Carnivora

The carnivoran sample from Nikiti 2 (NIK) is relatively poor, including a small number of specimens, mainly postcranials. The best-preserved specimen is a skull and mandible, as well as some bones of the common late Miocene hyaenid Adcrocuta eximia. The sample of A. eximia is similar to the subspecies A. eximia eximia from the Turolian of Greece. A second hyaenid species is represented by an upper deciduous dentition; it is smaller than the corresponding dentition of A. eximia from the Greek localities of Pikermi, Perivolaki and Ravin de la Pluie. It could belong to a smaller hyaenid, such as the ictitheres Hyaenictitherium wongii and Ictitherium robustum, or the hyaenid Lycyaena chaeretis; all of these taxa have been already found elsewhere in association with A. eximia. The machairodontid Amphimachairodus giganteus is represented by some postcranial elements. The simultaneous occurrence of A. e. eximia and A. giganteus indicates a Turolian age for the NIK fauna. A. eximia is a common and widespread taxon ranging in Eurasia from the Vallesian to the end of the Turolian, making it useful as a biostratigraphic marker for the beginning of the late Miocene. A. giganteus is known in Europe and eastern Asia during the Turolian.