Matthijs Freudenthal

• University of Granada

Desmaninae (water-moles) are common elements in the late Miocene–Pleistocene mammal assemblages from Europe, but knowledge about this group is still scarce. Here we present the desmanines from several early Pliocene localities of the Granada Basin, southern Spain. The species Desmana marci, sp. nov. is described from the sites Calicasas-3 and 4A, c...

The aim of this paper is to analyze the contents of several genera of European Oligocene and early Miocene Cricetidae, their distinguishing characters, and their stratigraphic distribution. The genera discussed are Atavocricetodon, Eucricetodon, Pseudocricetodon, and Allocricetodon. Several groups are distinguished within the genus Eucricetodon and...

The Calatayud-Teruel Basin is one of the richest areas of Spain, when fossil mammals are concerned. Around the village of Montalbán many lower Oligocene fossil mammal localities are known and several upper Oligocene localities with rich micromammal faunas are present between the villages of Vivel del Río Martín and Martín del Río. Previous papers o...

In a recent study of van der Meulen and coauthors, the fossil rodents Fahlbuschia, Pseudofahlbuschia and Renzimys from the Aragonian type area (Calatayud Basin, Spain) were synonimized with Democricetodon. On the basis of the relative chronology provided by Daams and coauthors in an earlier study, these authors construed two evolutionary lineages,...

The aim of this paper is to analyze the contents of several genera of European Oligocene and early Miocene Cricetidae, their distinguishing characters, and their stratigraphic distribution. The genera discussed are Atavocricetodon, Eucricetodon, Pseudocricetodon, and Allocricetodon. Several groups are distinguished within the genus Eucricetodon and...

Aim: The Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) was an extraordinary geological event that affected the whole Mediterranean region as well as the global marine circulation between 5.97 and c. 5.33 Ma. One of its most direct effects was the emersion of land masses and the subsequent establishment of land bridges that led to common terrestrial faunal exchan...

The results of our study on the three murid species found in the early Pleistocene site of Loma Quemada-1, located in the Guadix-Baza basin, are reported. This site is very important from a palaeontological point of view because it is one of the youngest deposits of this age that records the presence of the genus Castillomys. Moreover, the presence...

Three pharyngeal teeth of carp, Cyprinus Linnaeus, were found when washing and screening sediment in the Middle and Upper Miocene of Andalusia (Spain). Their examination has shown that they look very similar to those of the recent carp, Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus, so that it would not be impossible that they belong to this species. Their presence in...

We present estimates for head and body length (HBL) of fossil rodents. We assembled HBL data and tooth row length data (LTR, UTR) for a large number of extant rodents, and calculated regression lines of HBL on LTR and UTR for all rodents together (all-rodents equation), and for separate taxonomic groups (family equations). In fossil rodents, data f...

The species of the genus Apocricetus are considered to form the phyletic lineage A. aff. plinii (MN11)–A. plinii–A. alberti–A. barrierei–A. angustidens (MN16). Along this lineage, gradual morphological and biometrical changes occur, but not all the species are represented by rich populations. The assemblage of Apocricetus alberti from Venta del Mor...

Ages of Cenozoic sedimentary basins yield information that can be used to infer detailed spatial and temporal evolution in the Alpine foreland. The Tertiary deposits of the NW Iberian Peninsula comprise the remains of a broken foreland basin (the West Duero Basin). This work constrains the timing of tectonic fragmentation and the evolution of the w...

Paleoecology of fossil rodents is frequently inferred from the dental pattern of the teeth, attributing the habitat conditions of extant rodents to fossil species with similar dental pattern. This technique is common practice and has been in use for several decades. A relatively new technique is based on the carbon and oxygen isotope composition of...

Environmental reconstructions of fossil rodent faunas have traditionally been based on the tooth pattern: The dental pattern of recent rodents is linked to their environment and these ecological relationships are extrapolated to fossil rodents We applied one of the most widely used models for paleohumidity reconstruction, based on rodent dental mor...

The genus Vasseuromys (Mammalia, Gliridae) was created by Baudelot and de Bonis (1966) on the basis of material from the localities of Laugnac and Moissac I (France, Lower Miocene) in order to distinguish Gliridae of medium size marked by concave occlusal surfaces and a tendency for the molar cusps to form longitudinal walls. The fossil record of t...

In this work we present an update of the micromammalian faunas of the Tudela Formation. This formationis composed of 650 metres of lacustrine, palustrine and distal alluvial sediments that accumulated in the west-central sector of the Ebro Basin during the Lower and Middle Miocene. We have studied more than 25 fossil localities distributed througho...

