Fossil Elephants of Turkey

Abstract

Fossil elephants are a favourite subject of study on patterns and process of evolution. They also have importance as a guide fossil in Quaternary studies. After their emergence in Africa at the Miocene-Pliocene boundry, Elephas and Mammuthus migrated into Eurasia. And as Turkey is at the crossroads of Africa, Asia and Europe, it occupies an important position for the migration of elephantids. Until now Mammuthus meridionalis, M. trogontherii and Elephas maximus were identified from Turkey. Some M. meridionalis remains have some primitive features compared to typical meridionalis which might be important in the evolution of the species. M. trogontherii remains from Dursunlu have strange features that some have features of typical trogontherii, but some have primitive features evoking meridionalis. E. maximus was identified from Gavur Lake Swamp. New radiocarbon dates indicate that at approximately 3500 BP, the range of the Asian elephant extended as far west as south-east of Turkey.

Keywords

• Turkey,Elephantidae,Mammuthus meridionalis,Mammuthus trogontherii,Elephas maximus

Türkiye’nin Fosil Filleri

Abstract

F osil filler evrim mekanizmaları ve işleyişi konularında önemli bir araçtır. Filler ayrıca Kuvaterner çalışmalarında kılavuz fosil olarak da öneme sahiptir. Miyosen-Pliyosen sınırında Afrika’da ortaya çıkmalarından sonra Elephas ve Mammuthus cinsleri Avrasya’ya göç etti. Afrika, Asya ve Avrupa’nın ortasında yer alan Türkiye, filgiller ailesinin göç yolları açısından büyük öneme sahiptir. Bugüne kadar ülkemizden Mammuthus meridionalis, M. trogontherii ve Elephas maximus teşhis edildi. M. meridionalis’e ait buluntulardan bir kısmının meridionalis tip örneğine göre ilkel özelliklere sahip olması türün evrimi açısından önemli olabilir. Dursunlu’dan teşhis edilen M. trogontherii fosillerinin bir kısmı tipik trogontherii özellikleri gösterirken bir kısmı meridionalis’e benzerlik gösteren ilkel özelliklere sahiptir. E. maximus ise Gavur Gölü Bataklığı’ndan teşhis edildi. Buradan alınan örneklerden yapılan radyokarbon analizleri sonucuna göre günümüzden yaklaşık 3500 yıl önce Asya fili Türkiye’nin güneydoğusuna kadar yayılım göstermiştir

Keywords

• Türkiye,Elephantidae,Mammuthus meridionalis,Mammuthus trogontherii,Elephas maximus

References

1. J. Shoshani, P. Tassy (Eds), The Proboscidea, evolution and palaeoecology of elephants and their relatives, Oxford Univ. Press, UK, 1996.
2. N.E. Todd, V.L. Roth, The Proboscidea Evolution and Palaeoecology of Elephants and Their Relatives, Oxford University Press, chapter 18, (1996) 193. 3. N.P. Kalmykov, E.N. of Elephantidae representatives Proboscidea) in Asia, Paleontological J., 39 (2005) 652. (Mammalia
3. A.M. Lister, 1996, The Proboscidea Evolution and Palaeoecology of Elephants and Their Relatives, Oxford University Press, chapter 19, (1996) 203.
4. A.M. Lister, A.V. Sher, H. van Essen, G. Wei, The pattern and process of mammoth evolution in Eurasia, Quaternary Int., 49 (2005) 126.
5. V.J. Maglio, Origin and evolution of the Elephantidae, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 63 (1973) 1. 7. E.E. Aguirre, Revisión sistemática de los Elephantidae por su morfología y morfometría dentaria, Estudios Geológicos, 24 (1968) 109.
6. E.E. Aguirre, Revisión sistemática de los Elephantidae por su morfología y morfometría dentaria, Estudios Geológicos, 25 (1969) 123.
7. S. Sukumar, C. Santiapillai, The Proboscidea Evolution and Palaeoecology of Elephants and Their Relatives, Oxford University Press, chapter 33, (1996) 327.
8. S. Sukumar, The Living Elephants, Evolutionary Ecology, Behavior and Conservation, Oxford University Press, New York, 2003.

9. P.E.P. Deraniyagala, Elephas maximus, the elephant od Ceylon, Spolie Zeylanica, 26 (1951) 161.
10. A.W. Gaziry, Jungtertiäre Mastodonten aus Anatolien (Türkei), Geologisches Jahrbuch, Reihe B, 22 (1976) 3.
11. W.J. Sanders, Geology and Paleontology of the Miocene Sinap Formation, Turkey, Columbia Univeristy Press, New York, chapter 10, (2003) 202.
12. P. Tassy, Proboscideans (Mammalia) from the late Miocene of Akkaşdağı, Turkey, Geodiversitas, 27 (2005) 707.
13. P. Tassy, Ş. Şen, J.J. Jaeger, J.M. Mazin, N. Dalfes, Une sous-espèce nouvelle de Choerolophodon pentelici (Proboscidea, Mammalia) à Eşme Akçaköy, Miocè supérieur d’Anatolie occidentale, C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris, t.309, Série II (1989) 2143.
14. P. Tassy, Les gisements de mammifères du Miocene supérieur de Kemiklitepe, Turquie: 7. Proboscidea (Mammalia), Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat., Paris, 4e sér., 16, section C, 1 (1994) 143.
15. D. Geraads, T. Kaya, S. Mayda, Late Miocene large mammals from Yulaflı, Thrace region, Turkey, and their biogeographic implications, Acta Palaeontologica Pol., 50 (2005) 523.
16. H. Falconer, On the species of Mastodon and Elephant occuring in the fossil state in Great Britain, Part I: Mastodon. Quart. J., geol. Soc. London, 13 (1857) 307.
17. K.D. Adam, Über pleistozäne Elefanten-Funde im Umland von Erzurum in Ostanatolian, Ein Beitrag zur Namengebung von Elephas armeniacus und Elephas trogontherii, Stuttgarter Beitrage zur Naturkunde, Serie B (Geologie und Paläontologie), 146 (1988) 1.
18. E. Dayan, Über pleistozäne Elefanten-Funde im Umland von Erzurum in Ostanatolian, Ein Beitrag zur Fundgeschichte des Elephas trogontherii im Becken von Pasinler, Stuttgarter Beitrage zur Naturkunde, Serie B (Geologie und Paläontologie), 147 (1989) 1.
19. M. Şenyürek, Ankara Üniversitesi’nde muhafaza edilen fosil fil kalıntılarına dair bir not. Türk Tarih Kurumu Belleten, XXIV, 96 (1960) 693.
20. M. Şenyürek, The molar of an Archidiskodon from Akdoğan, Türk Tarih Kurumu Belleten, XXV, 99 (1961) 339. 23. J.D. Becker-Platen, O.
21. unterpleistozanan Kiese von Eskişehir (Anatolien) und
22. ihre Saugetierfauna, Mitt. Geol. Ins. Techn. Hochsch, 8 (1968) 7. Sickenberg, Die
23. O. Sickenberg, J. Becker-Platen, L. Benda, D. Berg, B. Engesser, W. Gaziry, K. Heissig, K.A. Humermann, P.Y. Sondaar, N. Schmidt-Kittler, U. Staesche, P. Steffens, H. Tobien, H., Die Gliederung des höheren Jungtertiärs und Altquartärs in der Türkei nach Vertebraten und ihre Bedeutung für die internationale Neogen- Stratigraphie, Geologisches Jahrbuch, Reihe B, 15 (1975) 1.
24. S. Mayda, Aşağıçobanisa (Manisa-Turgutlu) ve çevresi kum ocağı Neojen-Kuvaterner omurgalı faunalarının paleontolojik incelenmesi. Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Ege Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü (2002).
25. E. Albayrak, Elephantidae (Proboscidea, Mammalia) Ailesinin Türkiye’deki dağılımı ve evrimi. Doktora Tezi, Hacettepe Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü (2009).
26. E. Albayrak, A.M. Lister, Dental remains of fossil elephants from Turkey, Quaternary Int., in press.
27. H. De Bruijin, R. Daams, G. Daxner-Hock, V. Fahlbusch, L. Ginsburg, P. Mein, J. Morales, E. Heinzmann, D.F. Mayhew, A.J. Van Der Meulen, N. Schmidt-Kittler, M. Telles Antunes, Reports of the RCMNS Working Group on Fossil Mammals, Reisenburg 1990. Newsletter on Stratigraphy, 26 (1992) 65.
28. A.M. Lister, H. Van Essen, Mammuthus rumanus (Ştefănescu), the earliest mammoth in Europe, Advances in Vertebrate Paleontology “Hen to Panta” (2003) 46.
29. G.N. Markov, N. Spassov, Primitive mammoths from Northeast Bulgaria in the context of the earliest mammoth migrations in Europe. Advances in Vertebrate Paleontology “Hen to Panta” (2003) 53.
30. C. Santiapilli, C. Jackson, The Asian Elephant: An Action Plan for its Conservation (1990) IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.
31. J. Shoshani, J.F. Eisenberg, Elephas maximus, Mammalian Species, 182 (1982) 1.
32. G.N. Markov, Mammuthus rumanus, early mammoth evolution, and migration out of Africa, The Vth International Conference on mammoths and their relatives, Quaternaire, Hors-série, 3 (2010) 25.
33. A.M. Lister, A.V. Sher, The origin and evolution of the woolly mammoth, Science, 294 (2001) 1094.