Selvella, Gioiella, Southern Chiana Valley, Perugia: Early/Lower Pleistocene, Italy

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Mammalia - Perissodactyla - Equidae
Equus cf. stenonis Cocchi 1867
44 specimens
recombined as Allohippus stenonis
minimum 22 metapodia, 13 teeth, mandibles and maxillae, 1 radius, 1 proximal femur, 1 distal tibia, 6 phalanges.
Mammalia - Suidae
Sus sp. Linnaeus 1758
1 specimen
1 humerus diaphysis.
Mammalia - Cervidae
Eucladoceros cf. dicranios
14 specimens
2 complete legs - 2 humerii, 2 radii, 2 metacarpals, 2 tibiae, 2 metatarsals, 1 calcaneum, 1 astragalus, 1 cubonavicularis, 1 phalange.
    = ? Megaceroides ? obscurus
Azzaroli 2001
Eucladoceros cf. dicranios (possibly Megaceroides obscurus?
"Dama" cf. nestii Azzaroli 1947
69 specimens
5 humerii, 7 distal radii, 12 proximal metacarpals, 1 femur, 10 astragali, 17 proximal metatarsals, 5 maxillae with teeth, 3 mandibles with teeth, 5 sections of vertebral column, 1 with pelvis, 4 antlers.
    = Pseudodama ? farnetensis
Azzaroli 2001
synonym of Metacervocerus
Pseudodama sp. (farnetensis?)
Mammalia - Bovidae
Leptobos sp. Rutimeyer 1878
6 specimens
1 tibia and fibula, 1 calcaneum, 1 astragalus, 1 metatarsal, 1 radius with broken ulna and articulating distal humerus.
Mammalia - Carnivora - Felidae
Lynx issiodorensis (Croizet and Jobert 1828)
1 specimen
1 badly crushed mandible (left and right sides), only the left P4 is undamaged.
Mammalia - Carnivora - Canidae
Canis etruscus Forsyth Major 1877
1 individual
1 articulated cranium and lower jaw, lacking the cranium behind the orbits.
Mammalia - Proboscidea - Elephantidae
Elephantidae indet. Gray 1821
3 specimens
1 left capitatum, 1 fragmentary femur, 1 ilium. In discussion teh capitatum is thought to be most similar to Archidiskodon.
see common names

Geography
Country:Italy State/province:Perugia
Coordinates: 43.1° North, 12.0° East (view map)
Paleocoordinates:43.0° North, 11.9° East
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Altitude:300 meters
Time
Period:Quaternary Epoch:Pleistocene
10 m.y. bin:Cenozoic 6
Key time interval:Early/Lower Pleistocene
Age range of interval:2.58800 - 0.78100 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Stratigraphy comments: Late Early Pleistocene, approximately 1Ma.
Lithology and environment
Lithology description: The bones are found in a thin lense, just below the top of a layer of yellow crossbedded coarse grained sands.
Environment:fluvial-lacustrine indet.
Geology comments: A 3m section was exposed, but the sequence is deeper than this. In the unexposed sections the sandy layer forms an escarpment that can be followed for some hundred meters in the valley, suggesting a gentle north-east dip. Landscape morphology suggests a richer clay content in the underlying sediments.
Taphonomy
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Associated major elements:many
Size sorting:well
Collection methods and comments
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Collection method comments: Site found in a sand quarry temporarily opened in 1969 (IGF locality n. 87). Material collected and stored at the Geological & Palaeontological Museum of the University of Florence.
Taxonomic list comments:Equus and Dama are most abundant, most other species represented by few elements. Leptobos is very large, similar in size to the largest Olivola specimens, whilst Eucladoceros is larger still and not so slender.
Metadata
Database number:44145
Authorizer:A. Turner Enterer:H. O'Regan
Modifier:H. O'Regan Research group:PACED
Created:2004-09-02 02:24:44 Last modified:2004-09-02 05:47:43
Access level:the public Released:2004-09-02 02:24:44
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:

11584.PACED C. De Guili. 1987. Late Villafranchian faunas of Italy: the Selvella Local Fauna in the southern Chiana Valley, Umbria. Palaeontographia Italica 74:11-50 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]

Secondary references:

13155PACED A. Azzaroli. 2001. Middle and Late Villafranchian vertebrates from Tuscany and Umbria. A synopsis. Bollettino della Societa Paleontologica Italiana 40(3):351-356 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/M. Uhen]