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Baranogale helbingi Kormos, 1934 (Mustelidae, Carnivora) from the late Pliocene site Węże 1 (Poland)

Marciszak Adrian, Lipecki Grzegorz, Wolsan Mieczysław

Annales Societatis Geologorum Poloniae

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2024

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Vol. 94, No. 3

255--272

EN

The ancient and archaic mustelid Baranogale helbingi is a European endemit. Its occurrence is characteristic for the Pliocene, but the species occurred also during the early Pleistocene. Among 30 sites, where its occurrence is documented, 8 are located in Poland. Among them, the most abundant material was found at Węże 1, dated at 3.6–3.2 Myr. The newly described remains, with two relatively well preserved skulls, broadly expand knowledge about the species. Morphometrical analysis showed the important role of sexual dimorphism in the variability of the species. Like other European Ictonychini, B. helbingi vanished during the early Pleistocene, owing to competition with small Mustelinae that were extremely adaptable in terms of ecology.

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Martes wenzensis Stach, 1959 within the early history of the genus Martes Pinel, 1792

Marciszak Adrian, Lipecki Grzegorz, Spassov Nikolai

Acta Geologica Polonica

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2024

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Vol. 74, no. 1

art. no. e4

EN

Martes wenzensis Stach, 1959 is the only European Pliocene marten and possible ancestor of an evolutionary lineage leading through Martes vetus Kretzoi, 1942 to Martes martes Linnæus, 1758. Its occurrence ranged between c. 3.6–2.2 Ma and its presence is recorded herein from four sites: three Polish and one Bulgarian (Varshets). The oldest record from Węże 1, dated to 3.6–3.2 Ma, is also the most abundant and the type locality for this species. Only isolated teeth came from two other Polish sites, Węże 2 and Rębielice Królewskie 1A, dated to 2.5–2.2 Ma. The visceocranium from Varshets (c. 2.5 Ma) shows intermediate features between the type specimen from Węże 1 and the Early Pleistocene M. vetus, its possible descendant. The palaeontological records corroborate well with molecular data. The comparison of marten crania from Węże 1 and Varshets shows decrease in size and massiveness of teeth during the evolution of the species. Martes wenzensis shows an admixture of features inherent to M. vetus, M. martes, and M. foina Erxleben, 1777. The species resembles more M. vetus and M. martes than M. foina. It is described as a large, robust marten, with a flat forehead, short and broad viscerocranium, wide snout, robust canines, elongated and narrow premolars and enlarged carnassials.

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Environmental conditions across Poland during the Eemian Interglacial reconstructed from vertebrate remains

Stefaniak Krzysztof, Kovalchuk Oleksandr, Marciszak Adrian, Sobczyk Artur, Socha Paweł

Acta Geologica Polonica

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2023

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Vol. 73, no. 3

379–-410

EN

Knowledge on the Eemian (MIS 5e) fauna of Poland is based on vertebrate remains from 16 open-air localities and 8 cave sites. Considering the short period of time covered by MIS 5e, the amount of data is surprisingly large. There is still an ongoing debate on whether the age of some assemblages is Eemian, latest Saalian or even earliest Weichselian. There are faunal assemblages or stratigraphically isolated finds with some disputable evidence. The full picture of the evolution of the Eemian vertebrate fauna in the present-day territory of Poland is still far from being complete. The finds of various groups of vertebrates (fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) from the Eemian Interglacial of Poland are analysed in terms of their environmental preferences. A number of thermophilic species or forms which preferred temperate climate conditions are known from this period. Among them, Clethrionomys glareolus, Glis glis, Meles meles, Martes martes, Lynx lynx, Felis silves-tris, Sus scrofa, Palaeoloxodon antiquus, and Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis indicate a forest environment. The presence of species that preferred more open environments (Cricetus cricetus, Mammuthus primigenius, Coelodonta antiquitatis, and Equus ferus) is also recorded for the Eemian Interglacial of Poland. Characteristic was the presence of the large broad-toothed and flat-headed Ursus arctostaubachensis, which additionally often outnumbered remains of Ursus spelaeus sensu lato in the contemporary layers. The Eemian vertebrate fauna of Poland consisted of about 150 species (representing 61 genera and 26 families), most of which were recorded earlier from other localities of this age in central and eastern Europe.