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The Youngest European Record of the Chelonian Family Trionychidae (Calabrian, Central Italy) Offers New Clues on the Quaternary Extirpation History of the Softshell Turtles
oleh: Alberto Collareta, Simone Casati, Edoardo Terranova, Francesco Nobile, Giulia Bosio, Andrea Di Cencio, Giovanni Coletti
Format: | Article |
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Diterbitkan: | MDPI AG 2024-09-01 |
Deskripsi
We report on the geologically youngest occurrence of the softshell turtle family Trionychidae in Europe, from middle Calabrian (Emilian) strata cropping out at Montalto, Pisa Province (Tuscany, central Italy). This record indicates that the softshell turtles survived well past the glacial pulse at ca. 1.8 Ma. That the most recent finds of Trionychidae all over Europe come from mainland Italy further evokes the role of the Apennine peninsula as a refugium for humid-dwelling herpetofaunas through most of the Plio-Pleistocene. Reduced humidity associated with the intensified cool stages at the beginning of the Early–Middle Pleistocene Transition may have been behind the demise of the last European softshell turtles.