Su Fossu de Cannas Cave (Sadali, central-eastern Sardinia, Italy): the earliest deposit holding Pleistocene megacerine remains in Sardinia

Abstract Several cervid remains have recently been discovered in the sandy, red-coloured and strongly cemented sediment filling the uppermost cavity of the Su Fossu de Cannas Cave (Sadali, central-eastern Sardinia), cut into the Mesozoic limestone in the Barbagia of Seulo. The remains were found on the ceiling of a narrow, horizontal underground cave. The origin of this passage may be due to an ancient erosional phase (Middle Pleistocene?), which affected the sediments formerly filling up the cave, as evidenced by the erosion of the uppermost conglomerate and by the further deposition of reddish, slightly cemented sediments. The specimens analysed thus far show close morphological affinities with the endemic Sardinian megacerine “Praemegaceros” cazioti (Depéret, 1897). However, the Sadali cervid differs from the latter in its larger size, exceeding the range of variability calculated for the endemic species, and in some morphological features (such as the depth and curved corpus mandibulae), as well as in its proportionally smaller teeth and, notably, its elongated, slender metacarpal. The peculiar features of the Sadali specimens suggest its attribution to a new species. Nevertheless, for the moment, we prefer to name the Sadali cervid “Praemegaceros” n. sp., awaiting new data to present the diagnosis. The Su Fossu de Cannas cervid can be regarded as the most primitive representative of the genus “Praemegaceros” in Sardinia and the ancestor of the endemic species “Praemegaceros” cazioti