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The Fossil Record of Canids (Mammalia: Carnivora: Canidae) in Greece

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Fossil Vertebrates of Greece Vol. 2

Abstract

The family Canidae includes a variety of carnivoran taxa, which appeared in the late Eocene, about 40.0 Ma ago. It is worldwide distributed, except Antarctica, including several fossil and extant species. In Greece, it is known from Pliocene and Pleistocene; today it is represented by the gray wolf, golden jackal, and red fox. The oldest known canids found in Greece are Nyctereutes tingi from the Pliocene localities Megalon Emvolon and Eucyon odessanus from Allatini (both near Thessaloniki). The known fossil taxa of canids include five genera (Nyctereutes, Eucyon, Vulpes, Canis, and Lycaon) and 14 species, one of them is new.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to A. Athanassiou for providing the photo of Vulpes alopecoides from Kastritsi. Also, I would like to deeply thank S. Bartolini and G. Iliopoulos for comments that improved this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, Laboratory of Geology and Paleontology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    George D. Koufos

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  1. George D. Koufos
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Correspondence to George D. Koufos .

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  1. Museo Paleontólogico Egidio Feruglio, CONICET, Trelew, Chubut, Argentina

    Evangelos Vlachos

Appendix

Appendix

List of the Greek localities containing canid fossils . Type localities are marked with bold. Locality numbers refer to the collection numbers of the PaleoBiology Database (PBDB)

LocalitiesPBDB No

Age (MN)

Taxa

Apollonia 134784

Epivillafranchian (MNQ20)

Canis apolloniensis1

Canis etruscus1

Vulpes praeglacialis2

Lycaon lycaonoides2

Ravin Voulgarakis34783

Epivillafranchian (MNQ20)

Canis arnensis1

Alikes34782

?Late Villafranchian

Canis arnensis3

Canis indet.3

Kaiafas34766

?Late Villafranchian

Canis lupus4

Canis lupus cf. mosbachensis4

Vulpes indet.4

Kalamoto 2200084

?Late Villafranchian

Canis sp.5

Libakos34764

?Late Villafranchian

Canis sp. A6

Canis sp. B6

Gerakarou 134617

Late Villafranchian (MNQ18)

Canis arnensis7

Canis etruscus7

Tsiotra Vrissi192004

Late Villafranchian (MNQ18; 1.78–1.50)

Canis etruscus8, 9

Dafnero 134594

Middle Villafranchian (MNQ17; 2.4–2.3 )

Nyctereutes megamastoides10, 11

Vulpes alopecoides10

Sesklon34614

Middle Villafranchian (MNQ17)

Nyctereutes megamastoides3

Vulpes cf. alopecoides3

Volax34593

Middle Villafranchian (MNQ17)

Nyctereutes megamastoides12

Vulpes praecorsac12

Kastritsi34810

Villafranchian

Vulpes alopecoides13

Makinia34811

Villafranchian

Vulpes alopecoides13

Psychiko

?Villafranchian

Nyctereutes megamastoides

(= Canis mitzopouli)12,14

Volos34808

?Villafranchian

Canis lupus4

Canis lupus cf. mosbachensis4

Vulpes cf. praeglacialis4

Loutra Almopias Cave Ic203847

Latest Pleistocene

Vulpes vulpes15

Apidima-A32059

Late Pleistocene

Vulpes vulpes16

Apidima-B32062

Late Pleistocene

Vulpes vulpes16

Apidima-C32082

Late Pleistocene

Vulpes vulpes16

Apidima-D32086

Late Pleistocene

Vulpes vulpes16

Vraona Cave183130

Late Pleistocene

Vulpes vulpes17

Canis lupus17

Agios Georgios Cave207192

Late Pleistocene

Vulpes vulpes18

Loutra Almopias Cave I203847

Late Pleistocene

Vulpes vulpes15

Loutra Almopias Cave II203847

Late Pleistocene

Vulpes vulpes15

Loutra Almopias Cave III203847

Late Pleistocene

Vulpes vulpes15

Megalopolis/Marathousa34765

Middle Pleistocene

Vulpes indet19

Petralona Cave183123

Early Middle Pleistocene

Canis arnensis20

Lycaon lycaonoides21

Vulpes praeglacialis21

Megalo Emvolon36579

Late Ruscinian (MN15)

Nyctereutes tingi22

Allatini182683

Ruscinian

Eucyon odessanus23

  1. 1Koufos and Kostopoulos (1997), 2Koufos (2018), 3Athanassiou (1998), 4van der Meulen and van Kolfschoten (1986), 5Tsoukala and Chatzopoulou (2005), 6Steensma (1988), 7Koufos (1987), 8Konidaris et al. (2015), 9Konidaris et al. (2021), 10Koufos (1993), 11Benammi et al. (2020) 12Sickenberg (1968), 13Symeonidis et al. (1985/86), 14Paraskevaidis (1953), 15Tsoukala et al. (2006), 16Tsoukala (1999), 17Symeonidis et al. (1980), 18Tsoukala (1992), 19Sickenberg (1975), 20Sickenberg (1971), 21Tsoukala (1989), 22Koufos (1997), 23Sickenberg (1972)

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Koufos, G.D. (2022). The Fossil Record of Canids (Mammalia: Carnivora: Canidae) in Greece. In: Vlachos, E. (eds) Fossil Vertebrates of Greece Vol. 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68442-6_20

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