Excavations associated with wastewater treatment facilities in the Santiago Basin of Chile uncovered remains of an adult male Stegomastodon platensis in Pleistocene fluvial sediments. The specimen included a skull with both tusks still in their alveoli. A small sample block of dentin and cementum was excised from the right tusk for analysis of compositional and structural variation recorded in the sequence of dentin layers. The sample was analyzed using serial isotope assays, microCT, and measurement of dentin increments in thin sections. These procedures allowed us to recover life history information relating to the final four years of life. Analyses show seasonal variation in composition, density, and growth rate, permitting identification of years. MicroCT features appear to recur semiannually, which has not been observed previously in proboscidean tusks; these features are interpreted to correspond to the winter-spring boundary and some other aspect of environment or behavior recurring within each year. Average annual apposition of dentin within the tusk is 10.4 mm for complete years studied, suggesting that this individual was healthy leading up to the final year of life. Recurrent periods of low rate of apposition measured in weekly dentin increments that formed during the summer are interpreted as representing periods of musth. Using the location of microCT features, annual appositional thickness, and the pattern of weekly growth within the final year of life, we interpret the season of death for this individual as being within the early autumn. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

This paper presents the results from a tooth microwear analysis of three proboscideans (Mammuthus rumanus, Mammuthus meridionalis, and Anancus arvernensis) from four Early Pleistocene localities in Europe (Red Crag, Norwich Crag, Chilhac, and Eastern Scheldt). The particularity of these four localities is that mammoths and gomphotheres co-occur. The quantitative microwear data (numbers of pits and scratches) were informative about the broad feeding traits in each species. For both genera studied, diets range from strict browsing (including leaf and fruit browsing) to grass-dominated mixed feeding. These data reveal highly variable dietary traits in the mammoths and gomphotheres studied, but the qualitative results provide evidence of differences between the two sympatric genera. We were able to identify the consumption of fruits, seeds, bark and twigs in A. arvernensis, and the ingestion of high quantities of grit in M. rumanus and M. meridionalis which is most likely related to open or semi-open habitats. The data also support the hypothesis that resource partitioning existed between mammoths and gomphotheres when they co-occurred at a locality. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

Two female woolly mammoth neonates from permafrost in the Siberian Arctic are the most complete mammoth specimens known. Lyuba, found on the Yamal Peninsula, and Khroma, from northernmost Yakutia, died at ages of approximately one and two months, respectively. Both specimens were CT-scanned, yielding detailed information on the stage of development of their dentition and skeleton and insight into conditions associated with death. Both mammoths died after aspirating mud. Khroma's body was frozen soon after death, leaving her tissues in excellent condition, whereas Lyuba's body underwent postmortem changes that resulted in authigenic formation of nodules of the mineral vivianite associated with her cranium and within diaphyses of long bones. CT data provide the only comprehensive approach to mapping vivianite distribution. Three-dimensional modeling and measurement of segmented long bones permits comparison between these individuals and with previously recovered specimens. CT scans of long bones and foot bones show developmental features such as density gradients that reveal ossification centers. The braincase of Khroma was segmented to show the approximate morphology of the brain; its volume is slightly less (∼2,300 cm 3 ) than that of neonate elephants (∼2,500 cm 3 ). Lyuba's premaxillae are more gracile than those of Khroma, possibly a result of temporal and/or geographic variation but probably also reflective of their age difference. Segmentation of CT data and 3-D modeling software were used to produce models of teeth that were too complex for traditional molding and casting techniques.

Early accounts of the red panda focused on its external appearance and craniodental features, but subsequent anatomical studies have provided a range of information on the organs, glands, vasculature, and musculoskeletal system. Many of these studies have focused on features related to the red panda’s specialized bamboo diet, such as the skull and muscles of mastication and the radial sesamoid and its associated musculature. Most recently, researchers have utilized imaging techniques to document the ontogeny of the skeleton and the normal radiographic anatomy of the red panda. This chapter provides a comprehensive review of what is currently known about the anatomy of this intriguing species.

The objectives of the present study were to (1) provide new dates of Notiomastodon platensis (Ameghino, 1888) fossils from the Brazilian Intertropical Region, derived from Electron Spin Resonance (ESR); (2) propose a timeline for the occurrence of N. platensis in South America based on published data (ESR, 14C, 230Th/234U) and, finally, (3) propose a geographic distribution for the species over the period between 21 ka (Last Glacial Maximum) and 120 ka (Interglacial period). The new dates presented here, together with the available estimates, indicate that the species occurred in South America between at least 530 ka and 6 ka (middle Pleistocene–early Holocene). The Paleo-Species Distribution Models created for the 21 ka and 120 ka periods overlapped with the distribution of dry forest habitats during the Last Glacial Maximum, which clearly indicates that the species was associated with this type of vegetation.

