Pablo Peláez-Campomanes

Spanish National Research Council | CSIC · Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales

Background Extinct organisms provide vital information about the time of origination and biogeography of extant groups. The development of phylogenetic methods to study evolutionary processes through time has revolutionized the field of evolutionary biology and led to an unprecedented expansion of our knowledge of the tree of life. Recent developme...

There is an ongoing debate about the internal systematics of today’s group of hamsters (Cricetinae), following new insights that are gained based on molecular data. Regarding the closely related fossil cricetids, however, most studies deal with only a limited number of genera and statements about their possible relationships are rare. In this study...

There is an ongoing debate about the internal systematics of today’s group of hamsters (Cricetinae). Regarding the closely related fossil cricetids, however, most studies deal with only a limited number of genera and statements about their possible relationships are rarely made. In this study, 41 fossil species belonging to seven extinct cricetine...

The new micromammal site of Beydere 3 represents a typical Anatolian MN3 fauna in the high diversification and abundance of Eumyarion. Notably, two Eumyarion species are new; combined, they make up almost half of the assemblage. While Eumyarion beyderensis sp. nov. shows simple morphology in upper molars, Eumyarion aegeaniensis sp. nov. shows a mor...

Dental microwear is the set of microscopic marks that form on the surface of the tooth during mastication. Quantifying its spatio-temporal variation within the same species allows us to know the variation of diet according to the availability of resources and the amount of grit ingested. Additionally, the thickness of dental enamel allows us to kno...

The modern era of analytical and quantitative palaeobiology has only just begun, integrating methods such as morphological and molecular phylogenetics and divergence time estimation, as well as phenotypic and molecular rates of evolution. Calibrating the tree of life to geological time is at the nexus of many disparate disciplines, from palaeontolo...

Extinct organisms provide crucial information about the origin and time of origination of extant groups. The importance of morphological phylogenetics for rigorously dating the tree of life is now widely recognized and has been revitalized by methodological developments such as the application of tip‐dating Bayesian approaches. Traditionally, molec...

Mortality curves of extinct rodents can be reconstructed by using relative wear calculated from the amount of dentine exposed. MicroCT scanning of molars of the extinct Eomyid genus Ligerimys shows that this Wear Index increases gradually with wear; this means that wear classes can serve as a proxy for age and can therefore be used to reconstruct m...

The material of Cricetodon albanensis (Rodentia, Cricetodontinae) from La Grive-Saint Alban (carrière Milliat, fissure M) is described in detail for the first time. This species is a large sized Cricetodontinae that is characterised by having incomplete ectolophs and indistinct or very short mesolophs on the upper molars and by the presence of doub...

This volume honours Professor Jorge Morales – one of the world´s leading experts in fossil carnivorans, a great scholar, and inspiration of many to follow him in the discipline of palaeontology – to mark his recent retirement. In July 2021, Prof. Morales retired after 50 years working and building up a reputation not only as a leading scientist but...

El Cerro de los Batallones is one of the most important fossil sites of the Miocene. The quantity and preservation of its fossil remains have allowed us to describe many new mammal species. One of these is Hispanomys moralesi, a derived species of the Tribe Cricetodontini, a wide group of rodents with great importance in the faunal assemblage durin...

Equations estimating body mass were used to depict a near 5-million-year history of size change in pocket gophers and cotton rats from the Meade Basin of southwestern Kansas. Although phyletic size decrease was noted in Sigmodon minor and Geomys minor and size increase in Geomys quinni, no long-term intra-basin size trends were observed. Immediatel...

Establishing an evolutionary timeline is fundamental for tackling a great variety of topics in evolutionary biology, including the reconstruction of patterns of historical biogeography, coevolution and diversification. However, the tree of life is pruned by extinction and molecular data cannot be gathered for extinct lineages. Until recently method...

The new fossil micromammal assemblage of Çapak represents a mixture of both Anatolian and European faunal elements. The locality is very important for understanding faunal evolution in the less well-known time interval at the end of the early Miocene of western Anatolia. In Çapak, nine species of rodents and one species of ochotonid were encountere...

