Catálogo de los anfibios y escamosos plio-pleistocenos de España del Museu de Geologia de Barcelona

The present catalogue represents the first attempt to list the Plio-Pleistocene herpetofaunal material deposited in the Museu de Geologia de Barcelona and providing from 14 Spanish localities (8 from Catalonia, 3 from Castellón, 2 from Granada and 1 from Murcia). It permits to complete the knowledge of the presence of some “exotic” taxons as Oriental Vipers, genus Pseudopus and Agamidae in Iberian Peninsula during the Late Pliocene. Many of these citations may correspond to the ultimate ones. Moreover, the presence in Catalan localities of species of middle-European origin during the Early Pleistocene documents ones of the oldest references to their presence in Spain. Key words: Catalogue, Amphibia, Squamata, Palaeobiogeography.El presente catálogo representa el primer intento de hacer la lista del material herpetofaunico del Plio-Pleistoceno depositado en el Museu de Geologia de Barcelona y procedente de 14 yacimientos españoles (8 de Cataluña, 3 de Castellón, 2 de Granada y 1 de Murcia). Esto permite completar el conocimiento de la presencia de taxones “exóticos” como las víboras orientales, el género Pseudopus y los Agamidae en la península ibérica durante el Plioceno superior. Muchas de éstas corresponden a las últimas citaciones. Por otra parte, la ocurrencia en los yacimientos catalanes de especies de origen medio-Europeo durante el Pleistoceno inferior permite documentar algunas de las más viejas referencias de su presencia en España. Palabras llave: Catálogo, Anfibios, Escamosos, Paleobiogeografía

Amphibians and squamate reptiles from the latest early Pleistocene of Cueva Victoria (Murcia, southeastern Spain, SW Mediterranean): Paleobiogeographic and paleoclimatic implications

The karstic filling of Cueva Victoria in southeastern Spain, dated from the latest early Pleistocene (ca. 1.1 Ma), is famous for providing primate fossil remains (Theropithecus) of typical African origin, in the general controversy on the antiquity of the first hominid settlements in Western Europe and their possible entrance into Europe through the Strait of Gibraltar. Cueva Victoria has also furnished the following fauna of anurans and squamate reptiles: cf. Pelodytes sp. (Pelodytidae), Bufo cf. B. bufo (Bufonidae), Blanus cinereus (Blanidae), Tarentola sp. (Geckonidae), Chalcides cf. Ch. bedriagai (Scincidae), Timon cf. T. lepidus and indeterminate small lacertids (Lacertidae), Natrix maura, Coronella girondica, Rhinechis scalaris and Malpolon cf. M. monspessulanus (Colubridae). This faunal association seems to suggest a mean annual temperature slightly fresher than nowadays (approximately 1°C less than at present in the area), with cooler winters but warmer summers and above all higher mean annual precipitations (+ 400 mm). The landscape may correspond to an open forest environment of a Mediterranean type, with some still water points

Faunes de reptiles et changements climatiques en Europe occidentale autour de la limite Plio-Pléistocène

Les reptiles constituent un groupe de vertébrés non homéothermes et essentiellement ovipares dont le maintien des activités vitales et le succès reproducteur sont directement liés aux conditions climatiques. Cette sensibilité leur confère un rôle important dans la reconnaissance des climats du passé. L’étude des reptiles squamates présents en Europe occidentale du Pliocène moyen au Pléistocène inférieur permet d’inférer des hypothèses sur l’évolution climatique de la région au cours de cette période. - Limite MN15/MN16 (Ruscinien/Villanien) : disparition des familles à caractère tropical (Varanidae, Aniliidae s.l. et Elapidae) liée à une péjoration climatique importante (température moyenne annuelle 20oC with a poor contrasting seasonality) and aridity. During the second half of the Middle Pliocene, the families with basically tropical affinities are no longer represented. This faunal scarcity seems to point out a significant climatic degradation, with a decrease of the temperature (mean annual temperature < 20oC) and the establishment of a climate with contrasted seasons (probably of Mediterranean type). At the same time, the aridity seems to increase. During the Late Pliocene, the drop in temperature becomes more pronounced and some Centro-European species arrive in France. The mean annual temperature do as not seem to exceed 15oC at Montoussé 5, 16oC at Vallirana and 18oC at Casablanca-Almenara 3. The Early Pleistocene seems to begin with cooler climatic conditions. The disappearance of the last Agamidae corresponds to a fall of the mean annual temperature below 15oC. Biogeographical affinities :We made a Principal Components Analysis (PCA) (fig. 5) from the number of determined species for each ­period and from the number of species currently present in the various biogeographical regions of the Western Paleartic. It shows that the Western European squamate fauna has acquired a modern character only since the Late Pliocene (about 2,6 Ma)

Biochronological data for the Early Pleistocene site of Quibas (SE Spain) inferred from rodent assemblage

