The Monti Pisani massif (Tuscany, central Italy) is an isolated mountain relief known for its ric... more The Monti Pisani massif (Tuscany, central Italy) is an isolated mountain relief known for its rich geodiversity, including a remarkable palaeontological heritage from the Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras. The Palaeozoic record consists of exquisitely preserved plant remains and rarer invertebrates of Permo-Carboniferous age, which testify to extensive rainforests and large swamps that thrived in an alluvial system under a humid, (sub)tropical climate. In addition to invertebrate shells, invertebrate trace fossils and microbial structures, the Mesozoic record features a diverse Middle Triassic tetrapod ichnoassemblage consisting of tracks of lepidosauromorphs, archosaurs (among which are the earliest dinosauromorph fossils of Italy) and nonmammalian therapsids. These vertebrates lived in a subsiding costal setting that stretched across an expanding rift valley under a subarid climate. The Cenozoic record features abundant fossils of terrestrial vertebrates (including spectacula...
In this paper, we will describe a temporary exhibition held at the Museo di Storia Naturale dell’... more In this paper, we will describe a temporary exhibition held at the Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università di Pisa (Natural History Museum of the University of Pisa, hereafter MSN), Italy, in year 2020-2021, and the educational and awareness raising results that the proposed approach has produced. The aim of this exhibition was to guide the visitor along a path of awareness on the very topical issue of “plastic in our environment”. It focused not only on the environmental impact produced by the dispersal of anthropogenic plastic waste, especially in the sea, but also on the awareness of what actions need to be taken, both on a governmental and personal level, by each of us, to limit it in the future. The exhibition started from the data and images proposed by the media, which shocked us with the seriousness of the plastic emergency and triggered worldwide attention. Then the emphasis of the exhibition shifted to scientific data, rigorously presented by researchers who study the iss...
At the foothillof Monte Amiata volcano (southern Tuscany, Italy), small extinct lake basins of la... more At the foothillof Monte Amiata volcano (southern Tuscany, Italy), small extinct lake basins of late Pleistocene age are documented. These lake basins were characterized by the deposition of two very different types of sediment: a) derived from the authigenic precipitation of iron oxides (goethite) and exploited as earth pigments; b) biogenic siliceous sediment composed of fossil diatoms and named diatomaceous earth or diatomite. The lacustrine sediments of Mount Amiata volcano were widely exploited for various applications since ancient times. Literary documents begin in the 16th century, with the descriptions of Cesalpino, Gesner, Agricola, and Imperato. Specific references to the diatomites of Monte Amiata are quoted in the 17th century by Boccone and Bonanno. The quarrying activity was described by Micheli in 1733. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the diatomaceous earths of Monte Amiata are part of the important geological collections of Micheli, Targioni Tozzetti, Baldassarri...
The genus Mesosceptron Fucini, 1915 from the Sinemurian of Montagna del Casale, Sicily, was origi... more The genus Mesosceptron Fucini, 1915 from the Sinemurian of Montagna del Casale, Sicily, was originally described as a pennatulacean octocoral. The nominal genus is based on eight new species; no type species was fixed in the original publication. Re-examination of the type specimens of these species shows that they are incompletely preserved coleoid rostra that according to current systematic practice may belong to more than one genus within the xiphoteuthidid Aulacoceratida. In order to clarify the systematic attribution of the nominal genus Mesosceptron, we designate herein as its type species, M. neumayeri, and designate a lectotype for the latter; we also designate lectotypes for M. exagonum and M. magnum. Consequently to this nomenclatural act, the nominal genus Mesosceptron becomes a subjective junior synonym of Atractites Gümbel, 1861. We also include herein comments upon nomenclatural aspects of the co-occurring ammonite fauna. RIASSUNTO [Mesosceptron Fucini, 1915 è un cefal...
Montopoli in Val d'Arno (PI), già sede di importanti ritrovamenti storici di cetacei fossili (l'o... more Montopoli in Val d'Arno (PI), già sede di importanti ritrovamenti storici di cetacei fossili (l'olotipo di Idiocetus guicciardinii conservato a Firenze) ospita nel suo Museo Civico una sezione paleontologica in cui è esposto un reperto fossile di balena franca (Eubalaena sp.) ritrovato, nei sedimenti pliocenici del territorio montopolese, da un gruppo archeologico negli anni '70 del secolo scorso. L'allestimento della sala ha voluto presentare i reperti al momento della loro scoperta, su un substrato di sabbie e argille ricco di molluschi e in associazione con ossa di mastodonte. Interessante anche il ritrovamento vicino al fossile del cetaceo di un dente di squalo bianco che ha fatto ipotizzare un possibile attacco.
conserva un solo reperto di cetaceo fossile: lo scheletro parziale di un delfinide rinvenuto nell... more conserva un solo reperto di cetaceo fossile: lo scheletro parziale di un delfinide rinvenuto nelle argille plio-pleistoceniche del fiume Marecchia (RN) durante scavi paleontologici condotti agli inizi degli anni '80 del secolo scorso da Lorenzo Sorbini. Il reperto, inizialmente riferito a Tursiops osennae Simonelli, 1911, è stato poi descritto come olotipo del nuovo genere e nuova specie Arimidelphis sorbinii. La descrizione di questo nuovo cetaceo supporta la grande diversificazione dei delfinidi nel Mediterraneo durante il Plio-Pleistocene e la recente ed esplosiva radiazione di questa famiglia.
