The Occurrence of Suidae (Artiodactyla, Mammalia) in the Late Villafranchian Fauna of Crimea (Taurida Cave, Early Pleistocene) and the “Suid Gap” Hypothesis

A fragment of the partially mineralized lower molar M1 of a fossil pig Sus sp. is described from the main bone level of the Taurida cave locality (central Crimea, Russia), dated to the Late Villafranchian (Early Pleistocene, MQ1 zone, 1.8–1.6 Ma). Like the materials from the coeval Dmanisi locality in Georgia, this extremely rare find (so far the only one of many thousands of vertebrate remains from the Taurida cave) may indicate a sharp decline in number (but not complete disappearance) of Suidae in Eastern Europe and Western Asia around 1.8 Ma, which clarifies the ideas associated with the “suid gap” hypothesis about the absence of pigs in Europe in the interval of 1.8–1.2 Ma.