Late Messinian mollusks and vertebrates from Moncucco Torinese, north-western Italy. Paleoecological and paleoclimatological implications

The systematic analysis of more than 20,000 fossils (Vertebrata and Mollusca), recovered from the post-evaporitic Messinian (5.41-5.33 Ma) succession of Moncucco Torinese (NW Italy), resulted in the identification of 90 vertebrate and 65 mollusk taxa that provide additional information about the paleoecological context and the paleoenvironmental settings of NW Italy slightly before the Mio-Pliocene boundary. Our analyses indicate a landscape dominated by open woodlands within a mosaic environment also including closed canopy forests, grasslands, rocky outcrops and limited water edges. The wide spectrum of habitats may have had a prominent role in determining the high paleobiodiversity observed in the paleocommunity of Moncucco Torinese. Slight variations in the abundances of the most common rodent species over the investigated succession are probably related to local changes in the paleolandscape. From a paleoclimatic point of view, the overall information provided by the fauna indicates mesic conditions in a subtropical climate, which is also consistent with the interpretation derived from paleobotanical and sedimentological analyses for the latest Messinian of Northern Italy.