The collection of Late Miocene mammals from Pikermi in the Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali, Torino

The collection of mammals from the Late Miocene (7-8 Ma) from Pikermi (Attica, Greece) represents one of the most significant paleontological collections of the “Museo di Geologia e Paleontologia dell’Università degli Studi di Torino”, now housed in the “Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali” in Turin. The collection reached Turin in 1856 as a gift to the Savoy family from a Greek diplomat and consists of more than 320 specimens also examined by the celebrated French paleontologist Jean Albert Gaudry. The entire collection has recently been re-examined, each fossil has been photographed and measured and its taxonomic position has been verified. About one third of the specimens belongs to Hipparion mediterraneum, among which there are several limb bones and a finely preserved skull still embedded in the original sedimentary matrix; the second most represented group is that of bovids which includes Palaeoreas lindereyeri, Palaeoryx pallasi, Gazella capricornis and Tragoportax sp.; in addition, the occurrence of two species of rhinoceros, Dihoplus pikermiensis and Ceratotherium neumayri, has been recognized; finally, there are well preserved specimens pertaining to Adcrocuta eximia, Hystrix primigenia, Promeles palaeattica and Mesopithecus pentelicus.