The paleontological apulian heritage: a preliminary list

Five paleontological sites have been selected, on the bases of their scientific importance, their main paleontological features and their potential enhancement.Nardò: an important cretaceous fish assemblage of the Tethyan realmUpper Cretaceous (Coniacian-early Campanian) fish beds extensively outcrop in the territory surrounding the town of Nardò, in the Lecce Province. The ichthyolitiferous strata have been exploited from three main localities, Porto Selvaggio, Canale and Cava. All of them are easily accessible. Representatives of the actinopterygian orders Aspidorhynchiformes, Aulopiformes, Beryciformes, Characiformes, Clupeiformes, Elopiformes, Gasterosteiformes, Gonorhynchiformes, Ichthyodectiformes, Lampridiformes, Perciformes, Pycnodontiformes, Tetraodontiformes, and Zeiformes, as well as of some elasmobranchs have been found. The Nardò ichthyofauna certainly represents one of the most important and diverse Cretaceous fish assemblage of the Tethyan realm. This assemblage provides among the earliest representatives of several clades which dominates the marine environments today.Altamura: a significant cretacean dinosaur trackwaysThree distinct dinosaur track sites are presently known from the Apulian carbonate platform. The main one crops out in an abandoned quarry (ECOSPI quarry ) opened in the Altamura limestone (Turonian–Maastrichtian?) near the Altamura town (Bari). It includes thousands of medium-sized quadruped trackways ascribed to ornitischians. A single trackway and a few isolated footprints are the type material of A medium-sized hadrosaurid Apulosauripus federicianus.A single tridactyl footprint is tentatively referred to a theropod and one trackway “might pertain to a very small sauropod”. The age of the fossiliferous level is “Santonian, excluding the earliest part of this stage”Castro: the Oligocene coral reef complex of the Castro LimestoneThe coral reef complex of the Castro Limestone (lower Chattian) is extensively exposed along the eastern coast of the Salento Peninsula (Apulia), from the city of Otranto to S.M. di Leuca Cape. One of the best outcrops is located in close proximity to the entrance of the Zinzulusa cave (Castro Marina, Lecce). The coral fauna is characterized by a high diversity and about 20 different genera can be recognized. Together with corals, other common fossils are represented by coralline algae, larger (lepidocyclinids) and planktonic foraminifers, bivalves, gastropods and echinoids.The Castro Limestone represents a rare example of a fossil reef really comparable with present day coral reefs. The large suite of recognized and described reef features, the types of coral assemblages and interpretation of paleoenvironmental conditions can be used as a reliable reference model for understanding Cenozoic coral reef evolution. Lecce: the Miocene marine megavertebrates of the Pietra LecceseThe Burdigalian to Messinian fossiliferous biocalcarenites of the Pietra Leccese largely outcrop in the Salento peninsuls, most notably in the area surrounding the city of Lecce. The study of the fossils collected from the numerous productive sites located in the nearby of Lecce started in the XVI century, resulting in a huge amount of published articles and monographic papers. The characteristic fossil assemblage primarily consists of articulated skeletal remains of large marine vertebrates, including cetaceans, sirenians, chelonians, crocodiles, and teleostean fishes, and shark teeth, but mollusks, crustaceans, echinoids and brachiopods are also rather common. The fossil assemblage consists of a mixture of shallow water and oceanic taxa, and provides an excellent overview of the structure and composition of the Miocene megavertebrate communities of the Medterranean Basin.Apricena: the mammalian fossil association and the oldest European lithic industryThe site of Pirro Nord (also known as Cava Pirro or Cava dell’Erba) is known in literature since the1970’s of the last century as a palaeontological site, of which the mammalian fossil association constitutes a reference (local) fauna for the European latest Villafranchian. This fossil association is also known for the occurrence of some African elements. During the 2005, a lithic industry has been found in three karst fissures, together with the typical elements of the Pirro Nord vertebrate assemblage. The biochronological assessment based on the vertebrate assemblage attributes it to a time interval bracketed between 1.3 Ma and 1.7 Ma. Thus the site of Pirro Nord represents the oldest human occupation of Europe so far known.