The rodents from Santpedor-2 (Ebro Basin, NE Spain) confirm the Oligocene age of the latest primates from the Paleogene of Europe

Abstract

Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, ICP) and the Universidad de Barcelona decided to resume the study of this locality. On the one hand, they revisited the macromammal remains first reported by Masachs et al. (1954), noting that the material was so scarce that it could not be determined at the specific level and did not allow for a precise dating of the locality. Therefore, according to Arbiol and Sá ez (1988), the faunal list of the classical site of Santpedor consisted of Paleotherium sp., Plagiolophus sp. and Anoplotheriidae indet. On the other hand, these teams returned and prospected the area in order to find levels with micromammal remains. Agustí et al. (1987) and Arbiol and Sá ez (1988) described a rodent-bearing site that they called Santpedor-2, placed 350 m east from the classical locality of Santpedor, and situated in the same stratigraphic level (Fig.

A global catalog of whole-genome diversity from 233 primate species

“…Some previous analyses that used mitochondrial sequence data placed tarsiers (Tarsiiformes) sister to strepsirrhines (the "Prosimii" hypothesis) (149). However, some mitogenomic studies (146), have instead supported tarsiers as sister to monkeys and apes (Anthropoidea or Simiiformes), forming the clade Haplorhini, albeit with weak support. By contrast, retroposon insertions (150)(151)(152) and nuclear sequence data (21,38,120,142) provide robust support for haplorhine monophyly.…”

“…If this young date is correct, then the long branch leading to crown Tarsiiformes implies either very limited diversification or considerable extinction along the stem lineage. The latter interpretation seems more likely based on evidence from the fossil record: omomyiforms (which are probably stem tarsiiforms (144)) were diverse during the Eocene (145) but are last recorded in the early Oligocene (146), and representatives of the modern family Tarsiidae were once much more widely distributed across Asia (43-46, 146, 147), occurring as far west as southern Pakistan in the Miocene (44). The current restricted distribution of living tarsiers, on islands in southeast Asia, is therefore probably relictual.…”

“…The current restricted distribution of living tarsiers, on islands in southeast Asia, is therefore probably relictual. The young age of crown Tarsiiformes also indicates that fossil tarsiid remains from the middle Eocene (149) Shanghuang fissure fills in China that have been referred to the extant genus Tarsius (43) cannot belong to the crown clade, and so warrant referral to a separate genus (44, see also 146,147).…”

The fossil assemblage from Pontils, a middle Eocene primate-bearing locality from Northeastern Spain

“…From the late Eocene to the Late Miocene, the Ebro Basin displayed an endorheic drainage system, with distributive alluvial systems fed from the tectonically active surrounding ranges, changing laterally to lacustrine systems (Agustí et al, 1987;Barberà et al, 2001;Sáez et al, 2007). The basin infill corresponding to this continental phase consists of alluvial, fluvial, and lacustrine deposits, in which several vertebrate sites have been identified (Agustí et al, 1987;Anadón et al, 1987;Crusafont-Pairó, 1967;Cuenca et al, 1992;Köhler & Moyà-Solà, 1999;Minwer-Barakat et al, 2013, 2016Vianey-Liaud et al, 2019).…”