Tropical conditions during the late Miocene in southwestern Europe influenced the continental environments. Although there are previous qualitative environmental interpretations of these continental landscapes during the late Miocene, quantitative environmental and paleohydrological data are scarce. A very long sequence of small mammals allowed to...

Apocricetus Freudenthal et al. (Treballs del Museu de Geologia de Barcelona 7: 11–93, 1998) is a medium to large Cricetinae, practically without mesolophids in the m1 and m2, with long third molars; anterior and posterior protolophule are present and the posterior metalophule is reduced or absent. Apocricetus barrierei (Mein and Michaux Comptes Ren...

In this paper, a new species of Vasseuromys, V. bergasensis sp. nov., from the locality of Bergasa (Ebro Basin, Spain), is described. Bergasa contains a fauna belonging to the Late Oligocene (zone MP30), composed— among other species—of Issiodoromys pseudanaema and Rhodanomys transiens. The main diagnostic features of V. bergasensis sp. nov. are th...

The time and mode of colonization of Gargano have been a subject of debate. Taking into account the temporal distribution of the ancestors of the Mikrotia fauna, a Late Tortonian age represents the best fit for the time of migration. How these animals reached the island is even harder to decide. In the past some scholars embraced rafting as an impo...

Two new fossil micromammal localities of Middle Miocene age (Pico del Fraile 2, PF2 and Sancho Abarca 5, SA5) from the Tudela Formation (northeastern Ebro Basin) are described. PF2 contains rodents and insectivores of Aragonian age (local zone Dc). The rodent assemblage from the locality SA5 is very scarce and probably of Middle Aragonian age, like...

The peculiar red colour of fossil small mammal remains from a late Miocene section in southern Spain suggests an unusual diagenetic alteration. These remains have been studied by means of environmental scanning electron microscope equipped with different detectors, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and an inductively coupled plasma optical emiss...

Reconstructing the body mass of a fossil animal is an essential step toward understanding its palaeoecological role. Length × width (L×W) of the first lower molar (m1) is frequently used as a proxy for body mass in fossil mammals. However, among rodents, Muroidea have no premolar and an elongated m1, whereas other groups have a premolar and a m1 th...

Extant members of the family Gliridae lack a caecum and are not capable of digesting hard (cellulose) plant material. We assume that they did have a caecum at some time in the past and consequently may have had a different diet. We think that during the period of their maximum diversity in the Early Miocene, about 16 My ago, they still possessed th...

The oldest Miocene continental fauna in the Guadix-Baza depression from southern Spain is described in this paper. The small mammals remains from Cortijo de la Piedra fossil localities have a latest Vallesian (early Tortonian) age, and provide evidence of late Vallesian continental environments, which were unknown until now in southern Iberia. The...

Minwer‐Barakat, R., García‐Alix, A., Suárez, E.M., Freudenthal, M. & Viseras, C. 2012 xx xx: Micromammal biostratigraphy of the Upper Miocene to lowest Pleistocene continental deposits of the Guadix basin, southern Spain. Lethaia, Vol. 45, pp. 594–614.Recent study of the small mammals (rodents and insectivores) from several fossil‐bearing sites sit...

The hypsodont Myomiminae Daams, 1981 (Gliridae) from the lower part of the Tudela Formation (Ebro Basin) are described. Five localities (CH1, CA2, CA3, CA4 and CC1) of this formation contain remains of the hypsodont genus Armantomys de Bruijn, 1966 and CC1 has also yielded Praearmantomys de Bruijn, 1966. Despite the poor material, we can identify t...

The present work provides for the first time a detailed description of teeth attributable to metatherians in the Miocene fossil record of Spain, and justifies their generic and specific ascription. The fossil elements found correspond to Amphiperatherium frequens, the last herpetotheriid that inhabited Europe. This is so far the southernmost occurr...

We describe a new species of Vasseuromys from the locality of Pico del Fraile 2 (PF2) in the Ebro Basin of northeastern Spain, which has yielded a fauna comprising several rodents and insectivores (Eumyarion cf. weinfurteri, Megacricetodon cf. primitivus, Democricetodon aff. hispanicus, Spermophilinus cf. besana, Microdyromys cf. legidensis, Galeri...

