Villafranchian age ( ) is a period of
geologic time (3.5–1.0
Ma)
[ spanning the ]Late Pliocene
Late may refer to:
* LATE, an acronym which could stand for:
** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia
** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law
** Local average treatment effect, ...
and Early Pleistocene
The Early Pleistocene is an unofficial sub-epoch in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, being the earliest division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently estimated to span the time ...
used more specifically with European Land Mammal Ages
The European Land Mammal Mega Zones (abbreviation: ELMMZ, more commonly known as European land mammal ages or ELMA) are zones in rock layers that have a specific assemblage of fossils (biozones) based on occurrences of fossil assemblages of Europe ...
. Named by Italian geologist Lorenzo Pareto
Lorenzo Nicolò Pareto ( Genoa, 6 December 1800 – Genoa, 19 June 1865) was an Italian geologist and statesman.
As a man of science, he is considered one of the fathers of modern geology. A member of the Italian National Academy of Sciences, ...
for a sequence of terrestrial sediments studied near Villafranca d'Asti
Villafranca d'Asti is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Asti in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about west of Asti.
The town was founded by the commune of Asti in 1275. It is home to the church of S ...
, a town near Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
,[http://archaeologywordsmith.com/lookup.php?category=&where=headword&terms=Villafranchian] it succeeds the Ruscinian The Ruscian age is a period of geologic time (5.3–3.4 Ma) within the Pliocene used more specifically with European Land Mammal Ages. It precedes the Villanyian age and follows the Turolian age. The Ruscian overlaps the early Piacenzian and Za ...
age, and is followed by the Galerian.
The Villafranchian is sub-divided into six faunal units based on the localities of Triversa, Montopoli, Saint-Vallier, Olivola, Tasso and Farnetta.[The Pleistocene Boundary and the Beginning of the Quaternary]
edited by John A. Van Couvering. Cambridge University Press 1997
A major division of both geological deposits and time, the Villafranchian is significant because the earliest hominids that clearly evolved into modern man (the australopithecines) appeared within it.Blancan
The Blancan North American Stage on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from 4,750,000 to 1,806,000 years Before Present, BP, a period of . Stage of North America.Red fox
The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...
, Least weasel
The least weasel (''Mustela nivalis''), little weasel, common weasel, or simply weasel is the smallest member of the genus '' Mustela,'' family Mustelidae and order Carnivora. It is native to Eurasia, North America and North Africa, and has bee ...
, Moorhen
Moorhens—sometimes called marsh hens—are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family (Rallidae). Most species are placed in the genus ''Gallinula'', Latin for "little hen".
They are close relatives of coots. They are of ...
, Etruscan bear
''Ursus etruscus'' (the Etruscan bear) is an extinct species of bear, endemic to Europe, Asia and North Africa during the Pliocene through Pleistocene, living from ~5.3 million to 100,000 years ago.
Taxonomy
''Ursus etruscus'' appears ...
, and ''Panthera gombaszoegensis
''Panthera gombaszoegensis'', also known as the European jaguar, is a ''Panthera'' species that lived from about 2.0 to 0.35 million years ago in Europe. The first fossils were excavated in 1938 in Gombasek, Slovakia.
More of its fossil remai ...
.''
The beginning of the Villafranchian is typically defined by the first appearance of the bovid genus '' Leptobos'' in Italy, dated to around 3.5-3.6 million years ago (mya). The beginning of the Middle Villafranchian is defined by the "elephant–''Equus'' event" denoting the first appearance of ''Mammuthus meridionalis
''Mammuthus meridionalis'', or the southern mammoth, is an extinct species of mammoth native to Europe and Central Asia from the Gelasian stage of the Early Pleistocene, living from 2.5–0.8 mya.
Taxonomy
The taxonomy of extinct elephant ...
'' and ''Equus stenonis
''Equus stenonis'' or the Stenon zebra, is an extinct species of equine closely related to modern zebras and asses that inhabited Eurasia in the Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch ...
,'' thought to be around 2.5-2.6 mya''.'' The beginning of the Late Villafranchian was formerly typically defined by the "Wolf event", the first appearance of ''Canis etruscus
''Canis etruscus'', the Etruscan wolf, is an extinct species of canine that was endemic to Mediterranean Europe during the Early Pleistocene. The Etruscan wolf has been described as a small wolf-like dog. The Etruscan wolf has been accepted as ...
,'' but this was later considered to be diachronous
In geology, a diachronism (Greek language, Greek ''dia'', "through" + ''chronos'', "time" + ''-ism''), or diachronous deposit, is a sedimentary rock formation in which the material, although of a similar nature, varies in age with the place where i ...
. It was later proposed that the boundary be placed at the first appearance of hyena ''Pachycrocuta brevirostri''s approximately 1.8 mya.
References
Piacenzian
{{geochronology-stub