New dental material and redescription of Agerinia roselli (Primates, Adapiformes) from Les Saleres (early Eocene, NE Iberian Peninsula)

Abstract

In this work, new dental material of Agerinia roselli from its type locality, Les Saleres (NE Spain), is described. An emended diagnosis of the species is provided, together with a redescription of the entire hypodigm from that locality, which was necessary due to some inaccuracies in previous descriptions. The studied material includes 12 teeth (from P 3 to M 3 ); the roots of the anterior premolars preserved in a mandible fragment are reported for the first time. Some previously undescribed traits have been identified after the new analysis of this material, such as the P 4 with distinct hypoconid and entoconid and the tiny paraconid on the M 1 . A detailed comparison with other cercamoniines has been made. The body mass of A. roselli, ranging from 650 to 900 g, has also been estimated.The presence of a minuscule paraconid in the M 1 is the most reliable criterion for distinguishing this molar from the M 2 . This is supported by the complete absence of paraconid in four M 2 preserved in mandible fragments. The trigonid length seems to be less reliable for distinguishing M 1 from M 2 , due to its high variability in this species. Concluding, this study updates the knowledge about the dental anatomy of A. roselli and demonstrates that it is a valid taxon clearly distinguishable from other cercamoniines.

Agerinia smithorum sp. nov., a new early Eocene primate from the Iberian Peninsula

“…The dental nomenclature used in the descriptions is that proposed by Szalay and Delson (). Measurements have been taken with an optic calliper “Nikon measuroscope 10” connected to a monitor “Nikon SC112,” using the criteria described by Marigó et al () and Femenias‐Gual et al (). Micrographs have been taken using the Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) at Universitat de Barcelona.…”

“…The origin of Euprimates dates back to the early Eocene, when this group experienced a rapid radiation in all the continents of the Northern Hemisphere, favored by high temperatures in the context of the Paleocene‐Eocene Thermal Maximum, PETM (Fleagle, ; Rose, ). In the European continent, the record of early Eocene primates is scarce and not very diverse, including remains of the euprimates Teilhardina , Donrussellia , Cantius , Protoadapis , and Agerinia , together with the plesiadapiform Arcius (Estravís, ; Godinot, ; Gebo, ; Femenias‐Gual et al, ; Marigó, Minwer‐Barakat, Moyà‐Solà, & López‐Torres, ; Marigó et al, ; Russell, Louis, & Savage, ; Smith, Rose, & Gingerich, ; Szalay, ).…”

“…On the contrary, and despite the interest of the early steps of the evolution of the primate clade in Europe, only few and preliminary studies have dealt with the early Eocene primates from the Iberian Peninsula (Femenias‐Gual, Marigó, Minwer‐Barakat, & Moyà‐Solà, , ; Marigó et al, ). A recent work (Femenias‐Gual et al, ) focuses on the redescription of A. roselli from its type locality, Les Saleres, which was until today the only known species of this genus.…”

First early Eocene lizards from Spain and a study of the compositional changes between late Mesozoic and early Cenozoic Iberian lizard assemblages

“…The analysis of several concentrates held at Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP) revealed the presence of numerous Eocene lizard remains (Bolet and Evans, 2010a), and new material has been recovered in the last years after additional fieldwork. Many of the Eocene localities with samples in the collection are important in yielding fossil primates that have been object of several studies (e.g., Marigó et al, 2013Marigó et al, , 2016Minwer-Barakat et al, 2012, 2013Femenias-Gual et al, 2016a, 2016b. The present paper concerns those localities of an early Eocene age that have yielded interesting lizard material.…”

Agerinia marandati sp. nov., a new early Eocene primate from the Iberian Peninsula, sheds new light on the evolution of the genus Agerinia

“…However, only a few contributions have been published regarding European primates from the early Eocene, recently including the revision of Agerinia roselli from Les Saleres and the description of the new species Agerinia smithorum from Casa Retjo-1 (Femenias-Gual et al, 2016a and Femenias-Gual et al, 2016b, respectively). The former work allowed for the identification of several traits of A. roselli that were not described previously, such as the presence of two roots situated mesially with respect to the P 3 or the presence of a tiny paraconid on the M 1 .…”