - Suidae
Sus strozzii Forsyth Major 1881 pig
 Artiodactyla - Cervidae
Eucladoceros sp. Falconer 1868 deer
Cervus nestii Azzaroli 1947 deer
 Artiodactyla - Giraffidae
"Mitilanotherium inexspectatum" = Palaeotragus inexspectatus
"Mitilanotherium inexspectatum" = Palaeotragus inexspectatus Samson and Radulesco 1966 giraffe
 Artiodactyla - Bovidae
Leptobos sp. Rutimeyer 1878 antelope
 Rodentia - Castoridae
"Castor plicidens" = Castor fiber Linnaeus 1758 Eurasian beaver
Trogontherium boisvilletti beaver
normal size.