Intervenció paleontològica al jaciment oligocè del Talladell 3 (canal Segarra-Garrigues)

Altres ajuts: CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Cataluny

Intervenció paleontològica a l'abocador de Can Mata (Hostalets de Pierola, Anoia) (2009-2010)

Durant els darrers anys, l'Abocador de Can Mata (ACM) ha estat un punt clau en la descoberta de noves restes de vertebrats miocens a Catalunya (Alba et al., 2009). Des de l'inici del control paleontològic de les obres d'ampliació de l'abocador, l'any 2002, i fins a finals de 2010, es recuperaren més de 50.000 restes fòssils de macro- i microvertebrats de més de 200 localitats paleontològiques, distribuïdes al llarg d'una sèrie estratigràfica que abasta més d'un milió d'anys (Moyà-Solà et al., 2009a). En aquest article es resumeixen els resultats de les campanyes paleontològiques 2009 i 2010 a l'ACM, i també s'hi resumeixen les principals novetats pel que fa a l'estudi de les restes recuperades

Revision of Varanus marathonensis (Squamata, Varanidae) based on historical and new material: morphology, systematics, and paleobiogeography of the European monitor lizards

Monitor lizards (genus Varanus) inhabited Europe at least from the early Miocene to the Pleistocene. Their fossil record is limited to about 40 localities that have provided mostly isolated vertebrae. Due to the poor diagnostic value of these fossils, it was recently claimed that all the European species described prior to the 21st century are not taxonomically valid and a new species, Varanus amnhophilis, was erected on the basis of fragmentary material including cranial elements, from the late Miocene of Samos (Greece). We re-examined the type material of Varanus marathonensis Weithofer, 1888, based on material from the late Miocene of Pikermi (Greece), and concluded that it is a valid, diagnosable species. Previously unpublished Iberian material from the Aragonian (middle Miocene) of Abocador de Can Mata (Vallès-Penedès Basin, Barcelona) and the Vallesian (late Miocene) of Batallones (Madrid Basin) is clearly referable to the same species on a morphological basis, further enabling to provide an emended diagnosis for this species. Varanus amnhophilis appears to be a junior subjective synonym of V. marathonensis. On the basis of the most complete fossil Varanus skeleton ever described, it has been possible to further resolve the internal phylogeny of this genus by cladistically analyzing 80 taxa coded for 495 morphological and 5729 molecular characters. Varanus marathonensis was a large-sized species distributed at relatively low latitudes in both southwestern and southeastern Europe from at least MN7+8 to MN12. Our cladistic analysis nests V. marathonensis into an eastern clade of Varanus instead of the African clade comprising Varanus griseus, to which it had been related in the past. At least two different Varanus lineages were present in Europe during the Neogene, represented by Varanus mokrensis (early Miocene) and V. marathonensis (middle to late Miocene), respectively

El Miocè inferior de la conca del Vallès-Penedès : un registre excepcional dels canvis climàtics i faunístics

Altres ajuts: CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. Les tasques de camp es van poder dur a terme gràcies al suport del Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya (projecte 2014/100584) i la National Geographic Society (beca d'exploració ref. 9640-15).Les intervencions paleontològiques recents han mostrat que el registre de vertebrats continentals del Miocè inferior de la conca del Vallès-Penedès és molt més ric i continu del que es pensava. Avui dia es coneixen una vintena de jaciments que han lliurat tant microvertebrats com macrovertebrats. Els nostres estudis biostratigràfics han permès una datació precisa dels diferents jaciments i també dels principals esdeveniments faunístics i climàtics

A new dryopithecine mandibular fragment from the middle Miocene of Abocador de Can Mata and the taxonomic status of 'Sivapithecus' occidentalis from Can Vila (Vallès-Penedès Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula)

Altres ajuts: CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Cataluny

A new dryopithecine mandibular fragment from the middle Miocene of Abocador de Can Mata and the taxonomic status of 'Sivapithecus' occidentalis from Can Vila (Vallès-Penedès Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula)

Altres ajuts: CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Cataluny

A new species of Eomellivora from the latest Aragonian of Abocador de Can Mata (NE Iberian Peninsula)

