Neogene Mammal Biostratigraphy and Chronology of Greece

This chapter investigates the biostratigraphy and chronology of the Neogene land mammals of Greece. One of the first discovered Greek Neogene mammal localities is Pikermi (Attica, near Athens) found in 1835; its fauna is very rich and includes several new taxa, found subsequently in Eurasia and Africa. During the end of the nineteenth century, the mammal localities of Samos found by Forsyth Major yielded a great amount of fossils housed in various museums and institutes. The latest Pliocene mammal localities found in northern Greece also provided rich collections of fossils. This chapter begins with an overview of the early, middle, and late Miocene mammal localities of Greece before proceeding with a discussion of the end of the Miocene in the country. It then describes Pliocene fauna in Greece including micromammals, along with the faunal composition of the Greek Neogene mammal localities. It also analyzes the stratigraphic distribution of the Greek Neogene mammal taxa.