Large mammals of Fouvent-Saint-Andoche (Haute-Saône, France): a glimpse into a Late Pleistocene hyena den
Author
Fourvel, Jean-Baptiste
Author
Fosse, Philippe
Author
Fernandez, Philippe
Author
Antoine, Pierre-Olivier
text
Geodiversitas
2015
2015-06-26
37
2
237
266
http://dx.doi.org/10.5252/g2015n2a5
journal article
10.5252/g2015n2a5
1638-9395
4535125
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:0117CBA4-4CE0-4431-B5F6-721F998C72C7
Mustela eversmanii
Lesson, 1827
MATERIAL EXAMINED. —
NISP
=2;
MNI
=1.
1989-1992 sample:
1 right mandible; 1 left mandible.
DESCRIPTION
The bone sample from the recent excavations includes several remains attributed to small
Mustelidae
, among which a pine marten or a beech marten (NISP=2) and a smaller one related to genus
Mustela
(NISP=8). Two mandibles of greater size (related to a single individual) has been observed in detail. Based on their general characters and size, the specific determination of these pieces could only be related to a polecat (European polecat
Mustela putorius
or steppe polecat
M. eversmanii
).
These species at Fouvent do not imply the same environmental conditions for the deposit. Morphologically, the mandible of steppe polecat is distinguished from the common polecat by a bulge of the horizontal branch under the m1 just below the paraconid (
Hugueney 1975
;
Delpech 1989
). The mandible F11.B.214 (
Fig.4G, H
) clearly shows this morphological feature. In addition, the dimensions of the two hemi-mandibles as well as the carnassials (L/B of m1 respectively 10/4 and 9.3/
3.7 mm
) suggest large-sized animals, similar to those of the steppe polecat (
Table 5
). Accordingly, everything concurs unambiguously to assign those remains to
Mustela eversmanii
.