2012. Vasseuromys rambliensis sp. nov. (Gliridae, Mammalia) from the Ramblian (Lower Miocene) of the Tudela Formationv (Ebro basin, Spain). Palaeontologia Electronica Vol. 15, Issue 1; 4A, 16p; palaeo-electronica.org/content/2012-issue-1-articles/173-fossil-glirid-from-spain Vasseuromys rambliensis sp. nov. ABSTRACT In this paper, a new species of...

Altomiramys (Gliridae, Myomiminae) is a very uncommon glirid in the rodent assemblages from the lower part of the Lower Miocene (Agenian to Ramblian) of the Iberian Peninsula. Only one species, Altomiramys daamsi, has been described from localities of Ramblian age (Loranca-1 and Ramblar-1). An unpublished second species, Altomiramys aff. daamsi, is...

The rodent and insectivore faunas of Agenian and Ramblian age from the Tudela Formation (Ebro Basin, Spain) are described. Four of the localities (CH1, CA1, CC1 and CA2) contain rodent remains of Agenian age (local zone Y), and three (CA3, CA3B and CA4) of Ramblian age (local zones Z and A). Typical Agenian taxa include Armantomys cf. bijmai (CH1),...

Five new localities with micromammal remains have been located in the Cabriel Basin. These localities are situated in the eastern area of the Cabriel Basin, in the Juan Vich ravine, where the oldest deposits of this basin crop out. The localities JV2, JV3 and JV6 are of Middle Miocene age, JVTLI1 of Middle Miocene or Late Miocene age and JVTS1 of L...

: This paper reports the first record of Desmanella (Mammalia, Soricomorpha) from the Granada Basin in southern Iberian Peninsula, which represents its south-westernmost occurrence in all Eurasia. It is a controversial taxon whose systematic assignment has been discussed for a long time. This genus belongs to the family Talpidae, a group of insecti...

The Bierzo Basin is one of a series of Tertiary basins, located in the NW of the Iberian Peninsula linked to the Alpine Pyrenean orogeny. So far, its exact age was unknown because no paleontological data were available. Two new fossiliferous localities between Fresnedo and Tombrío de Arriba in the Bierzo Basin (León, Spain) permit such a dating for...

The Pico del Fraile section has more than 200 metre thick and it is located in the youngest rocks of the Tudela Formation (north-western part of the Ebro Basin). Two localities with micromammalian fossil remains are known in this section, PF1 and PF2. In the site of PF1 the micromammal assemblage is composed by Simplomys simplicidens, Peridyromys m...

Recently a discussion is taking place about the Scontrone (l’Aquila) and Gargano (Apulia, Italy) mammal faunas and the age of their immigration. Mazza and Rustioni (2008) dated the Scontrone mammal fossils as Tortonian on the basis of their position in the Lithothamnium Limestone and came to the conclusion that some elements of the Scontrone and Ga...

The fossil shrews (Soricidae, Lipotyphla, Mammalia) from the Pliocene continental deposits of Tollo de Chiclana (Guadix Basin, southern Spain) are described. Remains of Asoriculus gibberodon, Blarinoides aliciae, Petenyia hungarica, Paenelimnoecus pannonicus, Myosorex meini, and an indeterminated species of Soricidae have been recognized. With the...

Se presenta un estudio preliminar de la fauna de roedores fósiles de la localidad MAB-5 (Cuenca de Ribesalbes-Alcora, Castellón). La lista faunística preliminar la componen Democricetodon/Fahlbuschia sp., Megacricetodon cf. primitivus, Glirudinus cf. modestus, Microdyromys sp., Pseudodryomys cf. julii, Myomiminae indet., Ligerimys ellipticus y Sciu...

A rich and diverse micromammal fauna from the late Turolian (MN13) locality of Negratin-1 (Guadix Basin, southern Spain) is described. The faunal list of this site includes Apodemus gudrunae, Occitanomys alcalai, Stephanomys dubari, Paraethomys meini, Myocricetodon jaegeri, Debruijnimys almenarensis, Apocricetus alberti, Ruscinomys sp., Eliomys sp....

The Pliocene and Pleistocene continental sedimentary records of the western sector of the Granada Basin, southern Spain, consist of alternating fluvial and lacustrine/palustrine sediments. Two Quaternary sections from this sector have been sampled: Huétor Tájar and Tojaire. They have yielded remains of rodents, insectivores and lagomorphs. The pres...

The drainage system of the Granada Basin in southern Spain has evolved from endorheic to exorheic since the basin emerged and became continental in the latest Tortonian (late Miocene). The age of implementation for the recent exorheic, east-west drainage can now be identified by small mammal dating. This drainage configuration began in the latest P...

