Paleodiversity of the Superfamily Ursoidea (Carnivora, Mammalia) in the Spanish Neogene, related to environmental changes

Abstract

In the present study we analyse the diversity of the Superfamily Ursoidea during the Neogene of the Iberian Peninsula to further compare it with that of the Neogene of Western Europe to find the different associations of this group. The results indicate that both the diversity and the taxonomy amongst these two regions show important variations, thus letting their interpretation in terms of climatic differentiation. We might relate variations in the abundance of the Ursoidea to the environmental fluctuations taking place during the Miocene and Pliocene. Therefore, they could enable us to reach the assessment of these biogeographical distributions in order to deduce the preferential niches of each different group of Ursoidea.Keywords: Carnivora, Hemicyonidae, Ursidae, Iberian Peninsula, Miocene, Pliocene Resumen En este trabajo se analiza la diversidad de la Superfamilia Ursoidea durante el Neógeno de la Península Ibérica, comparándola con la de Europa Occidental de la misma época, con el objetivo de localizar las diferentes asociaciones de los miembros de este grupo. Los resultados indican que tanto la diversidad como la taxonomía varían considerablemente entre las dos regiones estudiadas pudiendo interpretarse en tér-minos de diferenciación climática. Estas variaciones en la abundancia de Ursoidea se pueden relacionar con las fluctuaciones ambientales que tuvieron lugar durante el Mioceno y el Plioceno. Por tanto, nos ayudarán a evaluar las causas de estas distribuciones biogeográficas y a encontrar los nichos preferentes de cada uno de los diferentes grupos de Ursoidea.

The fossil record of the Neogene Carnivore Mammals from Spain

“…The faunas from both these biozones were homogeneous, with a dominance of Hemicyonidae and Amphicyonidae. Finally, during MN 7/8 the first ursids appear in the Spanish record, a family absent in previous faunas (Crusafont and Kurtén 1976;Abella et al 2014); this coincided with the beginning of the Hyaenidae cladogenesis, with a significant increase in its diversity (Table 2), and with the extinction of Hemicyonidae at the end of the biozone. Interestingly, most of the localities of this biozone involve the Catalan coastal basins.…”

“…The early Miocene carnivore association is rather similar to the contemporary associations registered in western/central Europe, with a predominance of primitive Hemicyonidae and Amphicyonidae (Dehm 1950;Ginsburg and Morales 1998;Fejfar et al 2003). An important difference between the Spanish associations and those from western Europe is the absence of Ursidae in the former (Abella et al 2014). Fig.…”

“…The Spanish carnivore fossil record has been addressed before in several publications, from Morales (1996) and Fraile et al (1997) to the most recent study by Alberdi et al (2011). Furthermore, Madurell-Malapeira et al (2014) and Prado et al (2014) focused on the last 6 Ma, and Abella et al (2014) tackled the Neogene fossil record of the superfamily Ursoidea.…”

Preface. Palaeodiversity and Palaeoecology of Iberian Ecosystems. New insights into the Phanaerozoic biotas from Spain and Portugal

“…A notorious sample of the major evolutionary steps of this complicated process is also found in the Cenozoic Iberian continental record (Marigó et al, 2014). The evolution and diversity of the ursoid mammals is likewise well documented throughout the Spanish Neogene record, sometimes depicting relationship with environmental fluctuations (Abella et al, 2014). In fact, the Miocene terrestrial ecosystems are quite well represented in Spain.…”

Tracing the origin of the panda’s thumb

“…Discriminating between these two hypotheses (adaptation vs. exaptation) in the case of the giant panda's false thumb is impossible without recourse to the information provided by the fossil record (Salesa et al 2006b). Here, we test these hypotheses based on the radial sesamoid of Indarctos, which according to recent cladistic analyses would be an early member of the Ailuropodinae, more specifically belonging to the sister-taxon Indarctini of the giant panda lineage in a strict sense Ailuropodini (Abella et al 2012(Abella et al , 2014. In particular, we rely on a large sample of fossil radial sesamoids of I. arctoides Déperet, 1895 from the late Vallesian (MN10) of Batallones, which is about 3 million years older than the single radial sesamoid previously reported for this genus, belonging to Indarctos punjabiensis (formerly attributed to Indarctos atticus atticus) from the Turolian (MN12) of Pikermi (Roussiakis 2001).…”