Middle Miocene Otoliths of Freshwater Fishes from the Vračević Lake (Serbian Lake System)

Abstract

The Serbian Lake System (SLS) is a key area on early to middle Miocene freshwater environments in southeastern Europe. Here, we describe a rich fossil association of fish otoliths of late Badenian to early Sarmatian (MN 7+8 zone) age. The studied material was collected from several small outcrops along the Grabovac stream near Vračević. The Vračević locations are part of the Valjevo-Mionica Basin (VMB). We identified nine different species, including two in open nomenclature and three new to science: Aphanius jeani, Aphanolebias bettinae n.sp., Klincigobius andjelkovicae, Klincigobus haraldahnelti n.sp., Klincigobius serbiensis, Klincigobius sp., Ponticola sp., Toxopyge campylus, Toxopyge vracevicensis n.sp. We found that the composition of this fish fauna correlates well with the slightly older fauna from the early to middle Miocene of Klinci. Both localities were most likely part of a continuous environment during the existence of the Valjevo-Mionica Basin. The composition of the community of freshwater gobies from the early to early middle Miocene of southeastern Europe indicates the presence of a “lost” Miocene freshwater goby fish fauna that existed prior to and was unrelated to the Ponto-Caspian fish fauna that prevails today. The new data may prove helpful in reconstructing the paleogeographical evolution of the Valjevo-Mionica Basin in detail.