Large-scale fluctuations in global climate and resulting changes in ecology had a profound effect on human evolution and dispersal. Though hominin remains are scarce, studies focussing on the more abundant records of fossil land mammal communities can contribute greatly to our knowledge of the palaeoenvironmental circumstances that influenced and directed the global spread of hominins. To produce a comprehensive and accurate account of the evolution of western Palaearctic habitat diversity between 2.6 and 0.4 Ma BP, information generated from large mammal communities from 221 key sites has been included in this study.The palaeoecological conditions of the western Palaearctic during the Early and early Middle Pleistocene were principally controlled by the following key factors: (1) a widespread trend of temperature decrease, (2) the periodicity of the global temperature record, (3) the intensity of single climatic stages, (4) the temporal pattern of climatic variation, (5) geographical position, and (6) the distribution of continental water resources. A general picture of the evolution of western Palaearctic habitat diversity saw the replacement of extensive forested terrain by an alternating sequence of varied savannah-like and forested habitats during the 2.6-1.8 Ma span, as well as an alternation between different types of predominantly open habitats between 1.8 and 1.2 Ma. Both of these processes were governed by 41 ka temperature periodicity. During the 1.2-0.9 Ma time span, irregular climatic fluctuations were more common and habitat variability increased. The subsequent 0.9-0.4 Ma interval, a period controlled by 100 ka periodicity, was by comparison more stable, with longer climatic cycles alternating between open and forested landscapes. During the entire Early and early Middle Pleistocene, assemblages of large mammal communities reveal a distinct trend of decreasing continentality between Eastern and South-Eastern Europe on the one hand, and South-Western and North-Western Europe on the other. This trend was due to the effect of the Atlantic Ocean, while in Southern Europe the relatively low continentality was balanced by influences from the Mediterranean Sea.When plotted against evidence of hominin occurrence, the data on western Palaearctic habitat diversity inferred from large mammal communities indicate clear environmental stimuli for the earliest human dispersal in Europe. These are: (1) a wide range of habitats, implying a high diversity of resources; (2) mild climates with low seasonality, implying a lack of strong environmental fluctuations. Around 1.8 Ma at the latest, hominins of African origin entered the western Palaearctic for the first time, taking advantage of the diversity of habitats and resources, particularly along large river systems. Their subsequent westward spread between 1.7 and 1.3 Ma was restricted to Mediterranean-influenced areas, which offered a high variability of habitats and relatively low seasonality. The increase in environmental diversity, which occurred from 1.2 Ma onwards, opened up South-Eastern and Eastern Europe for hominin occupation. According to the available records, North-Western and Central Europe were initially colonized during late Early to early Middle Pleistocene interglacials, when these regions experienced periods of low seasonality and considerable habitat diversity. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In August 2008, a survey has yielded a skull of Mammuthus trogontherii in the ancient maar of Nolhac (Haute-Loire, France). This short article summarizes the geological, chronological and historical context of this discovery. Taxonomic implications are also discussed.

BIOCHRONOLOGY AND LARGE MAMMALS IN THE MIDDLE AND LATE PLEISTOCENE IN WESTERN EUROPE: CONTRIBUTION OF THE RHINOCEROTIDAE (GENUS STEPHANORHINUS) Three species of the Stephanorhinus genus occur in the Middle and Late Pleistocene: S. hundsheimensis, S. kirchbergensis and S. hemitoechus. Using the size index method (it), this work is approaching the size variations of these three species and their biochronological implications. A gradual increasing of the size is presented by S. hundsheimensis from the MIS 31 to the MIS 15-13 as well as size variants from a southern and a northern area. S. kirchbeigensis, frequent in the northern area, shows, also, an increase of its size index from the MIS 15-13 to MIS 5c. Three different stages of the evolution of the size of S. hemitoechus are recognized: the first stage (MIS 12) and the last stage (MIS 7-3) correspond to high and nearly equivalent size index while the intermediate stage (MIS 11-8) is characterized by a low size index.

