Beremendia, Kormos, 1934

Botka, D. & Mészáros, L., 2014, (Mammalia, Soricidae) remains from the late Early Pleistocene Somssich Hill 2 locality (Southern Hungary) and their taxonomic, biostratigraphical, palaeoecological and palaeobiogeographical relations, Fragmenta Palaeontologica Hungarica 31, pp. 83-115 : 107

Genus Beremendia was an opportunistic element in the Plio-Pleistocene faunas of Eurasia. Due to the successful strategy it became very frequent in the Early Pleistocene. The genus contains four valid species ( B. fissidens , B. minor , B. pohaiensis (Kowalski et Li) and B. jiangnanensis ). B. fissidens (Early Pliocene– Middle Pleistocene) and B. minor (Early Pliocene–Early Pleistocene) represented the genus in Europe, while the other two species, namely B. pohaiensis (Middle Pliocene–Early Pleistocene) and B. jiangnanensis (Early Pleistocene) were widespread in Asia ( Fig. 27 ).

Beremendia remains are known from more than 150 localities of 20 countries from Europe. The genus had a wide distribution from the Iberian Peninsula to the Urals and from the British Isles to Central Italy and Greece ( Figs 30 a-c).

The first appearance of the genus was probably in Central Europe (MN14 of Poland and Hungary). The spreading of the genus started from here in the Middle Pliocene (MN15). During the Late Pliocene (MN16) the genus expanded to a south–southwest direction ( Spain, Italy and certainly Southern France but in the latter area there are no evidences for the genus yet, only from MN17). In the earliest Pleistocene (MN17) we can see a northern transgression of Beremendia shrews to the Netherlands and Southern England. The genus reached its maximal distribution in the Early Pleistocene. From this period some localities are known in Ukraine and Russia, too ( Figs 28 , 30 a-c).

In the Middle Pleistocene of Europe B. fissidens was the last representative of the genus and this species became extinct until the middle part of the Middle Pleistocene. The youngest occurrences of the genus are in Poland (Kozi Grzbiet 2 – 700 ka, STEFANIAK et al. 2009) and in Hungary (Tarkő – 350 ka, JÁNOSSY 1986) as well ( Figs 27–30 a-c).

Figures

Fig. 27. Distribution of the genus Beremendia in Eurasia during the Plio-Pleistocene (modified after JIN & KAWAMURA 1996)

Fig. 30a. Summary about the stratigraphical range of the genus Beremendia in Europe. References contain the most important publications about the localities (Romania, Greece, Switzerland, Slo- vakia, the Netherlands and Bulgaria)

Fig. 28. First (FAD) and last (LAD) appearance data of the genus Beremendia in the European countries

Fig. 29. Occurrence of the genus Beremendia in Europe on the basis of the FADs.The marked areas show the maximal distribution of the genus in the given time interval