Villafranchian age (/ˌvɪləˈfræŋkiən/VIL-ə-FRANK-ee-ən) is a period of geologic time (3.5–1.0 Ma)[1][2]: 7 spanning the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene used more specifically with European Land Mammal Ages. Named by Italian geologist Lorenzo Pareto[3] for a sequence of terrestrial sediments studied near Villafranca d'Asti, a town near Turin,[4] it succeeds the Ruscinian age, and is followed by the Galerian.
The Villafranchian is sub-divided into six faunal units based on the localities of Triversa, Montopoli, Saint-Vallier, Olivola, Tasso and Farnetta.[2]: 149
A major division of both geological deposits and time, the Villafranchian is significant because the earliest hominids that clearly evolved into modern man (the australopithecines) appeared within it.[4] The Villafranchian is partially contemporaneous with the Blancan Stage of North America.[4]
Many animals and their extinct ancestors evolved during the Villafranchian, including the Red fox, Least weasel, Moorhen, Etruscan bear, and Panthera gombaszoegensis.
The beginning of the Villafranchian is typically defined by the first appearance of the bovid genus Leptobos in Italy, dated to around 3.5-3.6 million years ago (mya). The beginning of the Middle Villafranchian is defined by the "elephant–Equus event" denoting the first appearance of Mammuthus meridionalis and Equus stenonis, thought to be around 2.5-2.6 mya. The beginning of the Late Villafranchian was formerly typically defined by the "Wolf event", the first appearance of Canis etruscus , but this was later considered to be diachronous. It was later proposed that the boundary be placed at the first appearance of the giant hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris approximately 1.8 mya.[5]
^Rook, Lorenzo; Martínez-Navarro, Bienvenido (2010). "Villafranchian: The long story of a Plio-Pleistocene European large mammal biochronologic unit". Quaternary International. 219 (1–2): 134–144. Bibcode:2010QuInt.219..134R. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2010.01.007.
^ abThe Pleistocene Boundary and the Beginning of the Quaternary edited by John A. Van Couvering. Cambridge University Press 1997
^Fossil Mammals of Asia: Neogene Biostratigraphy and Chronology, edited by Xiaoming Wang, Lawrence J. Flynn, Mikael Fortelius
^ abc"Villafranchian". archaeologywordsmith.com. Archived from the original on 2012-06-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^van Kolfschoten, T. (2013-01-01), "QUATERNARY STRATIGRAPHY | Continental Biostratigraphy", in Elias, Scott A.; Mock, Cary J. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science (Second Edition), Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 206–214, ISBN 978-0-444-53642-6, retrieved 2021-10-31
Villafranchian age (/ˌvɪləˈfræŋkiən/ VIL-ə-FRANK-ee-ən) is a period of geologic time (3.5–1.0 Ma): 7 spanning the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene...
least one extinct species. The oldest record of the genus dates to the Villafranchian of Bulgaria, where fossils of Vormela petenyii have been found. This...
Nihewanian, and Yushean. European land mammal ages (ELMA) include the Villafranchian, Galerian, and Aurelian North American land mammal ages (NALMA) include...
Plio/Pleistocene transition in western Europe: New evidence from the Middle Villafranchian assemblage of Montopoli, Italy". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 12 (3): 165–171...
fossils are common in Africa, with records going back as far as the Villafranchian. As fossil striped hyenas are absent from the Mediterranean region,...
Lucenti, Saverio; Rook, Lorenzo (2016-11-01). "A review on the Late Villafranchian medium-sized canid Canis arnensis based on the evidence from Poggio...
Europe and Asia, and date back to the Early Pleistocene. By the late Villafranchian, S. scrofa largely displaced the related S. strozzii, a large, possibly...
originated from smaller-sized ancestors from Eurasia during the Middle Villafranchian period, and colonised North America shortly after the Wisconsin glaciation...
for the Neogene, were already established in the 19th century. The Villafranchian was, for example, introduced by Lorenzo Pareto in 1865. A finer subdivision...
— Cervalces, Alces, and Libralces. In contrast to modern Alces, the Villafranchian Libralces gallicus had very long-beamed, small-palmed antlers and a...
assemblage from Pantalla (Perugia, central Italy): comparison with the Late Villafranchian large carnivore guild of Italy". Bollettino della Società Paleontologica...
Tancredi, Domenico; Cherin, Marco (2022). "Vigna Nuova: the first Middle Villafranchian mammal assemblage from the Valdichiana Basin, Perugia (Italy)". Bollettino...
ISBN 978-1-4081-3538-9. Middle Villafranchian Boev, Z. 1999. Gallinula balcanica sp. n. (Rallidae: Gruiformes) - a middle villafranchian moorhen from Western Bulgaria...
Ursus etruscus, specifically the early, small variety of the Middle Villafranchian (Upper Pliocene to Lower Pleistocene) or a larger form of Ursus minimus...
Europe. They suggested P. b. licenti (Middle Villafranchian) evolved into P. b. brevirostris (Late Villafranchian), which evolved into P. b. sinensis (Galerian)...
praenivalis, which lived in Europe during the Middle Pleistocene and Villafranchian. M. praenivalis itself was probably preceded by M. pliocaenica of the...
assemblage from Pantalla (Perugia, central Italy): comparison with the Late Villafranchian large carnivore guild of Italy". Bollettino della Società Paleontologica...
cheetah, occurred in Eurasia and eastern and southern Africa in the Villafranchian period roughly 3.8–1.9 mya. In the Middle Pleistocene a smaller cheetah...
Canis majori Del Campana 1913 —the remains of which have been found in Villafranchian era Valdarno, Italy and in China—was almost indistinguishable from the...
records going back as far as the Middle Pleistocene and even to the Villafranchian. As fossil striped hyenas are absent from the Mediterranean region,...
(Late Pliocene/Late Villafranchian of Slivnitsa, western Bulgaria) Coccothraustes simeonovi (Late Pliocene/Middle Villafranchian of Varshets, western...
currently accepted in the genus: Dinofelis aronoki: It lived in the Villafranchian and Biharian stage in Kenya and Ethiopia. Recently split from D. barlowi...
new Eomyid (Rodentia, Mammalia) from the lowermost Pleistocene (upper Villafranchian) from Osztramos mountain (Northeastern Hungary)". Annales Historico-Naturales...
the European wildcat probably descended from Felis lunensis in the Villafranchian more than 1 million years ago, a transition that was completed by the...
Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 3 April 2019. Boev, Z. 1995. "Middle Villafranchian birds from Varshets (Western Balkan Range - Bulgaria)". In: Peters,...
Cirilli, Omar; Pandolfi, Luca; Bernor, Raymond L. (December 2020). "The Villafranchian perissodactyls of Italy: knowledge of the fossil record and future research...
provided the remains of three fossil canid species dated to the Late Villafranchian era of Europe 1.9-1.8 million years ago that arrived with a faunal turnover...
Palaeotragus inexspectatus from Villafranchian localities in Greece, and interpret almost all fossils of Villafranchian Eurasian giraffids as belonging...
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