Original paper
Deer from the Early Pliocene Prioziornoe, Kuchurgan River Valley (Moldova, Eastern Europe)
Croitor, Roman; Zakharov, Denis; Mararescul, Vladislav
Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen Band 297 Heft 3 (2020), p. 325 - 367
92 references
published: Sep 21, 2020
manuscript accepted: Jul 9, 2020
manuscript received: May 7, 2020
ArtNo. ESP155029703003, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
We here describe new cervid material from the rich Early Pliocene fauna of Priozernoe situated on the western slope of the lower part of the valley of Kuchurgan River (Eastern Moldova). An important part of this study aims the taxonomy and systematics of the Kuchurgan cervids. A new genus is established for the small muntjac-like cervids from the Pliocene of Italy, Central and Southeastern Europe. The fauna of Priozernoe contains three cervid species: Praeelaphus australorientalis Croitor, 2017, Procapreolus moldavicus (Janovskaya, 1954), and Eostyloceros pidoplitschkoi Korotkevich, 1964, which we propose to include in a new genus. Such a characteristic association of cervid species resembles the fauna from Priozernoe to Berești (Romania), suggesting the similar geological age. Our results confirm the earlier conclusions on the fauna Priozernoe as the youngest among Kuchurgan faunas and its close affinity with the Moldavian faunal assemblage from the Carbolia Beds.
Keywords
Biostratigraphy • Cervidae • morphology • nov. gen. • systematics • taxonomy