Safari prehistòric pel Vallès

Els investigadors del Institut Català de Paleontologia, encapçalats per en Joan Madurell Malapeira, van recuperar el 1997 restes de carnívors prehistòrics i d'altres animals de fa un milió d'anys, a les obres d'ampliació de la Mutua de Terrassa, just al centre del pulmó de la ciutat vallesana, al Parc de Vallparadís. L'equip ha publicat recentment l'article que demostra que la conca del Vallés era poblada per hipopòtams, cèrvols, mamuts, tigres dents de sabre, hienes gegants... fa un milió d'anys, abans que la Península Ibèrica es cobrís de neu per una de les glaciacions del Pleistocè.Los investigadores del Institut Català de Paleontologia, dirigidos por Joan Madurell Malapeira, recuperaron en 1997 restos de carnívoros prehistóricos y de otros animales de hace un millón de años, en las obras de ampliación de la Mutua de Terrassa, justo en el centro del pulmón de la ciudad vallesana, en el Parc de Vallparadís. El equipo ha publicado recientemente el artículo que demuestra que la cuenca del Vallés estaba poblada por hipopótamos, ciervos, mamuts, tigres dientes de sable, hienas gigantes... hace un millón de años, antes que la Península Ibérica se cubriera de nieve por una de las glaciaciones del Pleistoceno

Els fòssils de puma més antics són europeus

Investigadors de l'Institut Català de Paleontologia, encapçalats per en Joan Madurell-Malapeira, han publicat recentment a la prestigiosa revista Comptes Rendus Palevol, un treball sobre l'origen i l'evolució d'un dels fèlids més grans de la terra, el puma. La sorprenent troballa consisteix en diversos fòssils en diferents punts del territori espanyol i d'altres jaciments europeus. Això apuntaria a un possible origen europeu del puma, i no americà com es suposava.Investigadores del Instituto Catalán de Paleontología, dirigidos por JoanMadurell-Malapeira, han publicado recientemente en la prestigiosarevista Comptes Rendus Palevol, un trabajo sobre el origen y laevolución de uno de los felinos más grandes de la tierra, el puma. Elsorprendente hallazgo consiste en varios fósiles en diferentes puntos delterritorio español y otros yacimientos europeos. Esto apuntaría a unposible origen europeo del puma, y no americano como se suponía

Reconstrucció dels ecosistemes europeus del període Quaternari a partir de fòssils d'hipopòtams

Una recerca recentment publicada versada en les poblacions d'hipopòtams fòssils d'Europa ha permès avaluar els moviments geogràfics de dispersió d'aquestes espècies en moments clau per a l'evolució humana. Així, els fòssils d'hipopòtams dels jaciments catalans del Barranc de la Boella (La Canonja, Tarragona) han sigut claus per a la comprensió dels ecosistemes on habitaren els humans fa prop d'un milió d'anys.La reciente investigación realizada sobre las poblaciones de hipopótamos fósiles europeos ha permitido reevaluar los movimientos de dispersión de estas poblaciones en momentos clave de la evolución humana. Así, los fósiles de hipopótamos de los yacimientos del Barranc de la Boella (Valle del Fracolí, Tarragona) han sido claves para la comprensión de los ecosistemas donde habitaron los humanos hace un millón de años.Recently published research centered on the fossil hippopotamus populations from Europe highlighted the importance of the dispersion and ecological requirements of these forms in relation with fossil hominin dispersals into Europe. The authors studied fossil unpublished remains of hippos from the Barranc de la Boella site (Francolí Valley, Tarragona) to understand the ecosystems habited by both these forms and hominids

Primeiros hipopótamos europeus do Pleistocénico: uma revisão

RESUMO: A dispersão de hipopótamos de África para a Europa no Pleistocénico inferior tem sido amplamente discutida. A maioria dos autores propõe uma única entrada de formas semelhantes à espécie africana Hippopotamus gorgops, denominada Hip. antiquus ao entrar na Europa. No entanto, outros autores propõem uma primeira entrada de formas semelhantes ao táxon africano Hip. kaisensis, chamado Hip. antiquus ao entrar na Europa, e uma segunda entrada de formas semelhantes ao Hip. gorgops, chamado Hip. tiberinus ao entrar na Europa. Neste trabalho, avaliamos o estado da arte do debate, revisando o registo fóssil de hipopótamos e destacamos os últimos achados em locais da África Central à Europa e suas possíveis passagens.ABSTRACT: The dispersal of the genus Hippopotamus from Africa to Europe in the Early Pleistocene has been widely discussed in the last decades. Most authors propose a single entry of forms similar to the African species Hippopotamus gorgops, named H. antiquus upon entering Europe. However, other authors propose a first entry of forms similar to the African taxon H. kaisensis, named H. antiquus upon entering Europe, and an Early Pleistocene second entry of forms similar to H. gorgops, named H. tiberinus upon entering Europe. In this work we evaluated the current state of the debate reviewing the fossil record of genus Hippopotamus highlighting the last findings in sites from central Africa to Europe and their possible passageways.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE FOX FROM THE VALLPARADÍS SECTION (VALLÈS-PENEDÈS BASIN, NE IBERIAN PENINSULA) AND THE EARLIEST RECORDS OF THE EXTANT RED FOX

