The Astaracian age is a period of

geologic time The geologic time scale or geological time scale (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the process of relating strata to time) and geochronolo ...

(), equivalent with the

Middle Miocene The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), epoch made up of two Stage (stratigraphy), stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene. The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0. ...

and used more specifically with European Land Mammal Ages. It precedes the Vallesian age and follows the Orleanian age. The Astaracian overlaps the

Langhian The Langhian is, in the ICS geologic timescale, an age or stage in the middle Miocene Epoch/Series. It spans the time between 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma and 13.65 ± 0.05 Ma (million years ago) during the Middle Miocene.GeoWhen (2007) The Langhian was ...

and Serravallian ages.Paleo Database: Astaracian
/ref> During the Late Orleanian and Astaracian (), oscillating sea levels resulted in a succession of palaeogeographic changes in the Eastern

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

; the opening and closing of the Tethys seaway resulted in temporary land-bridges between Africa and Eurasia. Three short periods of faunal migrations between the continents can be distinguished: During the Late Orleanian, MN 5 (), a first wave of migrations from Africa correspond to fossil fauna from Greece. The Antonios locality (MN 4/5, ) on the Chalkidiki peninsula includes the small tragulid '' Dorcatherium'', the giraffid '' Palaeomeryx'', and the suiform '' Sanitheres''. The Thymiana locality (MN 5, ) on

Chios Chios (; , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, tenth largest island in the Medi ...

includes both the giraffid '' Georgiomeryx'', ''Dorcatherium'', the ctenodactylid '' Sayimys'' as well as an immigrant from Asia, the

proboscidea Proboscidea (; , ) is a taxonomic order of afrotherian mammals containing one living family (Elephantidae) and several extinct families. First described by J. Illiger in 1811, it encompasses the elephants and their close relatives. Three l ...

n ''

Choerolophodon ''Choerolophodon'' is an extinct genus of proboscidean that lived during the Miocene of Eurasia and Africa. Fossils of ''Choerolophodon'' have been found in Africa, Southeast Europe, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, the Indian subcontinent, and China.Chunxia ...

'' known from the Bugti fauna (MN 3, ) in India. Primates also arrived during MN5: '' Pliopithecus'' is known from Elgg in Switzerland and Pontlevoy- Thenay in France and prevailed until the end of the Vallesian. A second wave from Africa in the Early Astaracian, MN 6 (), included the hominoid '' Griphopithecus''; a Eurasian relative to the African '' Kenyapithecus'' found at the Pasalar and Candir localities in Turkey. and at Neudorf-Sandberg in Slovakia. The primate genus was accompanied by the aardvark '' Orycteropus''. From Asia came the hyracoid '' Pliohyrax'', the cervid '' Dicrocerus'', and the suid '' Listriodon''. Asian bovids such as '' Protragocerus'', '' Tethytragus'', and '' Hypsodontus'' known from Asia Minor and Chios during MN 5 migrated into Africa as part of this wave. A third wave during MN 7/8 () probably took place, but the late Astaracian is poorly documented. A seaway most likely joined the Paratethys and the Mediterranean, preventing migrations. The hominoid '' Dryopithecus'' appeared in Europe together with the Asian suid '' Propotamochoerus''. The rodent genus '' Cricetulodon'' is known from Western and Central Europe from MN 3 and from the end of MN 7/8 in Turkey and Greece.

References

Miocene Miocene geochronology {{geochronology-stub