In this paper, the rodent fauna from the Early Pleistocene of Gruta1 (Quibas karstic complex, Murcia, SE Spain) is described. The assemblage includes one arvicoline (Allophaiomys sp.), two murines (Apodemus ex gr. mystacinus-epimelas, Castillomys rivas) and one glirid (Eliomys quercinus). The rodent assemblage indicates an age very close to the age of Fuente Nueva 3 and Barranco León 5 in the Guadix-Baza Basin, and Sima del Elefante in the Atapuerca karstic complex, between ca. 1.2-1.4

Fossil amphibians and reptiles from Tegelen (Province of Limburg) and the early Pleistocene palaeoclimate of The Netherlands

Altres ajuts: Generalitat de Catalunya/CERCA Programme.Few Quaternary herpetofaunas have been recovered from The Netherlands. Among these, the one coming from the early Pleistocene site of the Russel-Tiglia-Egypte pit near Tegelen is of particular interest, because it is the type locality of the recently described, last western European palaeobatrachid anuran, Palaeobatrachus eurydices. The large number of fossil remains of amphibians and reptiles found in the pit are representative of a very diverse fauna, including at least 17 taxa: Triturus gr. T. cristatus, Lissotriton sp., Pelobates fuscus, Bufo bufo, Bombina sp., Pelophylax sp., Rana sp., Hyla gr. H. arborea, Pelodytes sp., Mauremys sp., Lacerta sp., Lacertidae indet., Anguis gr. A. fragilis, cf. Pseudopus sp., "colubrines" indet., Natrix natrix and Vipera sp. Emys orbicularis, previously reported from a different Tegelen pit, is not present in this assemblage. Palaeoclimatic conditions reconstructed based on the herpetofaunistic association indicate a humid subtropical climate (Cfa according to the Köppen-Geiger classification of climates) for Tegelen during the TC5 section of the Tiglian, with low, but fairly regular rainfalls during the year. Mean annual temperature was 13.4 ± 0.3 °C and mean annual precipitation was 542 ± 50 mm. Moreover, three dry months were present during summer and early autumn, resulting in a much drier climate than the one present at Tegelen today. Nevertheless, the occurrence of the water-dwelling P. eurydices suggests the persistence of suitable permanent water bodies during the whole year, and the survival of this taxon in this part of Europe might have been allowed by the generally humid climate

Biostratigraphy, palaeogeography and palaeoenvironmental significance of Sorex runtonensis Hinton, 1911 (Mammalia, Soricidae): First record from the Iberian Peninsula

Sorex runtonensis (Mammalia, Soricidae) is a well-known Pleistocene taxon with a broad distribution in Europe. However, no record of the species had been reported from the Iberian Peninsula up to now. Here we present nearly two hundred specimens of S. runtonensis recovered from the Lower Red Unit (levels TE7–14) of Sima del Elefante (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain), dated to ~ 1.1–1.5 Ma. Rigorous morphometrical and morphological analyses allowed the assignation of the items from Sima del Elefante confidently to this taxon, distinguishing them from the several other Pleistocene species of similar size that inhabited Europe. Sorex runtonensis survived all through the Pleistocene (and maybe more), but the remains from Sima del Elefante exhibit some traits that appear to be particular to the Early Pleistocene, which agrees with the pre-Jaramillo chronology inferred for the lower levels of the site. Western Palearctic S. runtonensis has been regarded as a proxy of patchy and relatively arid, open past biotopes due to its similarity to recent Eastern Palearctic S. tundrensis. In light of this fact, and given the high relative quantities of this taxon at the site, previous palaeoenvironmental reconstructions proposed for the lowermost unit of Sima del Elefante should be revised to present a more ecologically diverse scenario than previously thought

Millimeter and Radio Observations of z~6 Quasars

We present millimeter and radio observations of 13 SDSS quasars at reshifts z~6. We observed eleven of them with the Max-Planck Millimeter Bolometer Array (MAMBO-2) at the IRAM 30m-telescope at 250 GHz and all of them with the Very Large Array (VLA) at 1.4 GHz. Four sources are detected by MAMBO-2 and six are detected by the VLA at >=3 sigma level. These sources, together with another 6 published in previous papers,yield a submillimeter/millimeter and radio observed SDSS quasar sample at z~6. We use this sample to investigate the far-infrared (FIR) andradio properties of optically bright quasars in the early universe. We compare this sample to lower redshift samples of quasars observed inthe submillimeter and millimeter wavelengths ((sub)mm), and find that the distribution of the FIR to B band optical luminosity ratio (L_FIR/L_B) is similar from z~2 to 6. We find a weak correlation between the FIR luminosity (L_FIR) and B band optical luminosity (L_B) byincluding the (sub)mm observed samples at all redshifts. Some strong (sub)mm detections in the z~6 sample have radio-to-FIR ratios within the range defined by star forming galaxies, which suggests possible co-eval star forming activity with the powerful AGN in these sources. We calculate the rest frame radio to optical ratios (R*_1.4=L_{v, 1.4GHz}/L_{v, 4400A}) for all of the VLA observed sources in the z~6 quasar sample. Only one radio detection in this sample, J083643.85+005453.3, has R*_1.4~40 and can be considered radio loud. There are no strong radio sources (R*_1.4>=100) among these SDSS quasars at z~6. These data are consistent with, although do not set strong constraints on, a decreasing radio-loud quasar fraction with increasing redshift.Comment: 27 pages including 6 figures. AJ accepte

