Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 31/2. (2011)
Paleontology
THE GIANT DEER MEGALOCEROS GIGANTEUS (CERVIDAE, MAMMALIA) AT SELEUS (MURES DISTRICT) Vlad A. CODREA1-2, Alexandra SOLOMON2 1 Research Center for Geology of Coal Deposits and Environment Protection, University of Bucharest, 1, N. Bälcescu Av., Romania. 2 Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Biology-Geology, Department of Geology-Paleontology, 1 Kogälniceanu Str., 400084 Cluj-Napoca Corresponding author: codrea_vIad@yahoo.fr Abstract: The giant deer (Megaloceros giganteus) is a rather common fossil vertebrate found in the Pleistocene deposits in Romania. However, it is by far rarer compared to other coeval large herbivores like mammoth, wooly rhinoceros or steppe bison. The paper refers to half of a mandible of giant deer, recently discovered in Transylvania in the alluvia of the Tárnává Mare lower terrace, at Seleuj. As this fossil was found isolate without any associated taxa, it is difficult to assign a clear geological age of the bearing deposit but considering the extinction of this species in whole Europe, one can relate this fossil firstly to late Pleistocene. Seleuj is a new giant deer locality in our country. Keywords: Romania, Transylvania, Pleistocene, giant deer, river terrace. Introduction In similar way as in various other Quaternary localities from Romania, the river terrace deposits from Transylvania are often bearing Pleistocene mamal remains, mainly large herbivores. In southern Transylvania, alongside Tárnává Mare River there are exposed Pleistocene and Holocene terrace deposits. Some of them yielded Pleistocene vertebrates like the ones at Brätei, upstream to Media§ town, unearthed in the 12 m terrace, where steppe bison (Bison priscus [Bojanus]), wooly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis [Blumenbach]), horse (Equus caballus germanicus Nehring, 1884) or elk (Alces alces Linnaeus, 1758) remains were collected several decades ago (Samson and Hermann, 1968). Recently Marian Нага, an enthusiastic amateur collector of fossils, recovered from similar deposits exposed at Seleu§ (Mure§ District; Fig. 1), a fragment of mandible of the giant deer Megaloceros giganteus (Blumenbach, 1799). The fossil is curate in his own personal collection. This finding gave us the opportunity to reiterate a discussion about this large herbivore in Transylvania. Systematic paleontology Family Cervidae Goldfuss, 1820 Subfamily Cervinae Goldfuss, 1820 Genus Megaloceros Brookes, 1828 M A R I S I A, XXXI, p. 103-107
