Carnivores from Arena Cave: Pleistocene predators’ tales from Sicily

Abstract

The Pleistocene site of Arena Cave (Baida, Palermo) represents one of the least studied mammal assemblages from Sicily. It is a fissure-filling deposit, currently threatened by the instability of an abandoned quarry front. Preliminary descriptions of its faunal content, provided by Fabiani (1928) and confirmed by Vaufrey (1929), report the presence of four iconic European Pleistocene carnivorous taxa: Canis lupus, Crocuta crocuta spelaea, Panthera spelaea spelaea, and Ursus arctos. Although no stratigraphic data are available, the biostratigraphic framework suggests a wide chronological range: from the Early-Middle Pleistocene (Palaeoloxodon falconeri F.C.) and Late-Middle Pleistocene (Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis F.C.) to the Late Pleistocene (San Teodoro-Pianetti F.C.), Late Glacial (Castello F.C.), and even the Holocene. It is therefore plausible that the assemblage represents a mixed accumulation of faunal remains from different phases, which makes the site particularly valuable for understanding the evolutionary pathways of Sicilian mammal communities across the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. This study aims to fill a gap in our knowledge of the palaeobiology of Pleistocene Sicilian carnivores, which has never been systematically investigated at Arena Cave. Specifically, we estimated the body mass of each predator (C. lupus, C. crocuta spelaea, Panthera s. spelaea) and assessed potential ecological interactions within the carnivore guild. Our methodological framework combines morphometric analyses with theoretical ecological models - Prey Focus Mass (PFM) and Prey Mass Spectrum (PMS) - and incorporates the calculation of competition indices (CIs) to assess niche overlap and infer predator guild structure (Hemmer, 2004; Hertler & Volmer, 2008). Our results offer new insights into the palaeobiology and trophic ecology of Sicilian Pleistocene carnivores, contributing to a broader understanding of predator guild dynamics in island ecosystems.