Likhvin Interglacial small mammal faunas of Eastern Europe

Investigations of Middle Pleistocene deposits over the past several decades produced a significant mammal database that can be used to evaluate the complicated history of this interval in Eastern Europe. The most significant late Middle Pleistocene warm interval was the Likhvin Interglacial; among the stratigraphic horizons attributed to this interval are the Inzhavino fossil soil, alluvium of the fourth terraces of the main Eastern European rivers, and the Early Euxinian marine deposits of the Black Sea. Fifteen small mammal localities of Likhvin age have been recovered in different regions of the Russian Plain. The stratigraphical position of the faunas from key sections is quite definite: they occur above the Oka Glacial deposits and under the Kamenka and Romny late Middle Pleistocene fossil soils and Dnieper glacial deposits. These faunas are characterized by Arvicola cantianus, Lagurus transiens, Microtus (Pallasiinus) oeconomus, M. (Microtus) ex gr. arvalis, M. (Microtus) agrestis, and M. (Stenocranius) gregalis. Neither the rhizodont voles Mimomys and Pliomys, nor Microtus (Terricola) arvalidens and Microtus (Stenocranius) gregaloides have been recovered from these localities. According to recent data from Western Europe, the similar species composition and stratigraphical position are typical for the Holsteinian Interglacial mammal faunas. These faunas come from deposits covered by late Middle Pleistocene sediments and are correlated to OIS Stage 11.