First evidence of "ancient deer" (cervid) in the late Miocene Bira Formation, Northern Israel

Despite the extensive geological and paleontological searches in the south Levant, no terrestrial fauna of late Neogene age was yet reported. Here, we report the first evidence of "ancient deer"-cervid in the late Miocene (Tortonian) lacustrine section of the Bira Formation at Hagal Stream...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2017-11, Vol.12 (11), p.e0185268-e0185268
Main Authors: Rozenbaum, Alexis Gabriel, Shaked Gelband, Dotan, Stein, Mordechai, Mienis, Henk K, Rabinovich, Rivka
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Artiodactyla
Assiminea
Biology and Life Sciences
Cervidae
Deer
Earth science
Earth Sciences
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Fauna
Fossils
Freshwater lakes
Freshwater mollusks
Geology
Humerus
Israel
Macrofauna
Mammalia
Mammals
Masking
Medicine and Health Sciences
Miocene
Mollusks
Morphology (Biology)
Neogene
Paleontology
Preservation
Sediments
Stratigraphy
Taphonomy
Taxa
Terrestrial environments
Valleys
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Summary:Despite the extensive geological and paleontological searches in the south Levant, no terrestrial fauna of late Neogene age was yet reported. Here, we report the first evidence of "ancient deer"-cervid in the late Miocene (Tortonian) lacustrine section of the Bira Formation at Hagal Stream, Jordan Valley, northern Israel. The section comprises rich assemblage of macrofauna fossils, mostly freshwater mollusks. The mammalian bone was discovered among the macrofauna fossils, and is described as an almost complete left humerus of an adult animal identified as an artiodactyls element probably of a cervid. This terrestrial mammal shares similar paleoenvironmental conditions with other contemporaneous localities, where cervids prevailed with bovids and other taxa. It appears that the freshwater lakes provided favorite habitat for the development of the cervids and possibly other mammals. The specific conditions of preservation of the cervid illuminate the role of post depositional processes (taphonomic constrains) in masking terrestrial fauna remains in the region. Accordingly, further efforts will be devoted to unveil the mute part of the southern Levant-east Mediterranean terrestrial faunistic realm at the end of the Miocene.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0185268