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Ruminantia from the middle Miocene of the Gračanica coalmine (Bugojno Basin, Bosnia-Herzegovina)

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Abstract

Five different ruminant taxa were found in the Gračanica coal mine: the tragulid Dorcatherium vindebonense, a palaeomerycid (Palaeomerycidae gen. et sp. indet.), the giraffe Giraffokeryx sp., and the bovids ?Tethytragus sp. and Eotragus ?clavatus. The ruminant fauna fits well to an early middle to middle middle Miocene age and is typical for a locality of the mammal units MN5 or MN6. The assemblage shows Asian as well as European affinities, represents the westernmost occurrence of Giraffokeryx known so far, and confirms the role of the Balkan Peninsula as a corridor between the two continents. As the ruminant assemblage from Gračanica is not abundant, palaeoecological considerations are only tentative, but the determined taxa point to a predominantly forested environment.

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Acknowledgements

G. Rössner (Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns), C. Argot (Muséum national d’histoire naturelle), M. Gross (Universalmuseum Joanneum) and R. Ziegler (SMNS) are thanked for providing access to comparison material. Many thanks go to P. Havlik (Senckenberg Museum Frankfurt), E. Heizmann (SMNS) and L. W. van den Hoek Ostende (Naturalis Biodiversity Center Leiden) for helpful discussions on material and manuscript and proof reading. Furthermore, we want to thank the reviewers, Dimitris S. Kostopoulos (Aristotle University Thessaloniki) and Bastien Mennecart (Naturhistorisches Museum Basel), for the useful comments that helped greatly to improve the manuscript. This research received support from the SYNTHESYS Project (FR-TAF-1892) which is financed by the European Community Research Infrastructure Action under the FP7 “Capacities” Program. And last but not least, we want to thank U. Göhlich and O. Mandic (both NHMW) for the invitation to contribute to this special issue.

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  1. Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Rosenstein 1, 70191, Stuttgart, Germany

    Manuela Aiglstorfer

  2. Faculty of Science, Biology Department, Ege University, Bornova, 35100, Izmir, Turkey

    Serdar Mayda

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This article is a contribution to the special issue “The drowning swamp of Gračanica (Bosnia-Herzegovina)—a diversity hotspot from the middle Miocene in the Bugojno Basin”

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Aiglstorfer, M., Mayda, S. Ruminantia from the middle Miocene of the Gračanica coalmine (Bugojno Basin, Bosnia-Herzegovina). Palaeobio Palaeoenv 100, 351–362 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-018-0354-z

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