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Cuon alpinus (Pallas, 1811) (Mammalia, Carnivora) from Equi (Late Pleistocene, Massa-Carrara, Italy): anatomical analysis and palaeoethological contextualisation

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Abstract

This paper presents a morphological description and contextualization of dhole remains from the Late Pleistocene site (MIS 3) of Equi (Fivizzano, Massa-Carrara, Italy). The site was excavated in the first decades of the twentieth century, and the palaeontological remains are housed in the Paleontological Museum of the University of Florence. In Europe, the occurrence of dhole remains is spread over the continent and ranges chronologically from the early Middle Pleistocene to the Holocene. The current knowledge allows definition of the northern limit range of this carnivore, which never crossed the 51st parallel. The ethology of extant populations allows us to make inferences about its behaviour, with special regard to the occurrence of other large carnivores at the same site, such as Panthera spelaea and Panthera pardus, based on mutual segregation related to the environment and prey availability.

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Abbreviations

L :

Length

B :

Breadth

GL:

Greatest length

SD:

Minimum diameter of the diaphysis

Bp:

Proximal breadth

Dp:

Proximal depth

Bd:

Distal breadth

Dd:

Distal depth

Mc:

Metacarpus

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to P. Agnelli, E. Cioppi, P. Mazza (University of Florence) and B. Sala (University of Ferrara) for the access to osteological collection in their care, and for discussions about canidae morphologies. We thank IUCN Red List for the permission to use data of extant Cuon alpinus distribution. This research in part received support from the SYNTHESYS Project http://www.synthesys.info/ (Project Numbers FR-TAF-3311, BE-TAF-3607), which is financed by European Community Research Infrastructure Action under the FP7 “Capacities” Program.

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  1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via G. La Pira 4, 50121, Florence, Italy

    Elena Ghezzo & Lorenzo Rook

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  1. Elena Ghezzo
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  2. Lorenzo Rook
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Correspondence to Lorenzo Rook.

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Ghezzo, E., Rook, L. Cuon alpinus (Pallas, 1811) (Mammalia, Carnivora) from Equi (Late Pleistocene, Massa-Carrara, Italy): anatomical analysis and palaeoethological contextualisation. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 25, 491–504 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-014-0345-6

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