Fossil Remains of Vertebrates in Serbian Cave Deposits

Conclusion

    One hundred and seven species of vertebrates have been discovered in cave deposits of Serbia: 56 species of mammals, 30 species of birds, nine species of reptiles, nine species of amphibians, and three species of fish. Remains of this diverse fauna, for which an Upper Pleistocene age is indicated, come from more than 25 caves.
    Residents and predators are distinguished in the fauna of large mammals. They belong to the order Carnivora (carnivores) and also include different species of herbivores (mammoths and rhinoceroses, odd-toed ungulates, and even-toed ungulates), whose remains were brought into caves as prey of carnivores. In caves inhabited by man during the Palaeolithic (Risovaca, Prekonoska Pecina, Baranica, Smolucka Pecina), some of the faunistic remains are from hunted animals.
    Remains of small vertebrates have been found in caves in which wet sifting of sediments was conducted. They include representatives of insectivores, bats, rabbits, rodents, birds, lizards, snakes, frogs, and fish. For the most part, they found their way into cave sediments as the prey of predators, owls, or small carnivores. Their diversity indicates the uneven nature of local paleoecological conditions and reflects global changes of climate.
    Composition of the vertebrate fauna from Serbian cave deposits differs significantly from the Holocene fauna and includes extinct species, species that today no longer live on the territory of Serbia, and ones that are present today, but which in the Pleistocene lived in different parts of Serbia. The altered composition of the fauna is a consequence of environmental changes from the Pleistocene to the present time.

Remains of vertebrates in Serbian Pleistocene cave deposits

cave	large mammals	small mammals	birds	lower vertebrates
Risovaca (79)	+	+
Smolucka pecina (78)	+	+	+	+
Vasiljska pecina (76)	+	+	+	+
Vrelska pecina	+	+	+	+
Petnicka pecina (7)	+	+	+	+
Pecurski kamen	+	+	+
Ceremosnja (11)	+		+
Prekonoska pecina (34)	+	+	+
Golema dupka	+
Popsicka pecina (36)	+	+
Pecina u crvenim stenama	+
Usacka pecina (23)	+
Lazareva (Zlotska) pecina (6)	+
Vernjikica (17)	+
Jerinina pecina	+	+
Kovacevica pecina (37)	+
Salitrena pecina (81)	+
Visoka pecina	+
Ravanicka pecina (8)	+
Osljarska pecina	+
Rajkova pecina (10)	+
Baranica (80)	+	+	+	+
Milkina pecina	+
Mirilovska pecina	+
Mandina pecina	+	+

The number in perenthesesis designates the ordinal number under which the cave is listed in the register of the Atlas; caves without numbers are smaller ones not included in the register.