The fossil record of the Neogene Carnivore Mammals from Spain

Abstract

Carnivore mammals (Carnivora, Mammalia) constitute a significant component of the Spanish Neogene faunas, not so much due to their fossil abundance, which is generally low, but rather because of their high degree of taxonomic diversity. We assessed their evolutionary dynamics from the fossil record of Iberian carnivores using per-taxon rates of origination, extinctions and turnover combined with a recent approach for removing the sampling signal from diversity curves. Our analysis interval covers most of the Neogene and the early Pleistocene (MN 2 to MN 17), spanning from around 21.6 to 1.8 Ma. We identified six carnivore associations by applying factor analysis to our data. The diversification pattern shows four origination episodes: MN4, MN7/8, MN12 and MN14. We also identified four extinction episodes. The first two are coincident with the onset of the MN 4 and MN7/8 faunas. The last two extinction episodes take place during MN9, coinciding with the Mid Vallesian Crisis (MVC), and MN13, co-occurring with the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). Two major turnover pulses are recognised during MN4 and MN14, the turnover rate remaining moderately high between MN6 and MN13. We suggest that the pattern observed might be primarily triggered by the biogeographic and climatic shifts that took place during the Neogene.

A new lophocyonid,Izmirictis canigen. et sp. nov. (Carnivora: Mammalia), from the lower Miocene of Turkey

“…5). It is, therefore, somewhat younger than Izmirictis, and contemporaneous with other lophocyonids, the temporal range of which extends to the end of the middle Miocene (MN7/8) (Schmidt-Kittler 1983;Fejfar & Schmidt-Kittler 1984;Fejfar et al 1987Fejfar et al , 1997Koufos et al 1995;Morales et al 2015). The relationships of the Lophocyonidae and Protictitherium to other hypocarnivorous Feliformia are less well supported.…”

Neogene Mammal Sites in Molina de Aragón (Guadalajara, Spain): Correlation to Other Karstic Sites of the Iberian Chain, and their Geoheritage Values

“…Temperature Curve in Zachos et al, (2008). Humidity, according to that represented by Morales et al, (2015), Daams et al, (1999), and Dam (2006).…”

Re-Appraisal of ‘Felis’ pamiri Ozansoy, 1959 (Carnivora, Felidae) from the Upper Miocene of Turkey: the Earliest Pantherin Cat?

“…Styriofelis vallesiensis and Ps. quadridentatus are the only species known in the late Miocene, being recorded from the Vallesian of Spain (Villalta and Crusafont 1943;Fraile et al 1997;Salesa et al 2012;Morales et al 2015).…”