Tyrrhenian Vole (Microtus henseli)
The Tyrrhenian Vole was described in 1905 based on subfossil remains that had been recovered from cave deposits, the species is known from Corsica as well as from nearby Sardinia.
The species is thought to have survived until about 2000 BCE, and to have disappeared due to the predation by introduced dogs, foxes and weasels.
*********************
edited: 04.05.2019
Tag Archives: Corsica
Meridiocichla salotti Louchart
Salott’s Mediterranean Thrush (Meridiocichla salotti)
This is rather a Late Pleistocene species that apparently found its last refuge on some of the islands in the Mediterranean Sea, where some of its remains were recovered from Early Holocene deposits. Bones from Corsica and Crete are assigned to this form; additional remains found on the island of Mallorca may also belong here but have not yet been compared.
It was a quite large thrush, larger than any of the living members of the genus Turdus, yet it did not show any signs of insular adaptions like shortened wings etc. and is thus thought to have originally inhabited all of the Mediterranean region. [1]
*********************
References:
[1] Antoine Louchart: An extinct large thrush (Aves: Turdidae) from the late Quaternary of Mediterranean Europe. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie 233(2): 257-296. 2004
*********************
edited: 30.12.2023