The Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary: which significance for the so called "Wolf event"? Evidences from Western Europe

The radiation of canids referable to Canis ex gr. etruscus in Western Europe, the so-called “Wolf Event” by Azzaroli (1983), is an important part of a faunal renewal that occurred approximately at Pliocene-Pleistocene transition, strongly related to climatic and environmental changes. Actually, taking into account the recently available data, the meaning of the so called “Wolf-Event” must be reconsidered in a wider sense, and it has to be considered as different dispersal events occurred in a quite short time span to be placed at the end of Pliocene. The reconsideration of the available fossil record suggests that: 1) The “Wolf Event”, in its original acception, is just one of the different bioevents (dispersal of Canis, Lycaon, but also Pachycrocuta and Panthera) part of the important faunal renewal that affected the carnivore guilds in Western Europe; 2) New hunting strategies (patch hunters) took place in Western Europe at this moment; 3) The dispersal of different lineages of canids has to be related to the diffusion of open habitats; 4) The “Wolf Event”, in a new and wider acception, occurred during latest Pliocene, thus it cannot be considered as a “marker” of the beginning of Pleistocene.