Quaternary vertebrate fauna of Bulgaria - composition, chronology and impoverishment

Pages: 
pp. 21-48
National Museum of Natural History, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria
Abstract: 

This study presents for the first time summarized data on 759 species/taxa (628 species at least) of six classes of Quaternary vertebrates of Bulgaria: Chondrichthyes (1); Actinopterygii (34); Amphibia (18); Reptilia (33); Aves (299); and Mammalia (374). The richest fauna has been recorded in the Late Pleistocene (285 species), followed by the Calabrian (255). Bulgaria has lost 32.3% of its former total Quaternary vertebrate fauna. The number of the lost taxa is as follows: species (245), genera (80), families (16), orders (5), of them three mammalian (Perissodactyla, Proboscidea, and Primates), and two avian (Otidiformes and Pteroclidiformes). Extinct families are: one amphibian (Palaeobatrachidae); two reptilian (Varanidae and Elapidae); three avian (Gruidae, Otididae, and Pteroclididae), and ten mammalian (Dipodidae, Eomyidae, Hystricidae, Ochotonidae, Hyaenidae, Phocidae, Equidae, Rhinocerotidae, Elephantidae, and Cercopithecidae). After the small mammals (mainly Cricetidae; 52 taxa), the composition of bovids (27 taxa) and canids (13 taxa) impoverished in a higher extent. The biggest number of recorded vertebrate families is found in the Meghalayan (79), followed by the Greenlandian (63) and the Late Pleistocene (62). At order and family levels, the most varied was the vertebrate fauna in the Meghalayan (39 orders, 79 families). In the Calabrian, the number of genera was a three times greater than in the Northgrippian, which indicates more diversified paleoenvironment. One genus, 25 species, and one subspecies have been described as new to the science from the Quaternary localities in Bulgaria.

Keywords: 

Qaternary, vertebrates, extinctions, paleobiodiversity, wildlife, Balkans

DOI: 
10.52321/GeolBalc.52.1.21

VOLUME 52 (1)/April 2023

Department of Mineralogy and Petrography, University of Mining and Geology “St Ivan Rilski”, 1700 Sofia, Bulgaria

Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 24, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria

National Museum of Natural History, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria

Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 11, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Sofia University “St Kliment Ohridski”, Faculty of Geology and Geography, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd, 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Institute of Physical Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 11, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria

Sofia University “St Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd, 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Department of Environmental Sciences, Basel University, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
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Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 24, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 24, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Sofia University “St Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd, 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria