The Youngest European Record of the Chelonian Family Trionychidae (Calabrian, Central Italy) Offers New Clues on the Quaternary Extirpation History of the Softshell Turtles
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: We report on the geologically youngest occurrence of the softshell turtle family Trionychidae in Europe, from middle Calabrian (Emilian) strata cropping out at Montalto, Pisa Province (Tuscany, central Italy). This record indicates that the softshell turtles survived well past the glacial pulse at ca. 1.8 Ma. That the most recent finds of Trionychidae all over Europe come from mainland Italy further evokes the role of the Apennine peninsula as a refugium for humid-dwelling herpetofaunas through most of the Plio-Pleistocene. Reduced humidity associated with the intensified cool stages at the beginning of the Early–Middle Pleistocene Transition may have been behind the demise of the last European softshell turtles.
Source: Geosciences
Authors: Alberto Collareta, Simone Casati, Edoardo Terranova, Francesco Nobile, Giulia Bosio, Andrea Di Cencio, Giovanni Coletti
Institutions: University of Pisa, University of Milano-Bicocca
Language: English
Subfield: Paleontology
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,046
Funder: Università di Pisa
OpenAlex ID: W4402196779