Feeding strategies of the Pleistocene insular dwarf elephants <em>Palaeoloxodon falconeri</em> and <em>Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis</em> from Sicily (Italy)

The fossil record of the Mediterranean islands attests several cases of insular dwarfism. The extinct large-sized straight-tusked elephant Palaeoloxodon antiquus underwent this process at least twice during the Pleistocene, resulting in the evolution of Palaeoloxodon falconeri (early Middle Pleistocene) and Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis (late Middle Pleistocene/Late Pleistocene) in Sicily, a rare case of two insular taxa evolving from the same ancestral species independently on the same island and subsequently. We investigate diet-related dental wear patterns of P. falconeri and P. mnaidriensis from Sicily to test hypotheses on their niche occupation in more spatially restricted (P. falconeri) versus a more widely distributed, mainland-like (P. mnaidriensis) insular contexts. Although P. falconeri did not compete with other herbivorous mammals and could have exploited the most nutritious and palatable resources as a browser, dental meso- and microwear patterns suggest a high degree of dietary abrasion. P. mnaidriensis, which coexisted with other large herbivores and carnivores, also displays dental meso- and microwear patterns indicative of a high intake of abrasive items. A scenario of insular woodiness (i.e., increased woodiness in insular plants), combined with intense exploitation of the limited vegetation due to the absence of predatory pressure, may explain the abrasive dental wear patterns of P. falconeri. The high degree of abrasion observed in P. mnaidriensis patterns may reflect an adaptation to a grazing diet associated with the expansion of open grasslands during the Late Pleistocene. Our results show that the dwarf elephants of Sicily developed similar dietary adaptations, albeit in response to different ecological conditions.