1. The shape of the tree of life is the result of shifting diversification rates, and identifying the factors driving these shifts is one of the main aims in evolutionary biology. Various biotic and abiotic factors have been proposed to have an impact on mammal diversification, such as climatic and tectonic changes, the acquisition of new traits, a...

Geometric morphometric allows characterizing complex morphologies in order to quantify the geometry of the structure and facilitate comparisons. It allows performing methods analysing differentiation pattern based on variance, such as the Principal Component Analysis (PCA). For that reason, it has been chosen as the method to analyse the mandibles...

Over the last half a century, a massive amount of data has been gathered on Neogene rodents of Europe. Using the NOW database, we analysed changes in generic diversity during the Neogene and the beginning of the Quaternary. Studies as the present are useful for exploring major changes in diversity, but the pitfalls are many and varied. Whereas the...

The maxillary presented in this work has been excavated in the middle Miocene karst filling Petersbuch 136 (Germany, Bavaria) and shows the oldest evidence of dental anomaly in a sciurid. The aberrant morphology, probably hyperdontia or no replacement of roots of deciduous teeth, affects the area of the P3, a tooth that is generally not well docume...

Geometric morphometric analysis in fossil cricetids mandibles from the Miocene of Spain and Germany

The mammal locality of Gördes is only known from its test sample, as it has been subsequently destroyed. This small sample yielded a surprisingly rich assemblage, with five rodent species, four species of insectivore and a bat. Based on the rodent contents, the assemblage is assigned to Anatolian mammal zone D, equivalent to MN 3. One of the rodent...

Two new small mammal assemblages from the abandoned Harami lignite mine, as an addition to previously known Harami assemblages, provide a better insight in the palaeoenvironments in Anatolia in local Biozone C (MN 2, early Miocene). Based on the new material, the Eumyarion assemblages are considered to consist of three, rather than two species, in...

An old test sample from the Sabuncubeli Formation (Manisa, Turkey) yielded an interesting faunule, which, however, up to now had never been described. In Bornova 183, now inaccessible, five species of micromammal were encountered: the hamsters Eumyarion aff. montanus, E. intercentralis and Cricetodon kasapligili, the squirrel Palaeosciurus fissurae...

Unlike the rodents of the local zone C (MN 2) fauna of Gökler, the faunal list of the insectivores shows little surprises. The fauna is dominated by the gymnure Galerix saratji and the enigmatic talpid Suleimania ruemkae, both present in such numbers that for the first time the anterior dentition could be reconstructed. In the case of Galerix, thes...

Here, we describe new specimens of the cricetid Hispanomys moralesi López-Antoñanzas et al. 2010, found in Batallones 4 site, which belongs to Cerro de los Batallones assemblage (Upper Vallesian, Upper Miocene). Previously, metrical and morphological data of H. moralesi have been used to proof whether the different sites within the butte were fille...

Recent extensive field prospecting conducted in the Upper Miocene of Lebanon resulted in the discovery of several new fossiliferous localities. One of these, situated in the Zahleh area (Bekaa Valley, central Lebanon) has yielded a particularly diverse vertebrate fauna. Micromammals constitute an important part of this assemblage because not only d...

Terrestrial paleoenvironmental reconstructions from the Pliocene Epoch (5.3–2.6 Ma) of the Neogene Period are rare from the North American continental interior, but are important because they provide insight into the evolutionary context of modern landscapes and ecological systems. Pliocene marine records indicate that global climate was warmer and...

Simplomys, a dormouse with a simple dental morphology compared to other glirids, shows a continuous evolution in Spain during the end of the Ramblian and up to the middle Aragonian, the stratigraphic frame considered in this work. In contrast, the record of the genus in Central Europe is reduced to a few localities spanning from the early to the mi...

The cricetid genus Hispanomys has been recorded from many localities in the Iberian Peninsula, France, and central and western Europe; its stratigraphic distribution is restricted to the middle Miocene and the beginning of the late Miocene. Four species are found in the Spanish Calatayud–Daroca Basin: Hispanomys aguirrei (local biozone G3, late Ara...

Karydomys is a rare and little diversified democricetodontine, of which only six species are currently recognized. This group of rodents is first recorded in the early Miocene (MN3) in China and spread quickly thereafter to Kazakhstan and Greece (MN4). Karydomys reached south‐western and central Europe by early middle Miocene times (MN5), from wher...

