Findings of Diatom Algae in the Trunk and Buccal Cavity Content of a Mammoth from Sediments of the Late Pleistocene of Y
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ings of Diatom Algae in the Trunk and Buccal Cavity Content of a Mammoth from Sediments of the Late Pleistocene of Yakutia S. I. Genkala, *, V. A. Gabyshevb, **, and A. V. Protopopovc, *** a
Papanin Institute for Biology of Inland Waters, Russian Academy of Sciences, Borok, Nekouzskii raion, Yaroslavl oblast, Russia bInstitute for Biological Problems of Cryolithozone, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, Russia c Department for the Study of Mammoth Fauna, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Yakutsk, Russia *e-mail: [email protected] **e-mail: [email protected] ***e-mail: [email protected] Received August 21, 2019; revised February 28, 2020; accepted April 18, 2020
Abstract—The study of the contents of the trunk and buccal cavity of a the remains of mammoth calf (Mammuthus primigenius) from Yakutia using scanning electron microscopy has revealed 14 species and varieties of Bacillariophyta and three forms which have been identified only to genus. The obtained data on the diatom species composition expand knowledge of the Pleistocene flora of Bacillariophyta in the region. Ecological characteristics of the detected diatom species indicate that the location where the mammoth was found represented a stagnant or flowing oligotrophic freshwater body with neutral or slightly alkaline pH. Keywords: Bacillariophyta, Late Pleistocene, algoflora, mammoth remains, Yakutia DOI: 10.1134/S0031030120050056
INTRODUCTION Studies on remains of the Pleistocene mammal fauna preserved in the permafrost layer have attracted the attention of a wide range of paleoecologists (Ukraintseva, 1994). Samples from the accumulation of mammoth hair and sediments collected from the area of the skull of the mammoth calf nicknamed Yuka were analyzed to study taphocenoses (Kirillova et al., 2016). Based on the results of these studies the investigators have concluded that the sediments are not contemporaneous with the remains of the animal and thus could not be used for paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Unlike the enclosing sediments, the analysis of sediments from the body cavity may be more important as they represent “snap-shots” of the paleoenvironment rather than the sum of collected remains integrated over a large time interval. The present study was focused on the analysis of samples from the buccal cavity and a respiratory canal of the trunk of the mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach) from Yakutia. According to radiocarbon analysis of the skin, the age of the mammoth remains was 41300 ± 900 years. (Mashchenko et al., 2013). The animal died immediately as a result of a deep cranial trauma at the end of summer (July-August), which is confirmed by the results of the analysis of its morphology and the data of the spore-pollen analysis of sediments enclosing the mammoth carcass (Mashchenko et al., 2013). The spore-pollen spectrum indicates that the mammoth corpse was initially buried in wetland environment (Boeskorov et al., 2010). The complete loss of
hair and some other features show th
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