Correspondence analysis (CA) is frequently used in the interpretation of palaeontological data, but little is known about the minimum requirements for a result to be valid. Far from being a fundamental mathematical study of CA, this paper aims to present a tool, which may serve to evaluate results obtained in (palaeontological) praxis. We created m...

A new species of Eomyops, Eomyops noeliae, is described. from the locality MT-20A (Morteral section, Magro basin, eastern Spain). It is intermediate in size between the large eomiid, E. hebeiseni, and the small species of the group E. catalaunicus, E. bodvanus and E. oppligeri. The age range is Lower Aragonian. MT-20A is located between deposits th...

Archaeodesmana baetica, sp. nov. is a new water-mole (Desmaninae, Talpidae) from Purcal 4, a locality at the Miocene–Pliocene transition in southern Spain. It is characterized by a very large p2, larger than P2, and a p2/p3 ratio which is larger than in any known desmanine. Its I1 are bilobed. The premolars are very large in comparison with the mol...

The fauna from Rambla de Chimeneas-3 (RCH-3), a new uppermost Miocene micro-mammal site from the Guadix Basin, is described. This level has yielded remains of Paraethomys meini, Occitanomys alcalai, Stephanomys cf. dubari, Cricetinae indet., Erinaceidae indet., and Soricidae indet. This faunal assemblage call be assigned to the Upper Turolian (MN 1...

The Late Miocene and Pliocene continental sediments in the Granada Basin (southern Spain) have yielded large amounts of fossil small mammals in 37 localities from 11 sections. The aim of this paper is to integrate faunistic, stratigraphic, and sedimentary criteria to unravel the geological history of the continental infilling of the basin. The pala...

The Arvicolinae from the latest Ruscinian and early Villanyian sites of the section of Tollo de Chiclana (Southern Spain) are re-examined in the light of new material and exhaustive comparisons with other European popu-lations. The uppermost Ruscinian population from TCH-1B, previously assigned to Mimomys stehlini, is now ascribed to M. hassiacus,...

This paper analyses the relationship between the evolution of the Late Miocene and Early Pliocene rodent and insectivore assemblages from the Granada Basin (southern Spain) and climate changes. These climatic changes, in terms of humidity and temperature fluctuations, are inferred from variations of the relative abundances of taxons with definite e...

The record of Mio-Pliocene continental sediments is very complete in the Granada Basin (southern Spain), and many fossiliferous localities have yielded material of Rodentia, Lipotyphla and Lagomorpha. The most diversified and numerous are rodents, more specifically the family Muridae. Seventeen murid species, belonging to eight genera (Castromys, O...

The fossil Desmaninae (water-moles) from the Pliocene continental deposits of Tollo de Chiclana (Guadix Basin, Southern Spain) are described. A new species, Archaeodesmana elvirae, is defined from the locality of Tollo de Chiclana-1 (upper Ruscinian). This species is characterized by relatively small canines and premolars (except the P4) and large...

The genus Micromys includes a single extant species, Micromys minutus (Pallas, 1771), which lives in Europe and North Asia. This genus is known in the fossil record since the late Miocene; eight fossil species have been described in Europe and Asia, most of them of late Miocene and early Pliocene age. The evolution of this genus during the late Pli...

Several Miocene and Pliocene continental fossiliferous localities in the Granada and Guadix basins have yielded fossil micromammals. Cricetids and glirids are known from most of these localities. This paper deals with the genera Apocricetus, Ruscinomys, Blancomys and Eliomys. The Cricetidae are important biostratigraphical markers, especially Apocr...

Daams & de Bruijn created the subfamily Bransatoglirinae for the genus Bransatoglis Hugueney, and considered Paraglis Baudelot and Oligodyromys Bahlo to be synonyms of Bransatoglis. Twenty two valid species have been classifi ed as Bransatoglis or one of its supposed synonyms, ranging in age from Late Eocene (MP17) to Middle Miocene (MN6) and varyi...

This paper tries to amplify the information about the poorly known fossil beaver Dipoides problematicus (Schlosser, 1902). This species has been found in several localities near the Mio-Pliocene boundary of the Granada Basin (southern Spain). During that time span, beavers are very scarce in southern Spain, but abundant in the Teruel region (northe...

Sciurids are very scarce in the fossil record, especially in the basins of southern Spain. The aim of this paper is to review the Sciuridae record in these basins. The Granada and Guadix basins have yielded specimens of Xerini and Pteromyinae, which represent the largest collection of fossil Sciuridae in southern Spain from the Middle Turolian to t...

