Early Middle Pleistocene mammalian faunas from Karlich and Miesenheim I and their biostratigraphical implications

ABSTRACT: The Kärlich and Miesenheim I localities are situated in the Neuwied Basin, in the Central Rhineland of Germany. The Pleistocene deposits in the Kärlich clay-pit have yielded several stratified faunas within which the Mimomys-Arvicola transition occurs. Based on palaeomagnetic data and heavy mineral associations, these are correlated with phases within the Dutch 'Cromerian-Complex'. The older Cromerian faunas from Kärlich indicate the presence of very high-crowned Mimomys molars; whereas in the younger faunas Arvicola is represented. Remarkable is the occurrence of Mammuthus (M.) trogontherii in deposits below the Matuyama/Brunhes boundary whereas Mammuthus (A.) meridionalis, a more primitive form of the Mammuthus (A.) meridionalis-Mammuthus (M.) trogontherii lineage has been recorded from above the Matuyama/Brunhes boundary. The very rich fauna from Miesenheim I, a locality situated about four kilometres from the Kärlich pit, yielded further information on the faunal history of the Neuwied Basin. The assemblage with, for example, Sorex (Drepanosorex) savini, the primitive Arvicola terrestris cantiana, Canis lupus mosbachensis and Capreolus capreolus, represents an interglacial fauna correlated with the later part of the 'Cromerian Complex'