Dentognathic remains of European Middle Pleistocene Vulpini are scarce and fragmentary. They have classically been attributed to several species, but many taxonomic and phylogenetic uncertainties remain. Here we describe a fox well-preserved maxilla with associated mandible from the Middle Pleistocene layers of the Vallparadís Section (EVT3; ca. 0.6 Ma; Vallès-Penedès Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula) and compare them with the known fossil record of Vulpes from roughly contemporary European localities. The studied Vulpes remains described here differ from Early Pleistocene Vulpes alopecoides (including its junior synonyms V. praeglacialis and V. praecorsac) in several dentognathic features (less individualized P4 protocone; M2 paracone larger than the metacone; more robust mandibular corpus, and stouter m1 with reduced metaconid) and most closely resemble extant Vulpes vulpes. The large size of the described remains also contrasts with the small dimensions of V. alopecoides and fits better within the variability of the extant red fox. We conclude that the studied specimens, like other available Middle Pleistocene fox remains from Europe, are attributable to the extant species V. vulpes. Therefore, the EVT3 remains represent the first well-dated appearance datum of the species in Europe

On the original author and year of description of the extinct hyaenid Pachycrocuta brevirostris

The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature recommends providing the author and year of original description of any taxon when first mentioned in a publication, which is useful for both taxonomic and nomenclatural reasons. Here we show that the authorship of the extinct hyaenid taxon Hyaena brevirostris, type species of the genus Pachycrocuta, has been incorrectly attributed to "Aymard, 1846" for more than a century on the basis of a publication that never existed. Our bibliographic research indicates that the first published work in which the name was employed-Gervais' (1848-1852) Zoologie et Paléontologie françaises, the part dealing with carnivorans being issued in 1850-fulfils the criteria of availability. Given that Gervais did not attribute the description to Aymard, but merely employed the latter's name in reference to a museum label/record (which does not constitute a valid indication), the correct name with authorship for this taxon is Pachycrocuta brevirostris (Gervais, 1850)

Corneilla-de-Conflent – Grotte de la Carrière

Le site de la Grotte de la Carrière a été découvert en mars 2012 pendant des travaux de prospection spéléologique en rapport avec la publication d’un nouvel ouvrage sur la grotte de Lachambre. Pendant les travaux de topographie de la cavité auxquels ont participé des membres de l’Institut Catalan de Paléontologie, de nombreux vestiges paléontologiques et archéologiques furent découverts en surface dans toutes les galeries de la grotte. Les observations préliminaires indiquaient que les restes..

The Fox from Bajiazui (Qingyang, Central China) and an Update on Early Pleistocene Foxes from China

(1) Background: despite the fact that nowadays the genus Vulpes Frisch, 1775, is the most diverse among extant Canidae, its fossil record is utterly scarce, especially in the Asian Pliocene. The sparse nature of this record further complicates the reconstruction of the evolutionary scenario to fit these taxa with extant species. The situation seems to change slightly in the Early Pleistocene when two species are recorded: Vulpes alopecoides (Del Campana, 1913) in Europe and Vulpes chikushanensis, Young, 1930, in Asian localities. Unlike the former, which has an extensive record, the remains of the Chinese V. chikushanensis are sporadic and the validity of the taxon has also been questioned. (2) Methods: the study of the specimens from the Early Pleistocene site of Bajiazui (1.8-1.2 Ma, Qingyang, Gansu) in comparison to an extensive sample of Vulpes spp. The Pliocene-Early Pleistocene is relevant for the delimitation of fossil foxes variability; (3) Results: morphologically and morphometrically, the specimens of Bajiazui fit with the specimens of V. chikushanensis from other Chinese localities of the Early Pleistocene, e.g., Longdan (Gansu) and Huiyu (Fangshang), highlighting some difference with the latest Early Pleistocene forms of Jigushan fox; (4) Conclusions: the revision of the Asian fossil record of Vulpes is crucial in our attempt to understand and reconstruct the evolution of carnivoran guild during the late Early Pleistocene (1.8-0.8 Ma). The fox remains from Bajiazui, although fragmentary, add a valuable piece to our knowledge of V. chikushanensis, a species possibly strongly related to the extant Vulpes corsac (Linnaeus, 1768)

First digital study of the frontal sinus of stem-Canini (Canidae, Carnivora): evolutionary and ecological insights throughout advanced diagnostic in paleobiology

Introduction: The phylogenetic and ecological importance of paranasal sinuses in carnivorans was highlighted by several previous authors, mostly in extant species. Nevertheless, no specific study on this feature on extant canids, and no one on fossil representatives of the family, has been published up to now. Here, we analyze for the first time the paranasal sinus of extant and fossil canids through computed tomographic techniques to characterize them morphologically and morphometrically, making ecological inferences. Methods: To do so, we applied for the first time an innovative deformation-based morphometric approach. Results: The results obtained for extant species highlight a remarkable correlation between morphology and ecomorphotypes previously defined by some scholars (namely hypercarnivorous group-hunters; small-prey hypercarnivores, mesocarnivores, hypocarnivores). Our results thus support the direct relationship between diet preferences and the development of frontal sinus in canids. Regarding fossil specimens, we reconstructed for the first time the frontal sinus of three Eucyon species and compared it to those of living forms. Discussion: The best-preserved specimen, the only known cranium of Eucyon adoxus dated to the Late Pliocene of Saint-Estève (France), displayed similarities with hypercarnivorous group-hunter canids by the large sinus prominences. Given that the overall craniodental morphology of E. adoxus suggests that it acted as a small prey hypercarnivore-similar to extant Canis simensis-the aforementioned affinities might have evolved independently, in relation to high stresses during feeding. Overall, our study demonstrates that morphological inspection and deformation-based geometric morphometrics complement each other and allow a thorough investigation of sinus shape variability, thus enabling the study of sinus morphology in other fossil carnivorans with the ultimate goal of inferring their ecological preferences