A new species of Blarinoides (Soricidae, Mammalia), Blarinoides aliciae, is described from the Pliocene of Tollo de Chiclana (Guadix Basin, southeastern Spain). It is notably smaller than the single species of this genus known until now, B. mariae. B. aliciae is recorded from several other Spanish localities, but the sample from Tollo de Chiclana-3...

Paleomagnetic analysis of the section of Purcal (Granada Basin) shows that the entire sequence has reversed polarity. The micromammal fauna contains elements that are typical of the latest Miocene, and others that are earliest Pliocene; both are characteristic of humid surroundings. The section should be placed in Chron C3r, and the fauna indicates...

A new species of Microdyromys, M. puntarronensis, is described from the Early Oligocene locality Mon-talbán 8 (Teruel, Spain). It is compared with the other Early Oligocene species of the genus, M. misonnei. The latter is known from Hoogbutsel (Belgium) and Montalbán 1D. Montalbán 8 is intermediate in age between Hoogbutsel and Montalbán 1D, and th...

Many studies of fossil Gliridae have found that the concavity of the occlusal sur-face is an important diagnostic character. However, no objective measure of occlusal concavity exists. In this paper a quantitative concavity index is proposed and tested on the glirid dentition. It may be applicable to other taxa, too. The index is based on the depth...

Two new species of the endemic genus Stertomys (Mammalia, Rodentia, Gliridae) are described from the Late Miocene fissure filling Biancone 1 on the palaeoisland Gargano (Province of Foggia, Italy): S. daamsi and S. daunius. A third new species, Dryomys apulus, presents no endemic features at the generic level and is assigned to the extant genus Dry...

The stratigraphic sequence of fossil mammal localities in the type area of the Aragonian, as proposed by Daams et al. (1999) is analyzed and found to be incorrect. The sequence published by Daams et al. (1988) is the correct one, and the many new localities mentioned by Daams et al. (1999) should be placed in that sequence. The interpretation of th...

In the continental deposits of the area of Tollo de Chiclana (Guadix Basin, south-eastern Spain), several new fossiliferous Pliocene localities yield a rich rodent and insectivore fauna. Of the various rodent families that occur in these sites, Muridae are the most abundant and diversified. Eleven species belonging to seven different genera (Occita...

Several new fossiliferous Pliocene localities have been identified in the continental deposits of the area of Tollo de Chiclana (Guadix Basin, SE Spain), that have yielded a rich rodent and insectivore fauna. In this paper, we study the Arvicolidae from these localities. Remains adscribed to the genera Dolomys, Mimomys and Kislangia have been found...

RESUMEN FREUDENTAL, M. Gliridae (Rodentia, Mammalia) del Eoceno y Oligoceno en la Sierra Palomera (Teruel, Spain). En este trabajo se hace una revisión taxonómica de los Gliridae pertenecientes a los géneros Glamys y Gliravus a partir de material obtenido en la Sierra Palomera y en el área de Montalbán (Teruel, España). Esta revisión lleva a una de...

Age at death may be estimated by the degree of wear of the dentition, expressed as the percentage of the occlusal surface that is occupied by dentine; this method is applied to the M-3 of a population of Late Miocene Apodemus from Gargano (Italy), and of a population of extant Apodemus from Donana National Park (Spain). The values obtained represen...

The Upper Miocene succession of Crevillente presents an alternation of continental and marine beds. The marine fossils have been studied in order to obtain a reliable correlation with other marine sections. On the basis of these data, the entire section can be dated as Upper Tortonian/Messinian. The alternation of continental and marine beds fits t...

The micromammal fauna of the reddish continental sediments of the Zorreras Member in the Sorbas Basin of SE Spain contains elements that are characteristic for the latest Miocene, close to the Mio-Pliocene limit. The paleomagnetic analysis shows that the entire sequence has reversed polarity. The combination of these data suggests that the Zorreras...

The sequence of mammal localities of Crevillente is analyzed biostratigraphically and chronostratigraphically.A detailed biozonation on the basis of rodents is proposed. The localities are attributed to the Turolian or, in marine terms, to the Tortonian and the Messinian. The correlation of the Tortonian/Messinian boundary with the mammal sequence...

The rodent fauna of Fuenferrada contains two species of Theridomyidae and three species of Gliridae. It is compared with the Early Oligocene fauna of Olalla 4A, and with the Late Eocene fauna of Aguatón 2D. The absence of Cricetidae serves to determine its age as latest Eocene.