Recent Advances on Multidisciplinary Research at Rudabánya, Late Miocene (MN9), Hungary: a compendium

Rudabánya is a rich late Miocene fossil locality first exploited for its vertebrate remains by Pethö in 1902. The first fossil primate was discovered by the local Chief Mining Geologist, Gabor Hernyák. Professor Miklos Kretzoi made Rudabánya famous in 1969 by publishing a manuscript on the new hominoid primate, Rudapithecus hungaricus, recognized herein as Dryopithecus brancoi. In 1991 L. Kordos and R.L. Bernor initiated a project to undertake new excavations and a detailed systematic study of the vertebrate fauna. This 37 author contribution represents a compendium initial report on these studies. A detailed edited volume will follow this publication. We find that there are 112 vertebrate taxa recorded from Rudabánya, 69 of which are fossil mammals. The Rudabánya fauna outcrops at no less than seven different localities, all believed to be essentially synchronous in age. There are no direct radioisotopic dates from Rudabánya, the lower age is constrained by a single crystal argon date of 11.4 m.y. ± 0.1 m.y., and biochronologic correlations support a latest MN 9 age of ca. 10-9.7 Ma. Paleogeographically, the Rudabánya fauna developed on the edge of the extensive Pannonian lake, which supported a warm, equable subtropical climate. Zoogeographically, Rudabánya is most closely allied with the late Astaracian (MN8)-early Vallesian (MN9) Spanish vertebrate localities, and particularly Can Llobateres (straddling the MN9/MN10 boundary). These central and western European localities contrast strikingly with correlative eastern Mediterranean-Southwest Asian localities in their community structure. In particular, Rudabánya and Can Llobateres supported diverse lineages of small and medium sized mammals that were dominated by more archaic late early and middle Miocene European faunas. Vallesian localities in Greece and Turkey document an entirely different and progressive “proto-Pikermian” megafauna rich with advanced carnivore and ungulate assemblages. Of particular note is the sharp increase in hypsodont ungulates seen in the eastern Mediterranean-southwest Asian region. Finally, we briefly utilize these zoogeographic and paleoecological observations to contrast current competing hypotheses on “European versus African” ancestry of the African ape-human clade.