Tetralophodon (Mammalia: Proboscidea) from the vicinities of Varna, Northeast Bulgaria

Abstract

A previously unpublished molar fragment from the collections of the Varna Regional Museum of History - Department of Natural History, is referable to Tetralophodon, a genus represented in the fossil fauna of Bulgaria by the Turolian species T. atticus. in its morphology, however, the molar differs from the few known specimens of T. atticus and is closer to T. longirostris, a species common in pre-Turolian localities of Europe but so far not known from Bulgaria - despite previous reports based on misidentified materials. No Turolian localities are known from the area around Varna - which has yielded proboscideans of certain pre-Turolian age - and the specimen described here is the only find from Bulgaria so far which could belong to T. longirostris.

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