Heinrich Event 4 characterized by terrestrial proxies in southwestern Europe

Heinrich Event 4 (H4) is well documented in the North Atlantic Ocean as a cooling event that occurred between 39 000 and 40 000 yr BP. Deep-sea cores around the Iberian Peninsula coastline have been analysed to characterize the H4 event, but there are no data on the terrestrial response to this event. Here we present for the first time an analysis of terrestrial proxies for characterizing the H4 event, using the small-vertebrate assemblage (comprising small mammals, squamates and amphibians) from Terrassa Riera dels Canyars, an archaeo-palaeontological deposit located on the seaboard of the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. This assemblage shows that the H4 event is characterized in northeastern Iberia by harsher and drier terrestrial conditions than today. Our results were compared with other proxies such as pollen, charcoal, phytolith, avifauna and large-mammal data available for this site, as well as with the general H4 event fluctuations and with other sites where H4 and the previous and subsequent Heinrich events (H5 and H3) have been detected in the Mediterranean and Atlantic regions of the Iberian Peninsula. We conclude that the terrestrial proxies follow the same patterns as the climatic and environmental conditions detected by the deep-sea cores at the Iberian margins

Submillimetre galaxies reside in dark matter haloes with masses greater than 3 × 10^(11) solar masses

The extragalactic background light at far-infrared wavelengths comes from optically faint, dusty, star-forming galaxies in the Universe with star formation rates of a few hundred solar masses per year. These faint, submillimetre galaxies are challenging to study individually because of the relatively poor spatial resolution of far-infrared telescopes. Instead, their average properties can be studied using statistics such as the angular power spectrum of the background intensity variations. A previous attempt at measuring this power spectrum resulted in the suggestion that the clustering amplitude is below the level computed with a simple ansatz based on a halo model. Here we report excess clustering over the linear prediction at arcminute angular scales in the power spectrum of brightness fluctuations at 250, 350 and 500 µm. From this excess, we find that submillimetre galaxies are located in darkmatter haloes with a minimum mass, M_(min), such that log_(10)[M_(min)/M_⊙] = 11.5^(+0.7)_(-0.2) at 350 µm, where M_⊙ is the solar mass. This minimum dark matter halo mass corresponds to the most efficient mass scale for star formation in the Universe, and is lower than that predicted by semi-analytical models for galaxy formation

As mais antigas marmotas da Europa: Estudo métrico dos fósseis de Marmota do Plistocénico Inferior e Medio das jazidas de Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Espanha)

ABSTRACT: The oldest European remains of marmots (Genus Marmota) are 0.8 my old and come from the site of Gran Dolina, Atapuerca. Dental measurements from the specimens recovered at Gran Dolina are compared with other Early Pleistocene fossil marmots from Croatia; as well as a set of Middle and Late Pleistocene marmots from France and Italy and Middle Pleistocene fossils from other sites at Sierra de Atapuerca. These fossils are also compared with four species of modern marmots, including? an extensive sample of Marmota marmota. Plotting the length of each dental piece of Gran Dolina versus its width, less than 25% of the Early Pleistocene specimens fall into the variability of Marmota marmota, meanwhile the Middle Pleistocene fossils fall within (or extremely close) to its variability. These Early Pleistocene marmots cannot be metrically assigned to the extant alpine marmot.RESUMO: Os vestígios europeus mais antigos de marmotas (género Marmota) têm 0.8 milhões de anos e provêm da Gran Dolina, Atapuerca. As medições realizadas em peças dentárias de marmotas fósseis encontrados em Gran Dolina são comparadas com exemplares de marmotas provenientes do Pleistocénico inferior da Croácia e do Pleistocénico Médio e Superior de França e Itália, bem como com exemplares encontrados em outras localidades do Pleistocénico médio da Serra de Atapuerca. Estes fósseis também são comparados com quatro espécies de marmotas modernas, incluindo uma extensa amostra de Marmota marmota. Ao plotar o comprimento de cada peça dentária de Gran Dolina face a sua largura, menos do 25% dos exemplares do Pleistocénico Inferior caem dentro da variabilidade existente em Marmota marmota. Os exemplares do Pleistocénico Médio estão dentro (ou extremamente próximos) da variabilidade de Marmota marmota. Os exemplares de marmotas do Pleistocénico Inferior de Gran Dolina não podem ser metricamente atribuídos à marmota alpina.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio