Pleistocene easternmost distribution in Eurasia of the species associated with the Eemian Palaeoloxodon antiquus assemblage

1. The Palaeoloxodon antiquus large-mammal assemblage was typical of the late middle and late Pleistocene interglacials in Europe. This review examines the assemblage's origins, dispersal and cohesiveness in Eurasia. 2. During the more climatically equable middle-Pleistocene periods, the Palaeoloxodon assemblage (or closely related) species occurred across central Eurasia almost simultaneously. In Central and Western Europe, these species responded to climatic changes together as an unvarying interglacial assemblage, whereas in Eastern Europe and Siberia, they occurred in diverging assemblages. The boundary of the Palaeoloxodon assemblage can be drawn roughly from Poland to Romania. 3. In Central and Western Europe this interglacial assemblage last occurred during the Eemian. During this period many of the Palaeoloxodon assemblage species may also have co-occurred in south-eastern Europe and, except for Bubalus murrensis and Hippopotamus amphibius, further eastwards. The extinct species of the Palaeoloxodon assemblage disappeared in Siberia and Central Asia prior to Europe and the Caucasus whereas the extant species were already present in their modern distribution areas. 4. A quantitative study of faunal associations across Eurasia, following much-needed comprehensive systematic reviews, would further elucidate the patterns of faunal change associated with local and global climatic changes during the middle to late Pleistocene.