engleski

Bank vole Myodes (=Clethrionomys) glareolus (SCHREBER, 1780) – rare fossil in the Croatian Late Pleistocene sediments

A small sample of 44 teeth of bank vole Myodes (=Clethrionomys) glareolus (SCHREBER, 1780) is presented. The findings origin from four Late Pleistocene Croatian localities (three Istrian, and one continental site), and from the faunal „assemblages“ only lower molars (M1, M2, and M3) have been selected, and morphometrically analysed. The most abundant remains (33 teeth) are those from the Vindija Cave (NW Croatia) layers/complexes I to B (MIS 5 to MIS 1 ; dated at approximatelly 88 ka BP to Holocene), while very small sample (8 molars) has been discovered from the Romualdova pećina Cave (W Istria ; layer B /Postglacial). Only one fragment of mandible with M1and2 has been found in the fossil material from the Marlera I site (S Istria ; MIS 3-2), and one molar originates from the Ljubićeva pećina Cave (S Istria ; MIS 2-1). The fossil finds of bank vole are very rare elements in the faunal samples from all four localities, if taken into consideration that several thousands of micromammal specimens have been found and determined among other faunal remains. Short geological settings for each locality have been presented, as well as morphometrical analyses and descriptive statistics, and the results have been compared with the data for the localities/samples of the same age from the different European sites (Slovenia, Austria, Poland, Bulgaria). Myodes glareolus is for the first time determined from the Romualdova pećina and Ljubićeva pećina Caves, and the both sites have been recently sistematically excavated, thus it is to expect that the future investigations of the small mammal remains will give new findings of the bank vole from the Late Pleistocene layers of these Croatian localities.

bank vole; Myodes glareolus; teeth; morphometric analyses; Late Pleistocene; Vindija Cave; Romualdova Cave; Marlera I site; Ljubićeva pećina Cave; Croatia

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