Cuon alpinus (Pallas, 1811) (Mammalia, Carnivora) from Equi (Late Pleistocene, Massa-Carrara, Italy): anatomical analysis and palaeoethological contextualisation

This paper presents a morphological description and contextualization of dhole remains from the Late Pleistocene site (MIS 3) of Equi (Fivizzano, Massa-Carrara, Italy). The site was excavated in the first decades of the twentieth century, and the palaeontological remains are housed in the Paleontological Museum of the University of Florence. In Europe, the occurrence of dhole remains is spread over the continent and ranges chronologically from the early Middle Pleistocene to the Holocene. The current knowledge allows definition of the northern limit range of this carnivore, which never crossed the 51st parallel. The ethology of extant populations allows us to make inferences about its behaviour, with special regard to the occurrence of other large carnivores at the same site, such as Panthera spelaea and Panthera pardus, based on mutual segregation related to the environment and prey availability.