Geologicheskii Vestnik

Bone remains of amphibians, reptiles and small mammals from unconsolidated deposits of Chesnochnaya Cave (Kushtau, Ishimbaysky district of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Southern Fore-Urals) were studied. Amphibians are represented by Pelobates fuscus, Bufo bufo, Bufotes viridis, Rana arvalis. Emys orbicularis, Anguis fragilis, Natrix tessellata, Vipera berus belong to reptiles. The identified species composition of amphibians and reptiles from the Chesnochnaya Cave locality consists of species characteristic of various biotopes of the Southern Fore-Urals. The Holocene fauna of amphibians and reptiles on the area of Southern Fore-Urals was discovered and studied for the first time. In the small mammal community from the Chesnochnaya Cave locality, the codominants were Myodes ex gr. glareolusrutilus, Chiroptera, and Microtus arvalis; the subdominants were Apodemus flavicollis, Apodemus ex gr. uralensis-agrarius, Sorex sp., Cricetus cricetus, Arvicola amphibious, Eliomys quercinus, Talpa europaea, Lagurus lagurus, Microtus agrestis, Eolagurus luteus and Alexandromys oeconomus; the rare ones were Crocidura sp., Ochotona pusilla, Ellobius talpinus, Craseomys rufocanus and Mustela nivalis. The main group in the community is made up of taxa characteristic of the late Holocene of the Southern Urals and of the modern fauna of small mammals of the Southern Fore-Urals — Sorex sp., Eliomys quercinus, Apodemus ex gr. uralensis-agrarius, Cricetus cricetus, Arvicola amphibious. The community of small mammals is characterized by a significant group of forest and meadow species, meanwhile typical steppe species are also present — Crocidura sp., Ochotona pusilla, Lagurus lagurus, Eolagurus luteus, the bone remains of which could have been redeposited from more ancient Holocene horizons.

amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, Holocene, Southern Pre-Urals

• Bayanov M.G., D'yachenko I.P., Khabibullin V.F., Bikkinin R.F., Boev V.G., Burzyantsev A.V., Danukalova G.A., Edrenkina L.A., Kniss V.A., Kucherov E.V., Mamatov A.F., Matveev A.B., Migranov M.G., Osipova E.M., Ostrovskaya Yu.V., Sabitova R.Z., Stepanova R.K., Yumagulova G.R., Yakovlev A.G. (2016) Zhivotnye Bashkortostana: monografiya [Animals of Bashkortostan: monograph]. Ufa: RITs BashGU, 388 p. (In Russiаn).
• Krasnaya kniga Respubliki Bashkortostan, tom 2. Zhivotnye (2014) [Red Book of the Republic of Bashkortostan, volume 2. Animals]. Kollektiv avtorov, pod red. I.R. Khadyeva. Ufa: Informreklama. 244 p. (In Russian).
• Kuzyakin A.P. (1962) Zoogeografiya SSSR. Biogeografiya [Zoogeography of the USSR. Biogeography]. Moscow: MOPI, 182 p. (In Russiаn).
• Maleeva A.G. (1983) K metodike paleoekologicheskogo analiza teriofauny pozdnego kainozoya [On the methodology of paleoecological analysis of the theriofauna of the Late Cenozoic]. Istoriya i evolyutsiya sovremennoi fauny gryzunov SSSR. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 145–178. (In Russiаn).
• Sukhov V.P. (1978) Pozdnepleistotsenovye i golotsenovye melkie pozvonochnye iz peshcher zapadnogo sklona Yuzhnogo Urala [Late Pleistocene and Holocene small vertebrates from the caves of the western slope of the Southern Urals]. K istorii pozdnego pleistotsena i golotsena Yuzhnogo Urala i Predural'ya. Ufa: BF AN SSSR, 64–85. (In Russiаn).
• Yakovlev A.G. (1996) Kratkaya faunisticheskaya (nasekomoyadnye, zaitseobraznye i gryzuny) kharakteristika territorii Bashkirskogo Predural'ya i peredovykh khrebtov zapadnogo sklona Yuzhnogo Urala [Brief faunistic (insectivores, lagomorphs and rodents) characteristics of the territory of the Bashkir Cis-Urals and the front ranges of the western slope of the Southern Urals]. Bashkirskii krai. (6). Ufa: NM RB, 174–181. (In Russiаn).
• Yakovlev A.G., Sabirzyanov I.R., Yakovleva T.I., Bakiev A.G. (2016) Vodyanoi uzh Natrix tessellata v Bashkortostane: pervoe dostovernoe mestoobitanie [Water snake Natrix tessellata in Bashkortostan: the first reliable habitat]. Samarskaya Luka: problemy regional'noi i global'noi ekologii. 25 (4), 90–93. (In Russiаn).
• Yakovlev A.G., Yakovleva T.I. (2011) Golotsenovye zemnovodnye i presmykayushchiesya zapadnogo makrosklona Yuzhnogo Urala [Holocene amphibians and reptiles of the western macroslope of the Southern Urals]. Geologicheskii sbornik, (9). Yubileinyi vypusk / IG UNTs RAN. Ufa, DizainPoligrafServis, 91–94. (In Russiаn).
• Yakovlev A.G., Yakovleva T.I. (2023) Zemnovodnye, presmykayushchiesya i mlekopitayushchie Sterlitamakskikh shikhanov (Yuzhnyi Ural) [Amphibians, reptiles and mammals of the Sterlitamak shikhans (Southern Urals)]. Geologicheskii vestnik. (2). 182–194. (In Russiаn).
• Danukalova G., Yakovlev A., Osipova E., Kurmanov R., Kosintsev P., Yakovleva T., van Kolfschoten Th., Izvarin E. (2020) Quaternary deposits and biostratigraphy in caves and grottoes located in the Southern Urals (Russia). Quaternary International, 546. 84–124.