The oldest record of the genus Gallotia in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain)

DE LA NUEZ, JULIO; PENÉLOPE CRUZADO CABALLERO; CAROLINA CASTILLO RUIZ

Congreso; 2nd Palaeontological Virtual Congress; 2020

The Canary Islands are a volcanic Atlantic archipelago with a large amount of endemisms andvery fragile island ecosystems. In the current situation of climatic emergency in which the Canaryarchipelago finds itself, it is very important to know the response of organisms (in the formof evolutionary plasticity) to variations in their environment related to rapid climatic changes.Due to the inherent geological characteristics, volcanic ecosystems offer essential paleobiologicalinformation for understanding the response of organisms to rapid changes. In this context,we present a fossil remain (PCCRULL1194) of Gallotia preserved between two cycles of a paleosol-paleodune system at the site of Milán. PCCRULL1194 is an almost complete left dentarypreserved inside a sandstone matrix. The dentition is pleurodont and heterodont. Its osteologicalcharacters would fall within the range of the giant fossil species G. goliath of Tenerife islandand G. auaritae of La Palma island, the two biggest species of the genus. This fossil remnant is associated with an Ar-Ar radiometric dating of feldspar in a pumice fall deposit on the paleodune at the site of Milán, yielding a Middle Pleistocene age (Quaternary). This age makes PCCRULL1194 theoldest record of a lizard belonging to the genus Gallotia with a radiometric dating, representing a milestone in the evolution of the giant lizards in relation to environmental changes during the Quaternary through to today.