ALPONE VALLEY: FAUNAS, FLORAS AND ROCKS FROM THE CENOZIC

In the Alpone Valley there are outcrops of volcanic and sedimentary marine rocks that contain many Eocene palaeontological deposits including those of Bolca. The fossils of Bolca have been known for a long time: the earliest sure records date back to a document dated 1550. Dates back to 1571 the important collection of the chemist Francesco Calzolari of Verona who in his museum, the first naturalistic museum known to the world, also exposed some fish from Bolca. The great biodiversity and exceptional conservation, particularly of fish discovered in the two most representative localities of Bolca, Pesciara and Monte Postale, makes it the richest deposit in the world. In fact, the fish Actinopterygii known in the fauna of Bolca belong to 19 orders, 91 families, 192 genera (of which 32 are of uncertain family) and at least 220 species. In addition, Pesciara and Monte Postale, protected since 1990 by the Regional Natural Park of Lessinia, and other deposits in the Alpone Valley recently reported, are famous even for the rich flora of the Eocene (170 genera, 137 species of which 54 types), certainly one of the most important and various worldwide and for the well preserved rests of reptiles, birds, scorpions, insects, jellyfish, crustacea, bivalves, gastropods, cephalopods, corals, brachiopods, annelids, foraminifers, ostracods and bryozoa. The palaeontological heritage of the Valley, which is preserved in some small local museums and in the main Italian, European and extra-European museums, has an important role in the History of Science and it offers a large window of knowledge about ancient landscapes of the Earth and their evolution. All this makes the territory of the Alpone Valley a reference point for those interested in Palaeontology, thanks to fossiliferous localities known worldwide, in particular as regards the marine and continental Eocene.