Corral de Lobato, a karstic site in the area of Molina de Aragón has been studied in a preliminary way. Even though there are not many Neogene karstic sites in the Iberian Chain, they occur in four clusters, with ages ranging from latest middle Miocene (MN7/8) to early Pleistocene (MN17). Correlations between these clusters and the reference strati...

The rich and relatively diverse fossil mammalian assemblage from Gökler is of special importance for understanding of faunal evolution in Central Anatolia. Large mammals were not recovered, but insectivores and rodents are abundant. The assemblage of rodents is studied in detail and comprises mainly diversified cricetids. Dormice are abundant, but...

Purpose A new Iberian Konservat-Lagersta¨tte discovered in Tresjuncos (Cuenca, Spain) is described and interpreted based on geological and paleontological information. Methods The samples were studied using conventional mineralogical (powder X-ray diffraction), petrographic (optical and scanning electron microscopy) and geochemical (X-ray energy-di...

Çorakyerler Hominoid Site preserves exceptional fossil material of Anatolian Late Miocene since the beginning of 2000. Besides its unique hominoid record, the characterizing taxa for Corakyerler include also a large component of bovids, as well as diverse carnivores, equids and girafds. The micromammal fauna of Çorakyerler has received relatively l...

The small mammal assemblages from Alto de Ballester 1 and 2 in the Rubielos de Mora basin represent a unique faunal assemblage from the late early Miocene (Ramblian, MN 3). Together, the assemblages yielded five species of rodents (Peridyromys murinus, P. aff. murinus, P. aquatilis, Pseudotheridomys aff. fejfari and cf. Steneofiber depereti), and n...

Purpose. Palaeontological excavations following public works around the Manzanares River in the metropolitan area of Madrid yielded new small mammal fossil remains from two locations. We present here a description of their rodent assemblages, and a biostratigraphical and palaeoecological context of them. A comparison of these levels to the contempo...

A new late Hemphillian (late Miocene) rodent assemblage is reported from Zwiebel Channel, a channel cut into underlying Ash Hollow Miocene sediments along Sand Draw, Brown County, Nebraska. This locality extends the temporal range of rodent history in the Sand Draw area. A new biostratigraphic hypothesis proposes that previously described assemblag...

The dental pattern of Yindirtemys deflexus from Mongolia has been analysed using a Micro-CT scanner. This ctenodactylid exhibits a peculiar dental pattern, characterised by a mesodont dentition with some degree of selenodonty, an intricate enamel folding and elevated connections between cusps. Furthermore, the wear sequence in the upper tooth row s...

Remarkable paleoclimatic global changes have been recorded worldwide during the middle Miocene. The Miocene Climatic Optimum (~ 16.3 to ~ 15 Ma), one of the warmest phases since the Eocene, was followed by the stepwise cooling trend of the Middle Miocene Climate Transition (~ 15 to ~ 13.7 Ma). The entry into an Earth “Ice-house” climate state took...

The works carried out in the Madrid area during the last fifteen years have yielded almost twenty new localities including small-mammals. A taxonomical description of the rodent fauna of the new sites and a revision of those previously published has enabled us to present an updated biostratigraphy and biochronology for the middle and upper Aragonia...

Extinction rates for terrestrial rodent species from palaeontological sites in the Meade Basin of southwestern Kansas and an archaeological site in New Mexico are compared with extinction rates for modern rodents from locations affected by anthropogenic activities. Background extinction rates are defined as global extinctions occurring over proscri...

The “Lignite Deposit Exploration in Turkey” project, conducted by a group of German and Turkish geologists, led to the discovery of the “Paşalar Hominoid Site” in 1969. The first excavations in Paşalar were carried out by H. Tobien and his team and the preliminary results of the faunal list, which included 47 micro and macromammalian taxa, were pub...

We present an updated taxonomy and faunal distribution of the micromammal fossil record from the Aragonian and Lower Vallesian of the Calatayud-Montalbán Basin. The analysed record includes the orders Rodentia, Eulipotyphla, and Lagomorpha. The pattern of species turnover shows seven major faunal events, which are correlated with major climate chan...

