First occurrence of Microtus (Iberomys) brecciensis (Rodentia, Cricetidae, Arvicolinae) from the late Middle Pleistocene of Grotta Romanelli (Castro, Apulia, Italy)

Fabio Bona, Raffaele Sardella

Pages	17–25
DOI	10.37520/fi.2025.002
Keywords	first appearance in GR deposit datum, extinct vole, taxonomy, environmental inferences, chronological inferences, southeastern Italy
Citation	BONA, Fabio a SARDELLA, Raffaele. First occurrence of Microtus (Iberomys) brecciensis (Rodentia, Cricetidae, Arvicolinae) from the late Middle Pleistocene of Grotta Romanelli (Castro, Apulia, Italy). Fossil Imprint / Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae, Series B – Historia Naturalis. Prague: National Museum, 2025, 81(1-2), 17–25. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37520/fi.2025.002. ISSN 2533-4050 (tisk), 2533-4069 (online). Also available from: https://www.nm.cz/en/periodicals/fossil-imprint-acta-musei-nationalis-pragae-series-b-historia-naturalis/81-1-2/first-occurrence-of-microtus-iberomys-brecciensis-rodentia-cricetidae-arvicolinae-from-the-late-middle-pleistocene-of-grotta-romanelli-castro-apulia-italy

Fossil Imprint / Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae, Series B – Historia Naturalis | 2025/81/1-2

Thanks to a multidisciplinary project on Grotta Romanelli started in 2015 (director. R. Sardella, Sapienza, University of Rome), new dating and new stratigraphic interpretations of the deposit have allowed us to understand that the deposit is much more complex than G. A. Blanc believed, and much older.
In this context, thanks to the complete sieving of the sediment, it was possible to collect, for the first time, an abundant collection of small vertebrates. Among these, the most common are micromammals. This paper discusses the presence of a rare small mammal in the Italian stratigraphic sequences, Microtus (I.) brecciensis.
The occurrence of Microtus (Iberomys) brecciensis in the Middle Pleistocene layers of Grotta Romanelli (Lecce, Apulia) is documented here for the first time. The fossil sample is represented by three first lower molars (m1).
Microtus (I.) brecciensis lived in the Salento peninsula about 325 ky BP, in wooded environments with few open areas and significant water bodies, along with Hippopotamus cf. amphibius, Palaeoloxodon antiquus and Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis.

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