Page 4 - Palombo_Ferretti _2005

ARTICLE IN PRESS
110 M.R. Palombo, M.P. Ferretti / Quaternary International 126–128 (2005) 107–136

Fig. 2. M. meridionalis from Upper Valdarno, Italy (Late Pliocene/early Early Pleistocene). (A) IGF 1054, type skull, right lateral view (reversed);
(B) MNHB-VA 520, incomplete skull, anterior view; (C) same specimen left lateral view. Scale bar is 20 cm.

of 11 plates (excluding talons) (R* adulescu and Samson, establish unambiguously the identity of the Montopoli
1995, 2001; Lister and van Essen, 2003), which make M. and Laiatico mammoths.
rumanus definitely more primitive than the mammoths To end this section, we shall mention the partial
occurring at Khapry, Chilhac, and Upper Valdarno. skeleton from Savignano sul Panaro (Modena; MESP)
Unfortunately, the skull of this species is unknown. allocated by Reggiani and Sala (1994) to ‘‘A.’’ gromovi
Concerning the Italian material, the molars from both (=M. gromovi). This attribution actually seems to
Laiatico and Montopoli show a plate count which is contrast with the stratigraphic evidence that indicates
lower than the minimum observed in the Upper an Early Pleistocene age for the level that yielded the
Valdarno and Khapry samples, whereas it falls within skeleton (Sirotti, 2000, personal communication). This
the range proposed for M. rumanus. The Montopoli and suggests, in fact, a correlation with the Tasso faunal unit
Laiatico molars are primitive in the joint occurrence of (see below), during which M. meridionalis is widely
the following characters:low plate count; low lamellar represented in Italian fossil assemblages. The skull of the
frequency; thick enamel; and very wide crowns (Table Savignano specimen is rather fragmentary and does not
1). Differences in the enamel microstructure between the bear any significant systematic information. Indeed,
Montopoli and Upper Valdarno samples have also been Reggiani and Sala (1994) based their attribution mainly
noted (Ferretti, 2003a). An incomplete tooth from on the rather thick enamel (3.7–4.2 mm) of the molars.
Montopoli (IGF 1932; Figs. 1b and c) is characterized, The values reported by the two authors are indeed
on the other hand, by a hypsodonty (relative crown outside the known range of M. meridionalis, and would
height) within the range of M. meridionalis. Also, the represent a primitive trait. However, this could also be
morphology of the tusks of the Laiatico specimen and explained by the fact that in the M3 of the Savignano
the overall size of this individual perfectly matches M. specimen plates are worn to the very base of the crown,
meridionalis. Indeed, this late Middle Pliocene sample where enamel is usually thicker than in the rest of the
from Italy seems to represent a more primitive form tooth (Aguirre, 1968–1969; Ferretti, 1998). Further-
than ‘‘typical’’ M. meridionalis. However, the small more, the advanced state of wear of the molars does not
number of specimens at disposal, the incomplete knowl- allow establishment of the original number of plates, nor
edge of M. rumanus, and the uncertainty concerning the to reliably estimate the lamellar frequency. Thus, there is
validity of M. gromovi, do not allow, in our opinion, to no anatomical character to support an attribution of the