Systematics of Anatolian Late Miocene Equidae Collections in Ankara and Muğla Region
Project no. 26312 · Status: Kapanmış · 2023
Summary
<p>Fossil mammals contribute to evolutionary studies of mammalian phylogenesis, as well as to intracontinental and intercontinental comparisons of terrestrial Tertiary deposits, the creation of their biochronology, paleoclimatology, and the elucidation of their paleogeography. Turkey, as a country located at the crossroads between Europe, Asia, and Africa throughout almost the entire Neogene period, was located on the migration routes of mammal animals, and in addition to this feature, it also had the characteristic of being a large geographical province that allowed the evolution of many endemic faunas. A large part of the intercontinental migrations took place through Turkey, the land bridges over the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara, and in this context, Turkey constituted a large paleogeographic area where paleomammalian forms belonging to three continents evolved together. In order to reveal the potential of mammalian fossils, nearly 500 mammalian fossil beds have been discovered in paleontological studies conducted over the past 50 years, and hundreds more are waiting to be brought to light.</p><p>The "Ege University Natural History Application and Research Center", which conducts research on mammalian paleontology, houses more than 8000 fossil materials obtained as a result of field studies conducted from the 1970s to the present. The majority of these fossils are fossils obtained from the works carried out before 1990 by the Museum founder Prof. Dr. Fikret Ozansoy and other museum researchers (Prof. Dr. Tanju Kaya, Dr. Vahdet Tuna, Dr. Serdar Mayda).</p><p>The richest collection among these fossil groups belongs to the Equidae family, and among them, a large number of fossil specimens from the Ankara (Sinap) and Muğla (Şerefköy) regions, which have not been systematically examined, are registered in the inventory of the "Ege University Natural History Application and Research Center". Apart from these, it is known that there are a large number of fossil Equidae specimens in the Çankırı (Çorakyerler), MTA Museum (Ankara) and Burdur MAKU University, whose taxonomic determinations have not been carried out.</p><p>The aim of the project is to carry out the systematic paleontology of the fossil Equidae (Perissodactyla) specimens collected from the Late Miocene fossil beds in the Ege University Natural History Museum collection, which have not yet been paleontologically studied. In addition, field and laboratory studies will be carried out in the above-mentioned localities and centers during the project, and the existence of fossil Equidae findings in the collections of these centers will be investigated.</p><p>The number of scientific studies, projects and theses carried out to date on the paleontology of Anatolian fossil Equidae collections is extremely small. The existing thesis/project studies have been carried out only in the form of literature, source scanning and compilation. Within the scope of this project, for the first time, the systematic determinations of the existing Fossil Equid collections from the Muğla and Ankara regions will be completed in the light of the latest findings.</p><p>It will be ensured that the fossil Equidae specimens, which are registered in the inventory of the "E.Ü. Natural History Museum", which is the first and only Natural History Museum within the University in our country, and whose systematic positions will be determined as a result of this project research, are used as "comparison material" for domestic and foreign researchers who will be involved in the relevant studies. This result also constitutes another important aim of the project.</p>