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A New Glance at Old Samples: Remains of Freshwater Invertebrates Associated with Mummified Carcasses of Large Quaternary Mammals

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Abstract—

Carcasses of mammals with well-preserved soft tissues from the permafrost of Siberia and northern North America are among the most important sources of our knowledge on Quaternary environments. However, the potential of this information source is far from being exhausted. The objective of this study is to reveal and describe the remains of freshwater invertebrates in the hair and gut contents of large Pleistocene mammals stored for a long time in museum collections. We have studied the gut contents of two mammoths, as well as the hair of two other mammoths, one woolly rhinoceros, four bison, and two horses. Remains of invertebrates were found in the gut contents of both mammoths, as well as in the hair of two mammoths and the woolly rhinoceros, while no remains were detected in the bison and horse hair. Among the remains of microscopic invertebrates, the most common are branchiopod crustaceans, namely the ephippia of Daphnia sp., Simocephalus sp., the head shields and valves of Chydoridae (Cladocera), and the mandibles of tadpole shrimps (Notostraca). Based on our current level of knowledge, we are able to identify only a limited number of Pleistocene branchiopods. Studies on Recent taxa with the aim to develop identification keys to the aforementioned groups are needed, as they could significantly expand the potential of palaeoecological analysis.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This article is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Andrei Vladimirovich Sher. The authors are deeply grateful to I.V. Kirillova for help with work on the MLP collection, valuable advice, and the photographs reproduced above.

Funding

The study of freshwater cladocerans was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 18-04-00398-a). The study of diatoms was carried out within the framework of the state program to improve the competitiveness of Kazan (Volga) Federal University among the world’s leading scientific and educational centers and the state assignment at the Institute for Energy and Economics, Russian Academy of Sciences, project no. 0109-2018-0076 (AAAA-A18-118042490059-5). All work on the scanning electron microscope was performed at the “Instrumental Methods in Ecology” Center for Collective Use, Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences. G.G. Boeskorov’s study of mammalian remains was part of a state assignment at the Institute of Mining and Biology, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, project no. 0381-2019-0002.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Moscow, Russia

    A. A. Kotov, A. N. Neretina, A. A. Zharov & E. I. Izymova

  2. Kazan Federal University, 420008, Kazan, Russia

    A. A. Kotov

  3. Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119334, Moscow, Russia

    A. A. Zharov

  4. Institute of Geology of Diamond and Precious Metals, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 677980, Yakutsk, Russia

    G. G. Boeskorov

  5. Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 620144, Yekaterinburg, Russia

    P. A. Kosintsev

  6. National Alliance of Shidlovskii Our Ice Age, 129223, Moscow, Russia

    F. K. Shidlovskiy

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  1. A. A. Kotov
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  2. A. N. Neretina
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  3. A. A. Zharov
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  4. E. I. Izymova
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  5. G. G. Boeskorov
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  6. P. A. Kosintsev
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Correspondence to A. A. Kotov, A. N. Neretina, A. A. Zharov, E. I. Izymova, G. G. Boeskorov, P. A. Kosintsev or F. K. Shidlovskiy.

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Translated by S. Nikolaeva

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Kotov, A.A., Neretina, A.N., Zharov, A.A. et al. A New Glance at Old Samples: Remains of Freshwater Invertebrates Associated with Mummified Carcasses of Large Quaternary Mammals. Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 47, 753–761 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359020070080

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