Vertebrate faunas from the Late Miocene of Bulgaria

Bulgary belongs to one of the European countries which provided the richest vertebrate fossil localities. In contrast, the localities and their fossils are poorly known. In cooperation with colleagues from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences we developed since 2009 research activities and excavated in different basins in the country. Our priority is the bio- and chronosttratigraphy of the sediments and localities, the evolution of small mammals, fishes, amphibians and reptiles, and the reconstruction of the paleoenvironment and palaeoclimate.

Smiling faces after the find of a the skullcap of an elephant with both maxillae, Azmaka 3 (2009)

Recovery of a turtle on a slab, South Bulgaria (2010)

Azmaka 2, recovery of a tusk of Choerolophodon pentelici

Staniantsi, lower jaw of a beaver (2011)

Staniantsi, limb bones of medium-sized mammal (2011)

Gorna Suschitsa, upper jaw of a hyena (2011)

Gorna Suschitsa, bone accumulation (2011)

The hominid left upper premolar (P4) from Azmaka (AZM 4b) (RIM, No. 438/387). 4-A: in labial view; 4-B: in occlusal view; 4-C: in distal view. Scale = 1 cm. (from Spassov et al., 2012)

Publications

Lechner S.T., Böhme M. 2020: Castor-like postcranial adaptation in an uppermost Miocene beaver from the Staniantsi Basin (NW Bulgaria). Fossil Imprint 76(1): 128-164.

Boev Z. 2020: First European Neogene record of true pheasants from Gorna Sushitsa (SW Bulgaria). Historia naturalis bulgarica 41: 33-39.

Vlachos E., Georgalis G.L., Roussiakis S., Böhme M., Theodorou G. 2020: The Pikermian tortoises (Testudines, Testudinidae) from the late Miocene of the South Balkans. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology doi: 10.1080/02724634.2019.1711520.

Böhme M., Van Baak C.G.C., Prieto J., Winklhofer M., Spassov N. 2018: Late Miocene stratigraphy, palaeoclimate and evolution of the Sandanski Basin (Bulgaria) and the chronology of the Pikermian faunal changes. Global and Planetary Change 170: 1-19.

Böhme M., Spassov N., Ebner M., Geraads D., Hristova L, Kirscher U., Kötter S., Linnemann U, Prieto J., Roussiakis S., Theodorou G, Uhlig G., Winklhofer M. 2017: Messinian age and savannah environment of the possible hominin Graecopithecus from Europe. PLOS ONE,
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0177347

Fuss J., Spassov N., Begun D, Böhme M. 2017: Potential hominin affinities of Graecopithecus from the late Miocene of Europe. PLOS ONE,
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0177127

Schaller, M., Lachner, J., Christl, M., Maden, C., Spassov, N., Ilg, A., Böhme, M. 2015: Authigenic Be as a tool to date river terrace sediments? - An example from a Late Miocene hominid locality in Bulgaria. - Quaternary Geochronology 29: 6-15.

Uhl, D., Dolezych, M., Böhme, M. 2014: Taxodioxylon-like charcoal from the Late Miocene of western Bulgaria. Acta Palaeobotanica 54(1): 101-111.

Spassov N., Geraads D., Hristova L., Markov G.N., Merceron G., Tzankov T., Stoyanov K., Böhme M., Dimitrova A. 2012: A hominid tooth from Bulgaria: The last pre-human hominid of continental Europe. Journal of Human Evolution 62: 138-145, doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.10.008.

Ilg, A. 2017: Dimitar Kovachev und das Paläontologische Museum Asenovgrad. - Fossilien 6/2017: 42-47.

Cooperation Partner

Nikolai Spassov, National Museum of Natural History, Palaeontology and Mineralogy Department, Sophia

Nadja Ognjanova-Rumenova, Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia

Marlena Yaneva, Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia

Tzanko Tzankov, Sout-Western University, Blagoevgrad

Todd Ehlers, Geology and Geodynamics, University Tuebingen

Mirjam Schaller, Geology and Geodynamics, University Tuebingen

Chris van Baak, Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University