Una valutazione tassonomica quantitativa preliminare della documentazione di vertebrati del Quaternario della Sicilia.

A preliminary taxonomic evaluation of the Quaternary vertebrate fossil record of Sicily. A compilation of a dataset concerning the Quaternary vertebrates of Sicily, based on information from literature sources, is presented. A quantitative methodology for compilation and analysis of the data is described. The adopted numerical treatment of data is particularly effective in synthesizing and analyzing the large amount of information contained in the data set. The paper gives a synthetic picture of the consistence of the Sicilian fossil record during the considered time interval. The compilation fully confirms that the fossil record of Sicily is an important source of information on the diversity of mammal faunas in the Quaternary of the Mediterranean region. The record of the five classes of vertebrates documented in the Sicilian deposits and the influence of the taphonomy of the fossil sites is analyzed and discussed more in the details. The results highlight several bias which affect the taxonomy, the chronology and the taphonomy of the documentation, particularly for what regards small sized fossil taxa. The results also address the attention on future research on the vertebrates of the island. The proposed methodology represents a preliminary theoretical contribution to the complex question connected to the evaluation of the actual consistency of vertebrate fossil record.