At the time of its discovery, over 25 years ago, the Greek locality of Aliveri preserved the easternmost occurrence for the early Miocene of cricetodontine hamsters such as Cricetodon, Megacricetodon and Democricetodon. As knowledge on the early Miocene history of the eastern Mediterranean increased, the faunal composition became more enigmatic, be...

Morphometrical studies were carried out on the dental material of Democricetodon from the Calatayud-Montalbán Basin. Principal component analyses were incorporated into the analyses to reduce the number of metrical and morphological variables. Morphological variability was studied as the morphological distribution of character states, based on mult...

We have described the material of Megacricetodon from early to middle Aragonian from the Calatayud-Montalban Basin. All studied assemblages are assigned to M. primitivus. The evolutionary patterns of this species are stable through time, in size and dental morphology, although with high intra-populational variability. We study a more abundant mater...

The material of Rotundomys (Rodentia, Cricetinae) from the Late Miocene fossiliferous complex of Cerro de los Batallones (Madrid, Spain) is described and compared with all species currently placed in the genera Rotundomys and Cricetulodon. Both the morphology and size variation encompassed in the collection of specimens from Batallones suggest they...

The small mammal Megacricetodon is one of the most characteristic taxa of the European rodent faunas. It has been used profusely to propose biostratigaphic and biocronologic continental scales for the lower and middle Miocene of Europe, both for its broad geographic distribution and for its quick changes in size and morphology. The genus Megacricet...

The Madrid basin is one of the main Cenozoic continental basins of the Iberian Peninsula. It stands out as having a rich Miocene mammal fossil record which expands over 5 million years. Its mammal record is especially well-represented and studied between 16 and 13.6 Ma. This study is focused on this well-sampled part that includes more than 30 mamm...

Une mise à jour détaillée des distributions stratigraphiques des espèces de Cricetodontini présentes dans le bassin de Calatayud–Daroca est proposée. Les espèces Cricetodon sansaniensis (biozone locale F, MN6, Aragonien moyen) et Cricetodon jotae (biozones locales G1, G2 et G3, MN6-MN7/8, Aragonien moyen et supérieur) du Miocène moyen sont décrites...

The Megacricetodon material from Aliveri (Isle of Evia, Greece) was previously assigned to M. primitivus, implying palaeobiogeographical relationship between southeastern and south-western Europe. The material from Aliveri is here assigned to the new species Megacricetodon hellenicus sp. nov. This form has significant morphological differences comp...

The micromammal sequence of the Calatayud-Montalbán Basin in Northeast Central Spain is exceptional in terms of its faunal richness and dating accuracy. However, until now, several classical localities with ages close to the middle to late Miocene transition have never been directly tied to the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale. Here we present an up...

A new species of Cricetodontini (Cricetidae, Rodentia, Mammalia), Cricetodon nievei sp. nov. from the Toril section (Toril 3A, Toril 3B, Toril 2) and Las Planas 5H is described. All this sites belong to the local biozone G3 (late Aragonian, late middle Miocene) from the Calatayud-Daroca Basin (Zaragoza, Spain). The new species displays a mosaic pat...

In the present study we analyze the microwear of the species included in the lineage Armantomys aragonensis-A. tricristatus of two samples from two middle Miocene localities from the Madrid Basin (El Cañaveral and Casa Montero). The methodological part of the study compares light stereomicroscope photographs from resin casts and Environmental Scann...

This study used the dense late Cenozoic rodent record of south-western Kansas to test for an equilibrium in species richness through millions of years, identify and clarify historical influences on species richness, determine the relative contribution of immigration, speciation and local extinction to species originations at the community level, an...

The Ventian land mammal age includes most of the Spanish faunas assigned to the biochronologic unit MN 13. It is correlatable with the Messinian, although it may include, in its latest part, Early Pliocene faunas. We propose that the Ventian begins with the fi rst occurrence of the Muridae genus Stephanomys (7 Ma, paleomagnetic dating from El Bunke...

One of the most important contributions of Nieves López Martínez in Palaeobiogeography is the study of the ‘centre of origin of species’ concept and the proposal of the ‘Asymmetric Time Model’ as an alternative to the ‘Symmetric Time Model’, a key concept in dispersalist Historical Biogeography. As a consequence of these ideas, she discussed the me...