The impact of the late miocene climate change on land mammals: The case study of Capo Vaticano - Monte Poro (Vibo Valentia, Italy)

Abstract

Late Miocene is characterised by global climatic changes towards cooling and aridification, with a consequent expansion of grasslands and adaptation of mammals to open environments. In Eastern Mediterranean, a peculiar mammal association, the Pikermian fauna, was widespread and dominated by Gomphotheriidae, Rhinocerotidae, Giraffidae, Bovidae, Equidae, Felidae, and Hyaenidae, while Cervidae was remarkably absent. The Pikermian fauna reached its acme at about 7 Ma and rapidly disappeared. During the maximum expansion, Pikermian distinct species were recorded from China to Iberian Peninsula, with some finds in Africa. A new mammal association found in the Late Miocene of the Capo Vaticano – Monte Poro area (Calabria, southern Italy) included some typical Pikermian species with Afro-Arabian ones and coincided with the maximum expansion of the Pikermian Biome. This peculiar mammal association allowed ascribing the fossil assemblage to a third bioprovince in the central Mediterranean, clearly different from the Tusco-Sardinia and the Apulo-Abruzzi and Tyrrhenian bioprovinces, characterised by marked insularity. The Capo Vaticano - Monte Poro area could be connected to North Africa through a land connection between 7.2 and 8 Ma, receiving African mammals and some Pikermian ones, due to the expansion of the association driven by climatic change.