Volchia Griva rodent associations: stratigraphy and paleogeography significance for the Late Neo-Pleistocene – Holocene of southern West Siberian Plain

The West Siberian Plain is a huge territory ~ 2.7 million square kilometers. Due to the flat relief, research covers only limited areas. This makes it difficult to study of Quaternary small mammals. Rodents play an important role in paleontological and stratigraphic research. Considering the relatively high evolutionary advancement and low migration ability, their remains provide a clear picture of the natural zones structure and boundaries, which is of key importance for establishing the stratigraphic boundaries of faunal complexes and paleogeographic reconstructions. This study provides a detailed description of rodent associations at the Volchia Griva site (Baraba Lowland) during the Last Glacial Maximum and the Late Holocene. The study includes taphonomic and morphological analyses. Taphonomic analysis of remains from the lower bone-bearing level revealed that they could have come from excrement or pellets. Root marks were also found on the most rodent remains of this level. The Holocene remains are very well preserved. There were no signs of exposure to gastric juice on them; therefore, the animals died from exhaustion, disease or other reasons. The diets of living rodents are presented and, on their ecology basis, the environmental conditions in the Late Neo-Pleistocene - Holocene are reconstructed. Both associations are autochthonous and reflect the predominance of open landscapes. The results we obtained allow us to speak about the wide distribution of dry steppes at the beginning of the MIS 2 and the predominance of meadow steppes (or forest-steppes) in the last third of the MIS 1. The Volchia Griva is keystone site for studying the of mammal colonization processes of open landscapes with cold and dry climates, as well as for studying the mechanisms and ways of modern biogeocenoses formation. This site plays an important role in substantiating natural barriers and limiting environmental factors on the migration routes of mammals, including Stone Age humans. Contribution of the authors: Samandrosova A.S. - writing - original draft, methodology, taphonomic analysis, morphological analysis, paleogeographic reconstructions, discussion, conclusion, text correction. Leshchinskiy S.V. - writing - original draft, taphonomic analysis, paleogeographic reconstruction, discussion, conclusion, text correction. Burkanova E.M. - paleogeographic reconstruction, discussion, text correction. Borodin A.V. - methodology, morphological analysis, paleogeographic reconstruction, text correction. Kosintsev P.A. - paleogeographic reconstruction, text correction. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

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