MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE SMALL MAMMAL fAUNAS Of EUROPE: EVOLUTION, BIOSTRATIGRAPHY, CORRELATIONS

The paper is concerned with the small mammal fauna evolution in Europe in the Middle Pleistocene. The information on the faunas of the end of the Early Pleistocene has been also taken into consideration. The data available made possible identifying several stages in the small mammal evolution. Not all intervals within the Middle Pleistocene are provided with sufficient information for recognizing individual stages; that is particularly true for the cold periods of the Middle Pleistocene – the Donian and the Okian glaciations (=Elsterian, =Anglian). Based on the studies of small mammal localities, the biostratigraphic scheme has been developed, the principal phylogenetic lineages of Arvicolinae were traced, and maps of the Middle Pleistocene small mammal localities have been compiled