Journal of Mediterranean Earth Sciences

The straight-tusked elephant from Contrada Calorie (Basilicata, Southern Italy). Preliminary notes

Maria Rita Palombo — 2024-03-21

This research aims to provide preliminary information about the taxonomic identity, stature, and body weight of an elephant skeleton found in 1982 in the Contrada Calorie locality, near the village of Rotonda within the Mercure basin (Basilicata, Southern Italy). Although the elephant is well-known to the public and the remains have been exposed in the Geological, Paleontological, and Archeological Museum of Rotonda since their discovery and have been cited in some scientific articles, no one specifically dealts with such remains. According to the analysis we were able to perform, the elephant is a straight-tusked elephant, Palaeoloxodon antiquus, representative. The skeleton belongs to an individual about 35 years old, about 3.9-4 meters tall at the shoulder, and weighing about 9.6-9.7 tons. Most of the diagnostic dimorphic characters provided by the skeletal bones, including those of the pelvis, are undetectable due to the bone preservation status. However, the attribution to a male individual is conceivable, considering the not-advanced ontogenetic age coupled with the large size and tusk dimensions.

Camunites, a new genus of Hungaritinae (Ammonoidea, Ceratitida) and its meaning for the Anisian (Middle Triassic) biostratigraphy

Paolo Mietto — 2024-10-10

Based on ammonoids collected in the uppermost part of the Prezzo Limestone (middle Illyrian, Anisian) in the Losine section (Camonica valley, Eastern Lombardy, Southern Alps), the new genus Camunites is described. Camunites gen. nov. comprises highly involute ceratitids characterized by a phragmocone with wedge-shaped whorl section, a distinct but rounded keel, a juvenile shell without nodes, and a smooth ventrolateral margin. The flanks show serried, weak, and scarcely elevated or barely visible ribs. The genus comprises Ceratites inconstans Reis, 1901, selected as the type species, and Ceratites lenis Hauer, 1896. We believe that the first appearance of Camunites (i.e. C. inconstans, here considered as the forerunner of the Subfamily Hungaritinae) can be used to define the base of the Hungarites Zone - reitzi Subzone (upper Anisian).

The intriguing history of two elephant molariform teeth from Sardinia (Italy): which relationships between the lost tooth from Chiaramonti and the molar displayed at Civic Ozieri’s Archeological Museum?

Maria Rita Palombo — 2024-11-28

Thus far, a few moderately reduced-size mammoth remains have been reported from six Sardinian (Italy) sites, presumably ranging in age from the late Middle to the Late Pleistocene. All remains have been tentatively ascribed to a single endemic species, Mammuthus lamarmorai, but the uncertainties about the actual chronology of most of the remains, their minimal number, and some differences in their size hamper any attempt to infer the exact number of mammoth taxa that inhabited Sardinia and their evolutionary history. Therefore, even a single specimen might provide a piece of interesting information to answer open questions. This note aims to give notice of an elephant tooth found in the neighborhood of the Chiaramonti village (Sassari, Northwestern Sardinia), investigate its history from its first report to the disappearance of any information about its current collocation, and describe a quite large molariform tooth that was given by a donor to the archeological museum of the rather close village of Ozieri (Sassari). The morphology and morphometry of the Ozieri upper penultimate molar (M2) are more similar to, but not fully typical of, Mammuthus than Palaeoloxodon representatives. The tooth seems to belong to an elephant rather larger than the M. lamarmorai molar (M3) from that from San Giovanni di Sinis (Cabras, Oristano, central-western Sardinia). Its length, indeed, is comparable with the minimum length values of some continental representative of Mammuthus meridionalis and Mammuthus trogontherii. However, the similarity and principal component multivariate analyses indicate major affinity with the latter species. The lack of any information about the Chiaramonti molar and the unknown chronological setting of the molar stored at the Ozieri’s Civic Archeological Museum, further underline the scantiness of sound geologic s.l. and taphonomic data provided by most of the Sardinian specimens. Indeed, the exact provenance of some remains is unknown, while others were collected without paying any attention to the geological and depositional context or are currently lost, obscuring the evolutionary scenario of elephant populations in Sardinia.

Assessing the sensitivity of land cover (C factor) to water erosion in the Ksob watershed, central Algeria

Fouad Sakhraoui — 2024-11-28

Water erosion is a critical environmental and economic issue, causing soil fertility loss and land degradation, recognized globally as one of the most severe natural threats. Algeria’s high topography, diverse vegetation, and heavy rainfall make it particularly vulnerable to water erosion. This study employs the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model integrated with geographic information systems (GIS) to analyze the Ksob watershed from 2017 to 2023. It examines seasonal and interannual variations in the vegetation cover management (C factor), assesses the impact of changes in land use and land cover (LULC) on soil erosion, and investigates the relationship between the C factor and soil erosion. Findings indicate significant soil loss variations due to changes in vegetation cover: reduced vegetation increases erosion rates, while dense vegetation mitigates them. Despite cultivated land expanding from 25.39% to 35.84% during the study period, the average annual soil loss rose by 11.21%, from 9.06 t ha-1 yr-1 to 10.08 t ha-1 yr-1. Spatial analysis revealed that low erosion classes covered approximately 70% of the area, with summer and autumn identified as the most erosive seasons, showing rates over 10 t ha-1 yr-1. The study confirms a strong relationship between vegetation cover and erosion rate.

Nezzazata praesimplex sp. nov. and Nezzazata praegyra sp. nov. from the Aptian Dariyan Formation of SW Iran and the origin of the Nezzazatidae (Foraminifera)

Felix Schlagintweit — 2024-12-03

The new species Nezzazata praesimplex and Nezzazata praegyra are described from the upper lower-upper Aptian Dariyan Formation of SW Iran. The differences to other, mostly Cenomanian species of Nezzazata are discussed in detail. The Aptian species can be considered as small-sized homeomorphs of the Cenomanian taxa N. simplex Omara and N. gr. gyra (Smout). Nezzazata specimens reported from the Hauterivian of Iran appear to represent the oldest reliable record of the genus so far.