Updating the fauna and age of the Neogene-Quaternary large mammal sites of Greece

Abstract

The Neogene-Quaternary continental deposits cover large areas of Greece and several fossil mammal sites have been discovered in the country. There are several collections of large fossil mammals for this time span, which provide important data for the fauna biochronology, correlations, palaeoecology and palaeogeography of the area. The last lists with the fauna, age and biochronology of the Greek large mammal localities were given in 2006 for the Neogene and in 2001 for the Quaternary. Extensive research over the last twenty years provided several new localities, and many data and information were published. Therefore, an updating of the lists was more than necessary, and the present article deals with it; it covers the time span untill June 2023. Lists include all faunal information as the systematic classification, chronology, biostratigraphic correlation of the faunas, and main bibliography. It is worth mentioning that some of the Greek localities are key-localities for the Eastern Mediterranean region, e.g., Pikermi, Axios Valley, Villafranchian collection. These faunas are important for the comparison and identification of new collections, correlations, palaeoecology, and palaeogeography of Neogene European mammals.