Cementum and dentin increment analysis and dental microwear analysis were used for the first time to study the dental remains of a giant brown bear (Ursus arctos) from the Late Pleistocene of Yakutia, Russia. Dental increment analysis showed that this bear died during the warm season (May-Sep) in the prime of its life-at the age of 15 & thorn; years. Dental microwear analysis inferred that this bear had a varied diet consisting of a wide range of plant items, varying from soft-mast during warm season to hard-mast during hyperphagia period, but with regular intake of animal protein throughout the year. Diet in the last few weeks before death was inferred as mainly herbivorous and mainly comprising soft-mast abrasive grasses. Data on vegetation and climate in the territory of Yakutia during the Late Pleistocene, and comparisons with the dietary habits of extant U. arctos from Yakutia, allowed us to narrow the period of death of the animal within the warm season. The exceptionally large size of the bear combined with its omnivorous diet may indicate favorable living conditions for brown bears in the Mammoth steppe of Yakutia.

The North Eurasian forest and forest-steppe zones have sustained millennia of sociocultural connections among northern peoples, but much of their history is poorly understood. In particular, the genomic formation of populations that speak Uralic and Yeniseian languages today is unknown. Here, by generating genome-wide data for 180 ancient individuals spanning this region, we show that the Early-to-Mid-Holocene hunter-gatherers harboured a continuous gradient of ancestry from fully European-related in the Baltic, to fully East Asian-related in the Transbaikal. Contemporaneous groups in Northeast Siberia were off-gradient and descended from a population that was the primary source for Native Americans, which then mixed with populations of Inland East Asia and the Amur River Basin to produce two populations whose expansion coincided with the collapse of pre-Bronze Age population structure. Ancestry from the first population, Cis-Baikal Late Neolithic-Bronze Age (Cisbaikal_LNBA), is associated with Yeniseian-speaking groups and those that admixed with them, and ancestry from the second, Yakutia Late Neolithic-Bronze Age (Yakutia_LNBA), is associated with migrations of prehistoric Uralic speakers. We show that Yakutia_LNBA first dispersed westwards from the Lena River Basin around 4,000 years ago into the Altai-Sayan region and into West Siberian communities associated with Seima-Turbino metallurgy-a suite of advanced bronze casting techniques that expanded explosively from the Altai1. The 16 Seima-Turbino period individuals were diverse in their ancestry, also harbouring DNA from Indo-Iranian-associated pastoralists and from a range of hunter-gatherer groups. Thus, both cultural transmission and migration were key to the Seima-Turbino phenomenon, which was involved in the initial spread of early Uralic-speaking communities.

The article presents an analysis of the spatial and temporal distribution of the currently known finds of fossil saiga antelope (Saiga sp. and Saiga tatarica borealis) in Yakutia (Eastern Siberia, Russia). Saiga remains in the north of Eastern Siberia were first identified by I. Chersky (1876, 1891). Since then, the presence of this species in the Pleistocene of Yakutia has been established over a significant part of its territory. It is assumed that some finds of saiga remains date back to the Early Pleistocene. Nevertheless, the earliest reliable saiga remains in Northeast Asia are dated to the Middle Pleistocene (the Achchygyi Allaikha and Keremesit rivers). An analysis of the finds of saiga remains indicates that this species had a very wide range in the territory of Yakutia during the Late Pleistocene. Saiga inhabited the valleys of Lena, Vilyui, Olenek, Yana, Adycha, Indigirka, and Kolyma rivers (as well as in the interfluves of the latter two rivers). It also lived on Primorsky lowlands and on Bolshoi Lyakhovsky Island. Radiocarbon-dated or related finds indicate a fairly wide distribution of the saiga both during the Karginian interstadial and Sartanian glaciation. By the end of the Pleistocene, with climate changing, expressed in warming and humidization, the depth of snow cover during winter increased in the north of Eastern Siberia, which became an insurmountable factor for saigas. The climate change led to the degradation of the cold steppe zone and its replacement by the tundra and taiga zones. This could led to the regional extinction of saiga antelope in Northeast Asia and Beringia.

The brown bear (Ursus arctos L., 1758) is a widespread bear species inhabiting the forest zone of Eurasia, including the Republic of Yakutia. The association with forest habitats explains why the Pleistocene findings of U. arctos fossils are rare in the northern part of Eastern Siberia, where open steppe-tundra and steppefied landscapes prevailed during the Pleistocene. Fossils of U. arctos that have been found on the territory of Yakutia are dated since the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene. These are mainly the skulls and bones of the postcranial skeleton. In the present study, using comparative morphological analysis, computed tomography, and DNA sequencing, we describe a first mummified carcass of a brown bear individual that inhabited the New Siberian Islands (Northeast Siberia) in the Middle Holocene, approximately 3,500 years BP, which was found in the permafrost of Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island, Russia, in 2020.

The steppe bison ( Bison priscus ) is one of the most widespread and numerous representatives of the mammoth fauna. However, the features of the extinction of steppe bison at the end of the Pleistocene and their replacement by modern forms of the American bison ( Bison bison ) and European bison ( Bison bonasus ) have not yet been fully studied. Thus, complete skulls of fossil steppe bison are of great interest for studies on taxonomy and kinship relations in the genus Bison . This article presents the results of a study of the finely preserved skull of a fossil bison found in the Verkhoyansk district (Yakutia). This skull was compared by its morphological and osteometric features with other bison skulls, which were found at different times and locations in Upper Pleistocene deposits, as well as with the skulls of modern American bison Bison bison from the collection of the Zoological Museum of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. Standard morphometric indicators of bison skulls and horns were obtained using the Skinner and Kaisen measurement methods. Analysis showed that skulls of Bison priscus from Late Pleistocene sediments of Yakutia, according to most parameters, correspond to the maximum size of modern American bison Bison bison or even larger than the latter. The horns of bison from the Late Pleistocene are 1.5–2 times larger in size than the horns of modern bison and are comparable to those of the Middle Pleistocene long-horned bison B. p. crassicornis Richardson (= longicornis ). The disproportion in the size of the skull and horns of the Late Pleistocene bison is due to their habitat in the open landscapes of the Arctic steppe. The morphological uniqueness of the steppe bison of the Late Pleistocene in Yakutia has prospects for further research, because it deserves to be identified as an independent taxon (subspecies), which is relevant for regional paleontology and stratigraphy.

The steppe bison (Bison priscus) is one of the most widespread and numerous representatives of the mammoth fauna. However, the features of the extinction of steppe bison at the end of the Pleistocene and their replacement by modern forms of the American bison (Bison bison) and European bison (Bison bonasus) have not yet been fully studied. Thus, complete skulls of fossil steppe bison are of great interest for studies on taxonomy and kinship relations in the genus Bison. This article presents the results of a study of the finely preserved skull of a fossil bison found in the Verkhoyansk district (Yakutia). This skull was compared by its morphological and osteometric features with other bison skulls, which were found at different times and locations in Upper Pleistocene deposits, as well as with the skulls of modern American bison Bison bison from the collection of the Zoological Museum of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. Standard morphometric indicators of bison skulls and horns were obtained using the Skinner and Kaisen measurement methods. Analysis showed that skulls of Bison priscus from Late Pleistocene sediments of Yakutia, according to most parameters, correspond to the maximum size of modern American bison Bison bison or even larger than the latter. The horns of bison from the Late Pleistocene are 1.5–2 times larger in size than the horns of modern bison and are comparable to those of the Middle Pleistocene long-horned bison B. p. crassicornis Richardson (=longicornis). The disproportion in the size of the skull and horns of the Late Pleistocene bison is due to their habitat in the open landscapes of the Arctic steppe. The morphological uniqueness of the steppe bison of the Late Pleistocene in Yakutia has prospects for further research, because it deserves to be identified as an independent taxon (subspecies), which is relevant for regional paleontology and stratigraphy.

An Erratum to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1028334X23070024

The history and palaeoecology of the steppe bison (Bison priscus) remain incompletely understood despite its widespread distribution. Using dental microwear textural analysis (DMTA) and vegetation modelling, we reconstructed the diet and assessed the habitat of steppe bison inhabiting Eurasia and Alaska since the Middle Pleistocene. During the Late Pleistocene, steppe bison occupied a variety of biome types: from the mosaic of temperate summergreen forest and steppe/temperate grassland (Serbia) to the tundra biomes (Siberia and Alaska). Despite the differences in the identified biome types, the diet of steppe bison did not differ significantly among populations in Eurasia. DMTA classified it as a mixed forager in all populations studied. The DMTA of Bb1 bison—a recently identified genetically extinct sister-clade of Bison bonasus—was typical of a highly grazing bovid species and differed from all B. priscus populations. The results of the study temper the common perception that steppe bison were grazers in steppe habitats. The dietary plasticity of the steppe bison was lower when compared with modern European bison and may have played an important role in its extinction, even in the stable tundra biome of eastern Siberia, where it has survived the longest in all of Eurasia.

We found several ephippia belonging to the genus Moina Baird, 1850 (Branchiopoda: Cladocera: Moinidae) in two Pleistocene paleo-sites located in the northern portion of Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, Eastern Siberia, Russia. Based on morphological data, we identified all inspected ephippia as Moina cf. macrocopa (Straus, 1820) due to presence of a specific sculpture: flattened cells at the ephippium perimeter and fine meshes on the egg chambers. In the Asian part of Russia, Central Yakutia is the north -easternmost region where moinids were found to date, but we here demonstrate that, during the Pleistocene, they occurred in more northern and eastern territories. Together with some other branchiopods, most moinids can be considered as a group associated with the arid shallow water bodies. This type of water bodies is completely absent in the northern Yakutia now. Therefore, our records of fossil Moina in northern Yakutia fit well with the earlier proposed concept of the existence of none -analogous communities of branchiopod crustaceans in NorthEastern Eurasia during the Late Pleistocene. How to cite this paper: Tumskaya V.V., Neretina A.N., Kienast F., Protopopov A.V., Boeskorov G.G., Kotov A.A.2024. An unexpected record of Moina Baird, 1850 (Crustacea: Cladocera) in Pleistocene deposits of NorthEastern Eurasia // Arthropoda Selecta. Vol.33. No.1. P.25-35. doi: 10.15298/arthsel.33.1.03

The Panthera genus originated in Africa and subsequently spread to Eurasia, North America and South America. Species within this genus occupy dominant positions in ecological and food chains, but due to climatic fluctuations, changing ecosystems and various other ecological factors, several Panthera species have become extinct. The cave lion (Panthera spelaea Goldfuss) is one of the iconic species of Pleistocene megafauna, and its genetic research began around twenty years ago. Despite the information available so far, a number of issues regarding taxonomy, microevolutionary processes in populations, and the causes of extinction at the boundary between the Pleistocene and Holocene for this top predator remain unclear. This review aims to systematize the available data on cave lion genetics and develop new directions for studying this animal, as well as considering the genetic prospects for lion survival in the Holocene period.

Until now, a key question in reconstructing the appearance of the woolly rhinoceros has remained open: why did various Paleolithic artists often depict this animal with a hump on its back? Previous findings of mummies of this rhinoceros either had no hump or this area of the carcass was damaged. In this study, we describe the discovery of a subadult Coelodonta antiquitatis mummy (4-4.5 years old) from the permafrost of Yakutia. This is the first time that the presence of a hump in the neck and withers area has been reliably established. The hump of the studied rhinoceros measures 36 cm in length, 13 cm in height, and 14 cm in thickness, and is filled with adipose tissue. The dimensions of the subcutaneous and hump adipocytes probably indicate that the hump was filled with white fat. The presence of a fat hump in the woolly rhinoceros represents a distinctive adaptation that is not typical of the extant large mammals in the northern latitudes and likely contributed to their survival during the harsh winters of the Ice Age. This discovery shows that Paleolithic artists from Chauvet Cave made strikingly accurate depictions of the exterior of a woolly rhinoceros.

A spore and pollen research was performed for the first time to study the contents of the gastrointestinal tracts (GITs) and sediments containing frozen mummies of the fossil Don hare from the Upper Pleistocene ice complex of the Verkhoyansk district of Yakutia. Radiocarbon dating (C14) revealed that the hares lived during the Karginian Interstadial of the Late Pleistocene, 32.5 thousand years ago (calibrated date). The results expanded the understanding of the ecology of extinct Lepus tanaiticus. The species was assumed to live in cold steppes dominated by xerophytic communities, as well as in grass-forb and sedge-forb meadows. Herbaceous plants mostly constituted the winter diet of Don hare in contrast to the modern mountain hare L. timidus, which feeds mainly on branches and bark of trees and shrubs in winter.

Many unique finds of Pleistocene animals have been made on the territory of Yakutia, including whole frozen bodies. However, the majority of the finds come from the northern regions. On the territory of Central Yakutia, in contrast to Northern Yakutia, there are much fewer finds. This is due to the smaller number of preserved relict ice deposits of the Upper Pleistocene ("Yedoma") and the lack of systematic, licensed collection of mammoth ivory and other remains of the mammoth fauna due to their unsatisfactory preservation, which is caused by the stronger thawing of the permafrost in summer in Central Yakutia. There are relatively few published scientific papers on the mammoth fauna of the Amgar River basin. Therefore, new data from this area are of scientific interest. We have studied new material on the mammoth fauna from the "Mount Korolenko" locality, located on the left bank of the Amgar River near the village of the same name. The material was collected during school expeditions organised by the Amga Lyceum and the Russian Geographical Society in 2022-2023. It shows that at this site bone remains are washed out by the river on the right bank of the Amgas. Scattered bones were found on both the left and right banks, but the right bank is richer in palaeontological material. The bone remains are represented by fragments and whole bones of the postcranial skeleton of various animals. The age of most of the finds probably corresponds to the Karga interstadial. The taxonomic identification of the bones showed the presence of the following species: woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, Lena horse, steppe bison, reindeer, red deer. There is a fragment of the humerus of a roe deer, possibly of late Neopleistocene age. A morphometric study of the bone remains was carried out and comparisons made with literature data. The list of large mammals that lived in the Amgas basin in the late Neoproterozoic has been completed.

Small areas of steppe-like vegetation (steppoids) occur on southern slopes among open larch woodlands in the lower reaches of the Kolyma River, northeastern Siberia. Depending on the soil parent material, they are divided into petrophytic (on the bedrock colluvium) and thermophytic (on silty loam of the Yedoma (Ice Complex) formation) steppoids. Xeromorphic deeply thawing soils with diverse humus-accumulative horizons, high content of roots, fine subangular blocky structure, and an increased content of water-stable microaggregates are formed in steppoids. These soils from differ from the soils of surrounding taiga landscape by the decreased actual and potential acidity; higher contents of exchangeable bases, soluble salts, carbonates, and organic nitrogen; smaller ratio between concentrations of oxalate- and dithionite-extractable iron. The soils of steppoids, especially thermophytic steppoids, are zooturbated. Dark mull-like forms of humus on the surface of mineral grains are present among the microaccumulations of organic matter in these soils. The features of cryoxerozemic pedogenesis are better manifested in petrophytic steppoids. The soils of thermophytic steppoids have similar features with steppe cryoarid ones, but differ from the latter in the absence of carbonate-accumulative and cryohumus horizons and in a relatively high acidity. Among the soils of petrophytic steppoids, gray-humus lithozems and gray-humus or mucky–dark-humus soils with carbonate incrustation can be distinguished. The soils of thermophytic steppoids can be classified as gray-humus or mucky–dark-humus surface-turbated (zooturbated) soils.

In this study, we aimed to achieve three objectives: (1) to precisely characterize the body plans of Elephantidae and other large herbivorous mammals; (2) based on this analysis, to determine whether the body plans of the extinct woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) and steppe mammoth (M. trogontherii) differ from those of modern-day Elephantidae: the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), the African bush (Loxodonta africana), and forest (L. cyclotis) elephants; (3) to analyze how the body plans have changed in extant perissodactyls and proboscideans compared with their Paleogene ancestors. To accomplish this, we studied mammoth skeletons from the collections of Russian museums and compared this data with a large number of skeletons of extant elephantids, odd-toed, and even-toed ungulates, as well as their extinct relatives. We showed that three genera of Elephantidae are characterized by a homogeneous body plan, which is markedly different from other large herbivores. Elephantids break the interrelationship, that exists in artiodactyls and perissodactyls, between the total length of the head and neck on one side and the limb's segments on the other. Their limbs are very tall (inferior in this regard among large ungulates only to the giraffe), and, contrary to the other large herbivorous mammals, elongated due to the length of the proximal segments. This allows them to effectively utilize the principle of inverted pendulum (straight-legged walking) in locomotion. The biggest differences in the body plan of mammoths compared with extant elephants are a markedly larger pelvis, elongated fore- and hindlimbs (due to the increased relative length of their proximal segments), and different proportions of the skull. The body plans of plesiomorphic Paleogene proboscideans and perissodactyls differed markedly from their descendants in every body part; these differences are related, on the one hand, to the allometric growth, and on the other hand, to the advancement of the locomotor apparatus in the course of their evolution. The most notable difference in the body plan between Paleogene proboscidean Moeritherium and extant Elephantidae is the similar to 2-fold increase in relative limb height.

In this study we describe a newly found frozen mummy of a young woolly rhinoceros (4–4.5 years old), dated to the Karginian Interstadial of the Late Neopleistocene (32 440 ± 140 years ago). The dimensional characteristics of this specimen are compared to those of 1- to 1.5-year-old juvenile, as well as adults, of Coelodonta antiquitatis found previously. Studies of the new find allowed to fill some of the information gaps concerning the features of the ontogenesis of the woolly rhinoceros, illustrate age-related changes in the color of its fur, and reveal a new anatomical peculiarity of C. antiquitatis—the presence of a fatty hump. Numerous remains of microscopic crustaceans were found in the wool, including representatives of the genus Moina (Cladocera: Moinidae), currently absent in the region. The latter were relatively common in Pleistocene temporary water bodies of Yakutia. The carcass of the rhinoceros was buried in a shallow (apparently temporary), fishless reservoir.

In 1810, G.A. Goldfuss was the first to identify the bones of a cave lion discovered in the Zoolithenhöhle cave (Germany), naming it Felis spelaea. But it was prehistoric man who first described it in numerous parietal and movable representations. Since the beginning of the 19th century, scientific knowledge of the cave lion Panthera (Leo) spelaea has progressed steadily, establishing its leonine character. Numerous discoveries led to paleontological studies of deposits throughout Eurasia, often in caves and linked to prehistoric sites. In the 20th century, this research benefited from the emergence of new dating methods, the development of palynology and the isotopic biochemistry of collagen. As the species' range became better defined, it expanded to include the whole of Eurasia and even North America. Finally, the 21st century is marked by the development of paleogenetics and the multiplication of synthetic studies, in many countries, while benefiting from a diffusion largely facilitated by Internet exchanges and the use of English. Phylogeny of the Felidae and understanding of the origins of Panthera spelaea are progressing rapidly. Today's knowledge makes it possible to envisage a true paleobiology of this extinct species.

Hormones in biological media reveal endocrine activity related to development, reproduction, disease and stress on different timescales1. Serum provides immediate circulating concentrations2, whereas various tissues record steroid hormones accumulated over time3,4. Hormones have been studied in keratin, bones and teeth in modern5-8 and ancient contexts9-12; however, the biological significance of such records is subject to ongoing debate10,13-16, and the utility of tooth-associated hormones has not previously been demonstrated. Here we use liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry paired with fine-scale serial sampling to measure steroid hormone concentrations in modern and fossil tusk dentin. An adult male African elephant (Loxodonta africana) tusk shows periodic increases in testosterone that reveal episodes of musth17-19, an annually recurring period of behavioural and physiological changes that enhance mating success20-23. Parallel assessments of a male woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) tusk show that mammoths also experienced musth. These results set the stage for wide-ranging studies using steroids preserved in dentin to investigate development, reproduction and stress in modern and extinct mammals. Because dentin grows by apposition, resists degradation, and often contains growth lines, teeth have advantages over other tissues that are used as records of endocrine data. Given the low mass of dentin powder required for analytical precision, we anticipate dentin-hormone studies to extend to smaller animals. Thus, in addition to broad applications in zoology and palaeontology, tooth hormone records could support medical, forensic, veterinary and archaeological studies.

Представлены результаты обследования с использованием беспилотного летательного аппарата арктических территорий Северо-Востока России, перспективных для поиска ископаемых остатков животных мамонтовой фауны. Применение таких аппаратов позволяет выявить признаки, которые могут косвенно свидетельствовать о наличии скоплений костных остатков, в частности, дистанционно обследовать береговые обрывы, образовавшиеся при термоэрозии так называемых едомных отложений — сильнольдистых (содержащих более 50–90 % льда), богатых органи- ческим материалом (содержащих более 1–2 % органики), иловатых и пылеватых супесчаных и мелкопесчаных поздненеоплейстоценовых от- ложений. Применение дрона позволяет выполнять мониторинг их состояния и выявлять свежие размывы и обвалы, при образовании которых обнажаются костные остатки, захороненные в них. Применение беспилотных летательных аппаратов перспективно для выявления и обследования вторичных коллекторов костных остатков — крутых излучин небольших речных водотоков, дна водоемов до глубины 0.5–1.5 м, а также труднодоступных береговых частей водоемов, в которые могут выпадать костные остатки при таянии едомных отложений.