Abstract:The zone of Araia d'Alcora in the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin (Spain, early Miocene, biozone C, MN 4) yielded a relatively rich assemblage of shrews for an Iberian site, composed by Oligosorex thauensis, cf. Soricella discrepans, Paenelimnoecus micromorphus and Heterosorex neumayrianus. The fossils of O. thauensis, the most abundant taxon, significantly increase our knowledge regarding the morphology of the species. It signals the last known occurrence of this shrew and extending its record to a MN4 site. This spe… Show more
“…This paper completes a series of works that deal with insectivores (Crespo et al, 2018; 2019b, c) from the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin. The material of Amphiperatherium frequens presented here was partially published by Furió et al (2012), but recovery of new material and new sites discovered have allowed us to revise the material and better understand the population from the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin.…”
Materials from the localities of Araia d'Alcora in the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin (Spain, early Miocene, Biozone C, MN4) have yielded an assemblage of erinaceids and metatherians, relatively rich for an Iberian site. The most common erinaceid is the gymnure Galerix symeonidisi Doukas, 1986, present in almost all of the studied sites. Other erinaceids in the faunal list are possibly an indeterminate species of the genera Lantanotherium Filhol, 1888 and Atelerix Pomel, 1848, in what constitutes one of their oldest occurrences in Europe. Metatherians are represented by the herpetotheriid Amphiperatherium frequens erkertshofense (Koenigswald, 1970). The material described here was partially published by Furió and colleagues in 2012. We complete it with new material from the known localities and with material from new sites. We describe for the first time the lower dentition of this taxon in this basin, thus increasing knowledge of the high variability of its decidual molars. In addition, the climatic preferences of the species A. frequens (von Meyer, 1846), which was probably less strict in its humidity requirements than previously thought, are also discussed.
“…This paper completes a series of works that deal with insectivores (Crespo et al, 2018; 2019b, c) from the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin. The material of Amphiperatherium frequens presented here was partially published by Furió et al (2012), but recovery of new material and new sites discovered have allowed us to revise the material and better understand the population from the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin.…”
Materials from the localities of Araia d'Alcora in the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin (Spain, early Miocene, Biozone C, MN4) have yielded an assemblage of erinaceids and metatherians, relatively rich for an Iberian site. The most common erinaceid is the gymnure Galerix symeonidisi Doukas, 1986, present in almost all of the studied sites. Other erinaceids in the faunal list are possibly an indeterminate species of the genera Lantanotherium Filhol, 1888 and Atelerix Pomel, 1848, in what constitutes one of their oldest occurrences in Europe. Metatherians are represented by the herpetotheriid Amphiperatherium frequens erkertshofense (Koenigswald, 1970). The material described here was partially published by Furió and colleagues in 2012. We complete it with new material from the known localities and with material from new sites. We describe for the first time the lower dentition of this taxon in this basin, thus increasing knowledge of the high variability of its decidual molars. In addition, the climatic preferences of the species A. frequens (von Meyer, 1846), which was probably less strict in its humidity requirements than previously thought, are also discussed.
“…According to Crespo et al . (2019a), the study of the mammalian assemblages from these sections resulted in two biozones correlated with the local biozone C from Calatayud-Montalbán Basin (Meulen et al . 2012).…”
Section: Geological Settingmentioning
confidence: 90%
“…They consist of nearly 120 m of grey mudstone, sandstone, and limestone belonging to the ‘Unit Three’ sensu Anadón (1983) (Crespo et al . 2019a). Figure 1Cenozoic basins from Spain, with location of the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin and the schematic distribution of sediments.…”
Section: Geological Settingmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…It is important to note that we have not yet been able to find the original sites described by these authors (Crespo et al . 2019a). The recent campaigns have provided the southernmost occurrence of the herpetotheriid Amphiperatherium frequens (von Meyer, 1846) (Furió et al .…”
We present the bat assemblage from the early Miocene (MN4, 16.9–15.95 MY) basin of Ribesalbes-Alcora, which has yielded the remains of ten chiropteran taxa. Bat assemblages are rarely recovered in the fluvio-lacustrine fossil record. A bat species described in this work, Cuvierimops penalveri sp. nov., is a new form of a typically Oligocene free-tailed bat. In addition, the other molossids Hydromops helveticus, Rhizomops cf. brasiliensis, Chaerephon sp., Tadarida sp., and the vespertilionids Myotis cf. intermedius and Miostrellus aff. petersbuchensis, as well as undetermined fossils ascribed to the genera Submyotodon, Plecotus, and Rhinolophus are described. This is the first record of the genus Rhizomops in the early Miocene; the genus Cuvierimops is the first recording from the Neogene, while the ‘Lazarus taxon’ Chaerephon is the first fossil record of this genus, registered previously only in Holocene deposits. This bat assemblage with a high abundance of molossids is typical from the early Oligocene of western Europe, while in the early Miocene from Europe the molossids are scarce. The abundance of these bats is consistent with the presence of a tropical forest surrounding a paleolake. The fossils from the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin represent the most complete bat assemblage of the Iberian Peninsula during this age, and significantly increase our knowledge about the early Miocene bats of Europe.
“…; the new species Plesiodimylus ilercavonicus Crespo, Furió, RuizSánchez & Montoya, 2018(Crespo et al 2018; the abundant remains of talpids (Crespo et al 2019b); the diversity of soricids (Crespo et al 2019c) and erinaceids (Crespo et al 2020). The rest of groups will be published soon.…”
The family Sciuridae currently comprises more than 273 species and 50 genera, distributed in all continents except Australia and Antarctica. This group, together with the mountain beavers (Aplodontiidae) constitute the Suborder Sciurida in the order Rodentia (McKenna & Bell 1997, Churakov et al. 2010). In the Miocene the sciurids experienced a big eco morphologic diversification (with terrestrial, arboreal and gliding forms) as well as a substantial increase in diversity, with up to six species coexisting in some sites. In the Plio Pleistocene transition, this family underwent a crisis, with less genera surviving in Europe than before, reflecting the deterioration of the climate (de Bruijn 1999). In the Iberian Peninsula, the dominant ecomorphological type during the early Miocene are the ground squirrels, with a combined representation of the genera Heteroxerus and Atlantoxerus at many sites, accompanied to a lesser degree by Arago xerus,
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