Eomellivora is a large-bodied mellivorine mustelid genus widely distributed throughout Eurasia and North America during the late Miocene (MN9-MN13). Here, we report the oldest Eurasian material of Eomellivora based on a palate and two mandibular fragments from ACM/PTA-A2, a pre-Vallesian (11.21 Ma; latest MN7+8) locality of Abocador de Can Mata (Vallès-Penedès Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula) that slightly predates the first appearance datum of Hippotherium by ~30 kyr. The described material differs from Hoplictis helbingi - another large mustelid recorded within the same basin in the roughly coeval site of Castell de Barberà (~11.2, earliest MN9) - and more closely resembles Eomellivora spp. Despite closer resemblances in both size and dental shape with the Vallesian (MN9-MN10) species Eomellivora piveteaui, the ACM material differs in possessing multiple features that may be considered plesiomorphic. A new species, Eomellivora moralesi sp. nov., is thus erected based on the described material. A cladistic analysis confirms that the new species occupies a basal-most position within the Eomellivora clade, in agreement with its older age and more plesiomorphic morphology

Miocene carnivorans from the Vallès-Penedès Basin (NE Iberian Peninsula)

Aquesta tesi doctoral proporciona una revisió actualitzada dels carnívors fòssils (Mammalia: Carnivora) del Miocè de la conca del Vallès-Penedès. Situada al NE de la península Ibèrica, aquesta conca es caracteritza per un ric registre fòssil de vertebrats terrestres. Mentre que alguns grups, com els primat, s'han estudiat molt a fons, el registre fòssil dels carnívors no s'hi havia estudiat en detall durant les darreres dècades. Després de tres capítols introductoris dedicats a la filogènia i anatomia dels carnívors, els mètodes generals emprats en la tesi, i el context geològic i biostratigràfic de la conca del Vallès-­-Penedès, el cos principal de la tesi es composa de cinc capítols dedicats a la biostratigrafia de l'Euràsia Occidental (amb èmfasi en la conca del Vallès-­-Penedès), així com també a la taxonomia i filogènia de grups particulars de carnívors. En concret, aquesta capítols proporcionen diagnosis esmenades i anàlisis cladístiques de diversos tàxons -Trocharion albanense (Mustelidae: Leptarctinae) i Albanosmilus jourdani (Barbourofelidae)- a partir de restes prèviament inèdites provinents d'aquesta conca. Aquests capítols també descriuen noves restes de diversos fèlids dels gèneres Styriofelis (Felidae: Felinae), Pseudaelurus (Felidae: Felinae) i Machairodus (Felidae: Machairodontinae), i sobre aquesta base se'n revisa la distribució cronostratigràfica a la conca del Vallès-Penedès. També es proporcionen contribucions taxonòmiques significatives en els apèndixs d'aquest treball. En un d'ells, es descriu un nou gènere, Kretzoiarctos (Ursidae: Ailuropodinae) -el qual representa el membre més antic enregistrat del llinatge del panda gegant-, i se'n discuteixen les seves implicacions per a l'evolució dels úrsids. En l'altre apèndix, es revisa i actualitza tot el registre de carnívors del Miocè de la conca del Vallès-­-Penedès, a partir de la revisió de les restes fòssils disponibles. Els resultats de la tesi s'integren i resumeixen en la discussió i conclusions, on es proporciona una revisió resumida de la història evolutiva dels Carnivora en la conca del Vallès-­-Penedès. En conjunt, aquesta tesi proporciona una actualització del registre fòssil conegut dels carnívors en aquesta conca, principalment des d'una perspectiva taxonòmica i filogenètica, però alhora tot explorant-­-ne les implicacions paleobiogeogràfiques i biostratigràfiques. Es conclou que actualment hi ha representades 55 espècies de carnívors, corresponents a 11 famílies, en el Miocè de la conca del Vallès-­-Penedès. També es discuteixen els canvis en la paleobiodiversitat dels carnívors al llarg del temps en aquesta conca. A més de les contribucions al coneixement de l'evolució dels carnívors en general, i del registre fòssil de vertebrats en la conca del Vallès-­-Penedès en particular, aquesta tesi també posa de manifest la necessitat de realitzar estudis taxonòmics detallats abans d'utilitzar dades paleontològiques publicades fa temps per tal de dur a terme estudis de la dinàmica de la diversitat.This doctoral dissertation provides an updated review of the fossil carnivorans (Mammalia: Carnivora) from the Miocene of the Vallès-­-Penedès Basin. Situated in NE Iberian Peninsula, this basin is characterized by a rich fossiliferous record of terrestrial vertebrates. While some groups, such as primates, have been thoroughly studied, the fossil record of carnivorans had not been studied in detail for several decades. After three introductory chapters devoted to carnivoran phylogeny and anatomy, the general methods employed in the dissertation, and the geological and biostratigraphic framework of the Vallès-­-Penedès Basin, the main body of the dissertation is composed of five chapters devoted to the biostratigraphy of Western Eurasia (with emphasis on the Vallès-­-Penedès Basin) as well as to the taxonomy and phylogeny of selected groups of carnivorans. In particular, these chapters provide emended diagnoses and cladistic analyses of various taxa- Trocharion albanense (Mustelidae: Leptarctinae) and Albanosmilus jourdani (Barbourofelidae)-based on previously unpublished remains from this basin. These chapters further describe new remains of various felids from the genera Styriofelis (Felidae: Felinae), Pseudaelurus (Felidae: Felinae) and Machairodus (Felidae: Machairodontinae), and on their basis they review their chronostratigraphic distribution in the Vallès-­-Penedès Basin. Significant taxonomic contributions are also done in the appendices of the work. In one of them, a new genus, Kretzoiarctos (Ursidae: Ailuropodinae)-representing the earliest recorded member of the giant panda lineage-is described, and their implications for ursid evolution are discussed. In the other appendix, the whole carnivoran record of the Miocene from the Vallès-­-Penedès Basin is reviewed and updated based on the revision of the available fossil remains. The results of the dissertation are integrated and summarized in the discussion and conclusions, which provide a summary review of the evolutionary history of the Carnivora in the Vallès-­-Penedès Basin. Overal, this dissertation provides an update of the known fossil record of carnivorans in this basin, mostly from a taxonomic and phylogenetic viewpoint, but further exploring its paleobiogeographic and biostratigraphic implications. It is concluded that 55 carnivoran species, belonging to 11 families, are currently recorded in the Miocene of the Vallès-­-Penedès Basin. Changes in carnivoran paleobiodiversity through time in this basin are further discussed. Besides the contributions to the knowledge of carnivoran evolution in general, and of the vertebrate fossil record of the Vallès-­- Penedès Basin in particular, this dissertaion further highlights the need to perform detailed taxonomic studies before using paleontological data published long ago for performing studies of diversity dynamics

