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The Late Pleistocene European badger Meles meles from Grotta Laceduzza (Brindisi, Apulia, Southern Italy): the analysis of the morphological and biometric variability

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Abstract

In the last decades, many studies have focused on the description of fossil badger materials from Eurasia and several evolutionary hypotheses have been proposed. Nevertheless, the debate on taxonomy of the Late Villafranchian-Aurelian European badgers is still far from being solved and several species/subspecies were established over time. Herein, we described for the first time the craniodental and postcranial remains of Meles meles from Grotta Laceduzza (Apulia, Southern Italy), representing the largest sample of this taxon in the European Pleistocene record. Morphological and morphometric comparisons with fossils coming from the European Pleistocene sites were carried out; morphometric data were also compared with those of several extant populations of the European badger. The results of this work suggest that the badger fossil remains from the Mediterranean region can be considered as an ecomorphotype of this highly polymorphic species, showing a great morphological and morphometric variability throughout its wide geographical range. This variability is mainly expressed in some craniodental features and body size and could reflect local ecological adaptations, also linked to glacial/interglacial cycles.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank to the Soprintendenza archeologia, belle arti e paesaggio delle province di Brindisi, Lecce e Taranto. The authors are indebted with the Ostuni municipal authorities for the support of this research. We are also grateful to Flavia Strani for her artwork. The authors wish to thank I. Mazzini, L. Bellucci, A. Ianucci, and J. Conti for their useful suggestions and support.

Finally, we thank the anonymous reviewers who greatly improved this article with constructive criticisms, comments, and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Sapienza Università di Roma, P. le Aldo Moro, 5, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Beniamino Mecozzi, Dawid A. Iurino & Raffaele Sardella

  2. PaleoFactory, Sapienza Università di Roma, P. le Aldo Moro, 5, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Beniamino Mecozzi, Dawid A. Iurino & Raffaele Sardella

  3. Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità e del Tardoantico, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, P.za Umberto I, 70121, Bari, Italy

    Donato Coppola

  4. Dipartimento per il monitoraggio e la tutela dell’ambiente e per la conservazione della biodiversità, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale ISPRA, Via Cà Fornacetta, 9, 40064, Ozzano dell’Emilia, BO, Italy

    Anna M. De Marinis

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  1. Beniamino Mecozzi
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  2. Donato Coppola
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  3. Dawid A. Iurino
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  4. Raffaele Sardella
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  5. Anna M. De Marinis
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Correspondence to Beniamino Mecozzi.

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Communicated by: Aurora Grandal-d'Anglade

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Mecozzi, B., Coppola, D., Iurino, D.A. et al. The Late Pleistocene European badger Meles meles from Grotta Laceduzza (Brindisi, Apulia, Southern Italy): the analysis of the morphological and biometric variability. Sci Nat 106, 13 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-019-1604-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-019-1604-2

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