A preliminary report on the Late Oligocene vertebrate fauna from Máriahalom, Hungary

Rabi, Márton and Botfalvai, Gábor (2008) A preliminary report on the Late Oligocene vertebrate fauna from Máriahalom, Hungary. Hantkeniana, 6. pp. 177-185. ISSN 1219-3933

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Abstract

Relatively sparsely found fossil vertebrate remains have been collected with variable intensity from the Upper Oligocene sand beds of Máriahalom during the last twenty-five years. Recent fieldworks and the obtaining of a private collection have provided good opportunity for a preliminary study of this diverse fauna for the first time. Currently hundreds of isolated specimens are housed at the Natural History Museum of the Eötvös University and so far 26 different taxa have been determined. The Máriahalom fauna consists of both shallow marine and terrestrial elements as demonstrated by the remains of various shark genera, myliobatoid rays, bony fishes, turtles, an anguid squamate, crocodylians, birds, anthracotheriid and ruminant artiodactyls and primitive ursid and mustelid carnivorans. The various habitat preferences of these forms and the accumulation of their remains in the same beds might reflect a transportation process by intense sea currents which is consistent with the sedimentological interpretation of the strata. Apparently Máriahalom is a significant vertebrate site, as Late Oligocene reptiles, birds and large terrestrial mammals have been extremely poorly known from eastern Europe. Concerning the mammals, Máriahalom shows considerable affinities with Late Oligocene faunas in Western Europe.

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