New remains of the Miocene great ape Anoiapithecus brevirostris from Abocador de Can Mata

Altres ajuts: CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Cataluny

New suid remains from the early Vallesian (Late Miocene) site of Can Missert (Vallès-Penedès Basin)

Altres ajuts: CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya; Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya (CLT0009_22_000018); a predoctoral Joan OróFI fellowship (2023 FI-1 00396); a technician contract of the INVESTIGO Program 2022 (reference 100027TC1) financed by the European Union, Next GenerationNo suid remains have been reported from the Miocene site of Can Missert (Terrassa; Vallès-Penedès Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula), variously correlated to MN7+8 (late Aragonian) or MN9 (early Vallesian) due to the uncertain presence of hipparionin equids. The recent donation of fossils collected decades ago by amateur naturalists has confirmed the presence of Hippotherium and enabled the description of a sample of 27 suid teeth from Can Missert 2. They are here attributed to the suine Propotamochoerus palaeochoerus and the tetraconodontine Parachleuastochoerus valentini, while Listriodon splendens is also recorded from Can Missert based on a previously unpublished male upper canine. The co-occurrence of Pr. palaeochoerus and hipparionins at Can Missert strengthens the view that the former is a biochronological marker of the Vallesian. In turn, the described tetraconodontine remains support the distinction of Pa. valentini from Conohyus simorrensis-considered its senior subjective synonym by some authors-but do not contribute to the ongoing debate about their potential congeneric status. The co-occurrence of Pr. palaeochoerus and Pa. valentini has also been recorded from the earliest Vallesian sites of Creu de Conill 20 and Castell de Barberà within the same basin. However, the composition of the Can Missert 2 suid assemblage more clearly differs from that of Castell de Barberà, where both Listriodon splendens and Albanohyus castellensis are also abundant. Given the restricted size of Can Missert sample, it is uncertain whether such differences are indicative of more open and/or seasonal paleoenvironmental conditions at Can Missert or just the result of sampling biases