Çeştepe, a new early Pliocene vertebrate locality in Central Anatolia and its stratigraphic context

The new locality of C¸ es¸tepe in the Kazan Basin, 45 km NNW of Ankara, yielded the remains of three species of reptiles (cf. Lacerta sp., Anguinae indet. and Varanus sp.) and an ochotonid lagomorph, Ochotona mediterranensis Suata Alpaslan, 2009. The latter species suggests an early Pliocene age (MN14). The fossil layer is included in the Sinap Formation that delivered abundant remains of Mio-Pliocene mammals in the southern part of the basin, but in the northern part of the basin C¸ es¸tepe is currently the unique fossil site. The age assigned by the fauna led to revise the stratigraphy of sedimentary formations in the C¸ es¸ tepe area, previously confusing because of the various lithostratigraphic unit names and ages given in previous work. The taxa described in this note are still poorly known in Turkey. Varanus has been previously reported from C¸ alta, a locality 16.3 km SW to C¸ es¸tepe in the same basin, and O. mediterranensis from Igdeli ˘ in the Sivas Basin. Although represented by a few taxa, the C¸ es¸tepe faunule shows Eurasian affinities