Vialette (3.14Ma), like Senèze, Chilhac, Sainzelles, Ceyssaguet or Soleilhac, is one of the historical sites located in Haute-Loire (France). The lacustrine sediments of Vialette are the result of a dammed lake formed by a basalt flow above Oligocene layers, and show a geological setting typical for this area, where many localities are connected with maar structures that have allowed intra-crateric lacustrine deposits to accumulate. Based on previous studies and this work, a faunal list of 17 species of large mammals has been established. Eight species, typical of this time period and well known, occur in the collection of the Crozatier Museum of Le Puy-en-Velay: Pliocrocuta perrieri, Lynx issiodorensis, Mammut borsoni, Anancus arvernensis, Stephanorhinus jeanvireti, Tapirus arvernensis, ‘Cervus’ pardinensis and Croizetoceros ramosus. The presence of Gazella cf. G. borbonica is newly established, in addition to which the oldest known occurrences of Canis sp., cf. Eucladoceros sp. and of the genus Equus in Western Europe are also described. These are the new data which pushed back the age of the arrival of the genus Equus, cf. Eucladoceros and Canis in Western Europe. Five taxa are not found in the Crozatier collection: Primates indet., Agriotherium sp., Ursus gr. minimus-thibetanus, Bovidae middle-sized (?Pliotragus ardei or ?Gallogoral meneghinii), ?Procapreolus cf. cusanus.

The cold adapted larger mammal faunas of Pleistocene Eurasia (the so-called Mammuthus-Coelodonta faunas) were mainly composed of autochthonous Palaearctic elements. Whereas the history of the immigration and evolution of European woolly mammoths has been exhaustively studied, comparable investigations for woolly rhinoceroses are lacking. Referring to the remains of European and Asian Coelodonta in general and the first skull to be found of a European woolly rhinoceros of early Middle Pleistocene age (from Bad Frankenhausen, Germany) in particular, the occurrence, dispersal, morphological evolution and ecological adaptation of early Coelodonta are reviewed.Coelodonta originated around 2.5 Myr BP north of the Himalayan-Tibetan uplift. The genus was restricted in its range to different types of steppe landscapes of continental Asia for more than two million years and it wasn't until MIS 12, when extended phases of low temperature and aridity prevailed in western Eurasia that woolly rhinoceroses comparable to Coelodonta tologoijensis spread westward towards Central Europe for the first time. Coelodonta entered Central and, in several cases, Western Europe during all of the subsequent Middle to Late Pleistocene cold stages. Morphological evolution, in particular, the elongation and narrowing of the head and successively its lower and more inclined posture, the shift of the orbits towards the rear of the skull, and changes in the position and morphology of the tooth row concurrently indicate progressive adaptations to an efficient grazer. During the course of their Plio-/Pleistocene evolution, Coelodonta rhinoceroses changed strikingly from cursorial mixed feeders of central Asian origin to graviportal, highly specialised grazers, inhabiting huge belts of tundra-steppe-like environments during dry and cool to cold periods, and thus becoming the only rhinocerotid to join the Eurasian mammoth faunas. The Bad Frankenhausen Coelodonta record dates the initial formation of a pan-Eurasian Mammuthus-Coelodonta faunal complex to about 460 kyr BP. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

En 2004, les fouilles ont ete organisees dans la partie anterieure de la grotte, sur 80 m2. Ainsi, nous avons pu poursuivre le degagement du sol d'occupation UA 26, mis au jour des l'annee precedente. Une grande partie du materiel archeologique de cette unite a ete coordonnee (plus de 8000 pieces en 2003 et 6761 en 2004). L'individualisation de la surface de l'UA 26 a ete realisee par les observations sedimentologiques et surtout grâce a la forte densite du materiel archeologique (materiel lithique et faunique). Il reste neanmoins de nombreux restes archeologiques encore en place sur le sol et qui seront degages l'annee prochaine.

This work presents the palaeontological study of four Plio-Pleistocene species of the genus Stephanorhinus, which occurred in twenty sites scattered throughout Mediterranean Europe and the Massif Central. These species are S. etruscus (Seneze, Upper Valdarno), S. hundsheimensis (Sainzelles, Ceyssaguet, Soleilhac, Durfort, Vallonnet cave, Tour de Grimaldi, Cagnes-sur-Mer and Isernia), S. hemitoechus (Caune de l'Arago, Mars cave, Orgnac 3, Baume Bonne, Terra Amata, Prince cave, Cavillon cave, Observatoire cave and Barma Grande) and S. kirchbergensis (Aldene, Prince Cave and the Grotte des Enfants). The Vallonnet cave, Isernia La Pineta and Caune de l'Arago have provided particularly important contributions to our knowledge of European rhinoceroses. They have yielded remains of a small rather primitive S. hundsheimensis, of an advanced S. hundsheimensis and of S.hemioechus, respectively. Morphological and biometric characteristics are outlined to illustrate the differences separating these species. Variations in size during the Pleistocene are also described. S. etruscus is characterised by a steady decrease in its size throughout time. In contrast, both S. hundsheimensis and S. hemitoechus demonstrate irregular size modifications: small Early Pleistocene S. hundsheimensis representatives are followed by larger Middle Pleistocene ones, whereas S. hemitoechus shows marked fluctuations in size, with the earliest and the most recent forms being larger than the intervening ones. Thanks to these fluctuations in size, Pleistocene rhinoceroses may result very helpful biochronological tools.

The fossiliferous levels of Caune de l'Arago supply a useful tool to investigate the relationships between faunal renewals and climate changes in a restricted area during the Middle Pleistocene. On the other hand the Italian fossil assemblages of the middle Galerian testified changes of palaeoenvironmental conditions. A biochronologic and palaeoecologic comparison among large mammalian faunas of these quite different Mediterranean regions have been performed in the aim to value possible vicariance of taxa and differences of faunal renewal dynamic during the Middle Pleistocene. After the results of our analysis we can correlate the faunal assemblages from the "Complexe moyen, ensemble stratigraphique I", "Complexe moyen, ensembles stratigraphiques II and III", "Complexe superieur, sols A and B" of Caune de L'Arago sedimentary succession with the Italian Isernia (middle Galerian), Fontana Ranuccio (late Galerian) and Torre in Pietra (early Aurelian) faunal units (FUs) respectively. The French faunal assemblages were characterised by the absence of browsers and, conversely, by the presence of boreal taxa, mainly grazers, that were rare or never occurred in Italy. Accordingly, at no one Italian faunal complex, as expected, we can find any indication of continental cold climatic condition as showed by the faunal complexes of the Caune de l'Arago. Nevertheless, the major climate changes characterising the Middle Pleistocene can be detected in both regions. During the span time of Isernia FU, the temperature was at its lowest and and conditions prevailed, whereas during the following Fontana Ranuccio FU humidity and temperature increased, as is more evident in central Italy local faunas. Moreover, after the similarity analysis, the Visogliano local fauna (North-Eastern Italy) was more related to the French than to the Italian ones. During the late Middle Pleistocene (Torre in Pietra FU) a moderate faunal reconstruction can be detected in both regions. The renewal was linked to climatic modifications taking place in the Mediterranean area approximately around OIS 11/OIS 10 transition, when interstadials became progressively milder and average humidity increased. (c) 2006 Elsevier Masson SAS. Tous droits reserves.

The large canid of Vallonnet cave belongs to Xenocyon lycaonoides. Its remains are similar to the Xenocyon from Untermassfeld in Germany. X Lycaonoides, and evoluated form of the Xenocyon genus, is characteristic of the second half of the Lower Pleistocene. The genus Xenocyon may be the ancestor of both Cuon and Lycaon. (c) 2006 Elsevier Masson SAS. Tons droits reserves.

La quantité importante de niveaux d'occupations humaines identifiées dans le remplissage de la Caune de l'Arago, daté de 700 000 ans à la base et de 100 000 ans au sommet, et leur exceptionnelle richesse, ont donné lieu à une étude des types d'habitat et des modes de vie des chasseurs paléolithiques entre 600 000 ans et 400 000 ans. Les résultats des études pluridisciplinaires menées depuis de nombreuses années sur ces niveaux archéologiques permettent aujourd'hui de proposer une typologie de l'habitat en grotte pour le Pléistocène moyen du sud de la France. En effet, quatre types d'habitat ont pu être identifiés et décrits. Ils ont été définis à partir de différents caractères comme l'épaisseur de l'accumulation archéologique, les espèces animales représentées, les saisons d'abattages identifiées, l'état de surface des ossements et leur conservation, les caractéristiques morphotechniques et typologiques des assemblages lithiques, les catégories de matières premières minérales utilisées et le territoire d'exploitation défini à partir de celles-ci. Ces quatre types d'habitat sont : l'habitat de longue durée, où la grotte a été utilisée comme camp résidentiel de base, le campement temporaire saisonnier, où la grotte est utilisée comme campement secondaire, la halte de chasse et le bivouac où la grotte est cette fois considérée comme un refuge pour un séjour de courte durée. Les modes de vie sont étroitement liés au type d'habitat et sont généralement tous orientés vers une activité principale : la chasse. Les activités sont diversifiées dans les occupations de longues durées et saisonnières alors qu'elles sont plus réduites et très spécialisées dans les occupations brèves. En résumé la Caune de l'Arago présente toutes les caractéristiques d'un site à usage multiple qui a été utilisé à de nombreuses reprises par des groupes de chasseurs ou des groupes familiaux d'anténéandertaliens qui ont laissé de nombreuses traces de leurs activités nous permettant de connaître leurs habitats et leurs modes de vie.