A Pleistocene freshwater community and rodents from the Pasinler Basin (Erzurum Province, north-eastern Turkey)

A Lower Pleistocene lacustrine faunal assemblage from the Pasinler Beds at Pasinler (Erzurum Province, north-eastern Turkey) is studied, which encompasses thirteen mollusc, five fish, two amphibian, one reptile and one mammal species. The autochthonous freshwater mollusc fauna indicates shallow stagnant waters and a fine-sandy to muddy lake bottom, grown with submersed plants. The fish community (Leuciscus sp., Rutilus sp., Chondrostoma sp., Leuciscinae indet., Capoeta sp.) and autochthonous herpetofauna (Latonia sp., Ranidae indet., Natrix sp.) provide evidence of a well-oxygenised palaeo-lake with rich periphyton and partially rocky to gravelly bottom. Moreover, the presence of the terrestrial snail Caspicyclotus cf. akramowsii and the peri- to semiaquatic Latonia and Natrix reflect wet-shore habitats surrounding the lake. The record of Latonia sp. from Pasinler represents the youngest one of the genus from western Asia. Apparently, Latonia survived well into the Early Pleistocene in western Asia and southern Europe, but finally became extinct due to progressive cooling in the Late Pleistocene. The presence of the arvicolid Allophaiomys cf. A. pliocaenicus allows for dating the locality at ca. 1.0 to 1.5 Ma. The overlying alluvial sediments of the Pasinler Beds mark the onset of sedimentation of the Palaeo-Araks River into the basin, and are Late Pleistocene in age.