Oksana G. Zanina

The First Finding of a Frozen Holocene Bison (Bison priscus Bojanus, 1827) Carcass in Chukotka

296 Findings of Pleistocene mammals from permafrost of the northern parts of Asia and North America are important sources of data on the biology of these spee cies and their natural environment. To date, compree hensive studies on the remains of mammoths, woolly rhinoceros, horses, and primeval bison have been carr ried out [1–4]. However, similar findings of large mammals of the Holocene Age have been almost unknown until recently. A partial carcass of a primeval bison (Bison priscus Boj.) of the Holocene Age was found in 2012 in Bilibino region of Chukchi Autonoo mous Region, at the mouth of the Rauchua River (69° N, 166° E; Fig. 1). The study of this finding yielded data on the biology and natural environment of primee val bison on Chukotka in subglacial time. At the place of the finding, the bank of the river has a height of about 0.8 m (at low water). Its deposits are represented by late Pleistocene and Holocene icy aleurites. Superficial erosion of the River and closee ness to the sea determine marked oscillations of the water level due to surge phenomena, as well as rainfall floods, which exposed the carcass. By the moment of finding, the remains of the bison had been lying on the surface of the ground for a long time. A croup with both hind limbs remained, as well as a big piece of skin from belly and sides. There is little fat in some areas of soft tissues and under the skin. The bones of fore limbs, including soft tissues, vertebrae, broken ribs, the pelvis, the femoral bones, fur with a volume of 50 L in a dried condition, and gastric conn tents with a volume of 8 L were found. Some large tubular bones and thoracic vertebrae have signs of intense gnawing by a large predator. Primary sex charr acteristics were not preserved. Indirect characteristics, such as the size and proportions of the basidigital bone, also did not allow identifying the sex of the anii mal. No data on the season of the death is available. Individual age of the bison, according to knitting of epiphysis with diaphysis, was 6–8 years [5]. Radiocarbon dating. Until recently, the geologically oldest finding in Asia was a bison bone from Taimyr with the radiocarbon age of 8860 ± 40 BC (Beta 148623) [6]. The finding of the bison from the Rauu chua River also …

Fossil fur as a new source of information on the Ice Age biota.

48 From the beginning of the study of the Ice Age, our knowledge on the biotas of that time has been based on mammalian remains, associated organic remains (those of other vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants), and formations hosting these remains. To obtain as complete information as possible on paleolandscapes and paleobiotas, it is sometimes necessary to use data from cuts located far apart, and local factors may dis� tort the reconstruction. In 2002, on the middle Bol’shaya Chukoch’ya River (northern Yakutia, Fig. 1), Ivan Khristenko of the village of Andryushkino found skeletal remains of

The first finding of a rhinoceros of the Genus Stephanorhinus in Arctic Asia

The first skull of a rhinoceros of the genus Stephanorhinus has been found above the Arctic Circle on the middle Chondon River (Yakutia, Russia). This is the northernmost finding that extends significantly the genus range and provides additional information about the diet and environment of a genus representative. Plant remnants from the maxillary tooth cavities were identified as belonging to trees (Larix, Betula), shrubs (Ericaceae), mosses (Aulacomnium sp., Polytrichum sp.), herbs (Dicotyledones) and grasses (Poaceae), but not to sedges (Cyperaceae). The pattern of attrition of teeth and marks on the chewing surface enamel indicate diverse nourishment. Chondon rhinoceros lived in under Arctic-like climatic conditions, with rather limited food resources.

DNA analysis of a 30,000-year-old Urocitellus glacialis from northeastern Siberia reveals phylogenetic relationships between ancient and present-day arctic ground squirrels

In contrast to the abundant fossil record of arctic ground squirrels, Urocitellus parryii, from eastern Beringia, only a limited number of fossils is known from its western part. In 1946, unnamed GULAG prisoners discovered a nest with three mummified carcasses of arctic ground squirrels in the permafrost sediments of the El’ga river, Yakutia, Russia, that were later attributed to a new species, Citellus (Urocitellus) glacialis Vinogr. To verify this assignment and to explore phylogenetic relationships between ancient and present-day arctic ground squirrels, we performed 14C dating and ancient DNA analyses of one of the El’ga mummies and four contemporaneous fossils from Duvanny Yar, northeastern Yakutia. Phylogenetic reconstructions, based on complete cytochrome b gene sequences of five Late Pleistocene arctic ground squirrels and those of modern U. parryii from 21 locations across western Beringia, provided no support for earlier proposals that ancient arctic ground squirrels from Siberia constitute a distinct species. In fact, we observed genetic continuity of the glacialis mitochondrial DNA lineage in modern U. parryii of the Kamchatka peninsula. When viewed in a broader geographic perspective, our findings provide new insights into the genetic history of U. parryii in Late Pleistocene Beringia.