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Bover P, Rofes J, Bailon S, Agustí J, Cuenca-Bescós G, Torres E, Alcover JA. Late Miocene/ Early Pliocene vertebrate fauna from Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean): an update. Integr Zool 2014; 9:183-196. [PMID: 24673762 DOI: 10.1111/1749-4877.12049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The vertebrate fossil record from the Balearic Islands (western Mediterranean) has improved considerably over the past decade, especially in Mallorca and Menorca. In Menorca, the Pliocene terrestrial fauna was updated by the discovery and description of the large-sized leporid Nuralagus, several reptiles and an amphibian. In Mallorca, paleontological exploration yielded 2 deposits with a Late Miocene/Early Pliocene chronology, Caló den Rafelino (CdR) and Na Burguesa-1 (NB-1). So far, 4 new mammalian taxa and 2 new reptiles have been identified for the CdR deposit, whereas the faunal assemblage from the recently discovered deposit (Apr 2012) of NB-1 is currently composed of, at least, 6 terrestrial mammals, 8 reptiles and an amphibian. Its faunal composition and some primitive characteristics of the obtained taxa suggest that the chronology of this deposit is slightly earlier than the CdR. The terrestrial vertebrates recorded in these 2 Mallorcan deposits are changing the view of the paleofaunal assemblage previously known for the Plio-Pleistocene of the island. Morphological characteristics displayed by some of the taxa suggest that these faunas would be at the beginning of an isolated evolution. In this paper we present a preliminary report on the fossils recovered from the NB-1 deposit, as well as some unpublished data from CdR, and we analyze the whole fauna from both Mallorcan deposits, focusing on taxonomical and paleobiogeographical aspects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pere Bover
- IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies, Department of Biodiversity and Conservation, Balearic Islands, Spain.,Research Associate Division of Vertebrate Zoology/Mammalogy Department, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA
| | - Juan Rofes
- Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, University of the Basque Country, Leioa, Spain.,Grupo Aragosaurus-IUCA, Area of Paleontología, Earth Sciences Department, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Salvador Bailon
- UMR 7209-7194 of CNRS, Department of Ecology and Biodiversity Management, National Museum of Natural History, Paris, France
| | - Jordi Agustí
- ICREA, Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
| | - Gloria Cuenca-Bescós
- Grupo Aragosaurus-IUCA, Area of Paleontología, Earth Sciences Department, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Enric Torres
- IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies, Department of Biodiversity and Conservation, Balearic Islands, Spain
| | - Josep Antoni Alcover
- IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies, Department of Biodiversity and Conservation, Balearic Islands, Spain.,Research Associate Division of Vertebrate Zoology/Mammalogy Department, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA
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