The late Neogene-early Quaternary small vertebrate succession from the Almenara-Casablanca karst complex (Castellón, Eastern Spain): Chronologic and paleoclimatic context

Although discontinuous because of their karst nature, the Almenara-Casablanca complex records a very complete small vertebrate succession (amphibians, squamates, insectivores, bats, rodents and lagomorphs), characterized by the richness of their sites, a richness which cannot be expected in sites of fluvio-lacustrine origin. This late Neogene-early Quaternary succession includes the sites of Almenara- Casablanca M (Miocene-Pliocene boundary), Almenara-Casablanca 4 (late Pliocene), Almenara-Casablanca 1 (earliest Pleistocene) and Almenara-Casablanca 3 (late early Pleistocene). In this way, the Almenara-Casablanca succession complements the data from other well know terrestrial Pliocene- Pleistocene sequences in the Iberian Peninsula, most notably that of the Guadix-Baza Basin. The complementation between the almost continuous Pliocene-Pleistocene sequence of the Guadix-Baza Basin and the discontinuous but very rich succession from the Almenara-Casablanca complex enables accurate dating of some of the faunal events that punctuate the Pliocene-early Pleistocene time interval. Furthermore, the assemblages from the Almenara-Casablanca complex contain the evidence of the earliest occurrences of several taxa as well as the persistence of other that had already disappeared from other European regions. Therefore, it provides new evidence for the particular role which the Iberian Peninsula played during the late Neogene and early Quaternary, acting at certain moments as a bridge for the entry of African taxa or, alternatively, as a refuge for other European taxa. This paper provides an updated review of the small vertebrate succession from this complex