The humerus bone of a brand-new pangolin types was discovered at Graunceanu, a famous Pleistocene fossil deposit in Romania, verifying its existence in Europe.
Much deeper analysis of fossils from among Eastern Europes most significant paleontological websites has actually caused the discovery of a new species of pangolin, formerly believed to have actually existed in Europe during the early Pleistocene but not validated previously.
” Its not an elegant fossil,” said Claire Terhune, associate professor of sociology at the University of Arkansas. “Its simply a single bone, but it is a brand-new species of a kind of a strange animal. Due to the fact that the fossil record for pangolins is exceptionally sporadic, were happy of it. This one happens to be the youngest pangolin ever discovered from Europe and the only pangolin fossil from Pleistocene Europe.”
The newly described specimen for the fossil pangolin types Smutsia olteniensis. Credit: Photo by Claire Terhune, University of Arkansas
The bone, a humerus– or upper arm bone– came from Graunceanu, a rich fossil deposit in the Oltet River Valley of Romania. For nearly a decade, Terhune and a global team of scientists have actually focused their attention on Graunceanu and other websites of the Oltet. These sites, initially found because of landslides during the 1960s, have actually produced fossils from a variety of animal types, consisting of a large terrestrial monkey, short-necked giraffe, rhinos and saber-toothed felines, in addition to the brand-new pangolin species.
Claire Terhune, University of Arkansas Credit: University of Arkansas.
” Whats particularly exciting is that although some operate in the 1930s recommended the presence of pangolins in Europe throughout the Pleistocene, those fossils had actually been lost, and other researchers doubted their credibility,” Terhune stated. “Now we understand for sure that pangolins were present in Europe around at least 2 million years ago.”
With scales from head to tail, they are often mistaken as reptiles, but modern pangolins are actually mammals and are most closely related to carnivores. According to the World Wildlife Fund, the 8 types of living pangolins on two continents vary from “vulnerable” to “seriously endangered.”
The brand-new pangolin fossil is in between about 1.9 to 2.2 million years of ages, positioning it within the variety of the Pleistocene Epoch, which ran from approximately 2.6 million years ago to about 11,700 years earlier. The recognition of this fossil as a pangolin is considerable because previous research suggested that pangolins disappeared from the European paleontological record throughout the middle-Miocene, closer to 10 million years ago. Previous work hypothesized that pangolins were pushed toward more tropical and sub-tropical equatorial environments due to international cooling patterns.
As the youngest and best documented fossil pangolin from Europe and the only fossil from Pleistocene Europe, the new types revises an earlier understanding of pangolin advancement and bio-geography. Smutsia olteniensis, as the new types is called, shares several unique traits with other living members of the genus Smutsia, which are currently found just in Africa.
Reference: “The youngest pangolin (Mammalia, Pholidota) from Europe” by Claire E. Terhune, Timothy Gaudin, Sabrina Curran amd Alexandru Petculescu. 21 December 2021, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.DOI: 10.1080/ 02724634.2021.1990075.
This work was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Terhunes collaborators were Sabrina Curran at Ohio University, Timothy Gaudin the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and Alexandru Petculescu at Emil Racovita Institute of Speleology in Bucharest.
Were proud of it since the fossil record for pangolins is extremely sporadic. This one occurs to be the youngest pangolin ever discovered from Europe and the only pangolin fossil from Pleistocene Europe.”
These sites, at first discovered due to the fact that of landslides throughout the 1960s, have actually produced fossils from a wide variety of animal types, consisting of a large terrestrial monkey, short-necked giraffe, rhinos and saber-toothed felines, in addition to the new pangolin species.
The new pangolin fossil is between about 1.9 to 2.2 million years old, positioning it within the variety of the Pleistocene Epoch, which ran from approximately 2.6 million years ago to about 11,700 years back. The recognition of this fossil as a pangolin is substantial since previous research study recommended that pangolins vanished from the European paleontological record during the middle-Miocene, better to 10 million years earlier.