The Monti Pisani massif (Tuscany, central Italy) is an isolated mountain relief known for its ric... more The Monti Pisani massif (Tuscany, central Italy) is an isolated mountain relief known for its rich geodiversity, including a remarkable palaeontological heritage from the Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras. The Palaeozoic record consists of exquisitely preserved plant remains and rarer invertebrates of Permo-Carboniferous age, which testify to extensive rainforests and large swamps that thrived in an alluvial system under a humid, (sub)tropical climate. In addition to invertebrate shells, invertebrate trace fossils and microbial structures, the Mesozoic record features a diverse Middle Triassic tetrapod ichnoassemblage consisting of tracks of lepidosauromorphs, archosaurs (among which are the earliest dinosauromorph fossils of Italy) and nonmammalian therapsids. These vertebrates lived in a subsiding costal setting that stretched across an expanding rift valley under a subarid climate. The Cenozoic record features abundant fossils of terrestrial vertebrates (including spectacula...
In this paper, we will describe a temporary exhibition held at the Museo di Storia Naturale dell’... more In this paper, we will describe a temporary exhibition held at the Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università di Pisa (Natural History Museum of the University of Pisa, hereafter MSN), Italy, in year 2020-2021, and the educational and awareness raising results that the proposed approach has produced. The aim of this exhibition was to guide the visitor along a path of awareness on the very topical issue of “plastic in our environment”. It focused not only on the environmental impact produced by the dispersal of anthropogenic plastic waste, especially in the sea, but also on the awareness of what actions need to be taken, both on a governmental and personal level, by each of us, to limit it in the future. The exhibition started from the data and images proposed by the media, which shocked us with the seriousness of the plastic emergency and triggered worldwide attention. Then the emphasis of the exhibition shifted to scientific data, rigorously presented by researchers who study the iss...
At the foothillof Monte Amiata volcano (southern Tuscany, Italy), small extinct lake basins of la... more At the foothillof Monte Amiata volcano (southern Tuscany, Italy), small extinct lake basins of late Pleistocene age are documented. These lake basins were characterized by the deposition of two very different types of sediment: a) derived from the authigenic precipitation of iron oxides (goethite) and exploited as earth pigments; b) biogenic siliceous sediment composed of fossil diatoms and named diatomaceous earth or diatomite. The lacustrine sediments of Mount Amiata volcano were widely exploited for various applications since ancient times. Literary documents begin in the 16th century, with the descriptions of Cesalpino, Gesner, Agricola, and Imperato. Specific references to the diatomites of Monte Amiata are quoted in the 17th century by Boccone and Bonanno. The quarrying activity was described by Micheli in 1733. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the diatomaceous earths of Monte Amiata are part of the important geological collections of Micheli, Targioni Tozzetti, Baldassarri...
The genus Mesosceptron Fucini, 1915 from the Sinemurian of Montagna del Casale, Sicily, was origi... more The genus Mesosceptron Fucini, 1915 from the Sinemurian of Montagna del Casale, Sicily, was originally described as a pennatulacean octocoral. The nominal genus is based on eight new species; no type species was fixed in the original publication. Re-examination of the type specimens of these species shows that they are incompletely preserved coleoid rostra that according to current systematic practice may belong to more than one genus within the xiphoteuthidid Aulacoceratida. In order to clarify the systematic attribution of the nominal genus Mesosceptron, we designate herein as its type species, M. neumayeri, and designate a lectotype for the latter; we also designate lectotypes for M. exagonum and M. magnum. Consequently to this nomenclatural act, the nominal genus Mesosceptron becomes a subjective junior synonym of Atractites Gümbel, 1861. We also include herein comments upon nomenclatural aspects of the co-occurring ammonite fauna. RIASSUNTO [Mesosceptron Fucini, 1915 è un cefal...
Montopoli in Val d'Arno (PI), già sede di importanti ritrovamenti storici di cetacei fossili (l'o... more Montopoli in Val d'Arno (PI), già sede di importanti ritrovamenti storici di cetacei fossili (l'olotipo di Idiocetus guicciardinii conservato a Firenze) ospita nel suo Museo Civico una sezione paleontologica in cui è esposto un reperto fossile di balena franca (Eubalaena sp.) ritrovato, nei sedimenti pliocenici del territorio montopolese, da un gruppo archeologico negli anni '70 del secolo scorso. L'allestimento della sala ha voluto presentare i reperti al momento della loro scoperta, su un substrato di sabbie e argille ricco di molluschi e in associazione con ossa di mastodonte. Interessante anche il ritrovamento vicino al fossile del cetaceo di un dente di squalo bianco che ha fatto ipotizzare un possibile attacco.
conserva un solo reperto di cetaceo fossile: lo scheletro parziale di un delfinide rinvenuto nell... more conserva un solo reperto di cetaceo fossile: lo scheletro parziale di un delfinide rinvenuto nelle argille plio-pleistoceniche del fiume Marecchia (RN) durante scavi paleontologici condotti agli inizi degli anni '80 del secolo scorso da Lorenzo Sorbini. Il reperto, inizialmente riferito a Tursiops osennae Simonelli, 1911, è stato poi descritto come olotipo del nuovo genere e nuova specie Arimidelphis sorbinii. La descrizione di questo nuovo cetaceo supporta la grande diversificazione dei delfinidi nel Mediterraneo durante il Plio-Pleistocene e la recente ed esplosiva radiazione di questa famiglia.
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