Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia, 39(1) 1996

Issue:

VOL 39(1) 1996

Keywords:

Carnivora, Cuon, Late Pleistocene, Middle Paleolithic, systematics, Caucasus

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The dhole, Cuon alpinus (Carnivora, Canidae), from the Upper Pleistocene of the Caucasus

• Gennady BARYSHNIKOV

Abstract:

Late Pleistocene remains of Cuon alpinus have been recovered from Mousterian sites in the Caucasus, mainly situated between approximately 800 m and 1600 m above sea level. Large C. a. caucasicus was distributed in Transcaucasia (Kudaro 1, Kudaro 3 and Tsona caves), while a smaller dhole, C. alpinus subsp.?, inhabited the northern Caucasus (Matuzka Cave). The morphology and relative length of the molars of C. a. caucasicus are similar to those of dholes from the Middle Pleistocene (Cuon priscus, C. rosi, С. alpinus fossilis and C. a. antiquus). The primitive structure of the teeth of C. a. caucasicus supports the hypothesis that western Transcaucasia was a refugium during the Late Pleistocene.