Latest Early Pleistocene mammal assemblages from the Iberian Peninsula and the Early-Middle Pleistocene transition

MADURELL-MALAPEIRA, JOAN; ALBA, DAVID M.; VINUESA, VICTOR; BOSCAINI, ALBERTO; BARTOLINI, S.; RUFÍ, I.; ROS-MONTOYA, S.; ESPIGARES, M.P.; PALMQVIST, P.; ROOK, LORENZO; MARTÍNEZ NAVARRO, BIENVENIDO; MOYÁ-SOLÁ, SALVADOR

Haarlem

Congreso; XVI Meeting of the European Association of Vertebrate Paleontology; 2016

Since the early 1990s, as a consequence of the first findings of human remains and lithic artifacts from the late Early Pleistocene of Europe, the interest for large mammal assemblages from this time interval has increased dramatically, both from a biochronological and taphonomic point of view. In this regard, the Iberian Peninsula has overall the most comprehensive record of late Early Pleistocene mammals from Europe, including numerous well-dated fossiliferous sites, such as those from the Guadix-Baza and Banyoles-Besalú basins, the Vallparadís section, and the Sierra de Atapuerca. Two distinct faunas (late Villafranchian and Epivillafranchian) are customarily recognized among the large mammal assemblages from the late Early Pleistocene of Iberia, with a boundary between these two biochrons placed at ca. 1.2 Ma.The research carried out during the last decades indicates that a protracted faunal turnover event began at ca.1.2 Ma, involving the extinction of typically Villafranchian taxa and the arrival of new Galerian immigrants. This faunal renewal started with the first appearance of the cervids Megaloceros saviniand Dama vallonnetensis, replacing the earlier Praemegaceros verticornisand Metacervocerus rhenanus, respectively. At the same time, the suids of the Sus scrofalineage are first recorded, while the latest members of Ursus etruscusare replaced by the earliest representatives of the cave bear lineage; Ursus deningeri. Subsequently, around 1.0 Ma the last representatives of Megantereon whiteiand the first representatives of Pantherafossilis are recorded. Finally, after MIS22, the last typically Villafranchian species (i.e., Mammuthus meridionalis, Pachycrocuta brevirostris, Puma pardoidesand Lycaon lycaonoides) are recorded during MIS21, roughly coinciding with the earliest records of Crocuta crocuta just before the Bruhnes-Matuyamamagnetostratigraphic boundary.In summary, the large mammal record from the Iberian late Early Pleistocene, covering a protracted time span (from 1.6 to 0.8 Ma), evidences the progressive renewal of the large mammal communities since 1.2 Ma to 0.8 Ma, which was probably associated with the change in Earth's climate from orbital obliquity to eccentricity forcing that resulted in the onset of high-intensity glacial cycles and the concomitant paleoenvironmental instability that took place during the Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition.