Pleistocene cave hyenas in the Iberian Peninsula: New insights from Los Aprendices cave (Moncayo, Zaragoza)
Sauqué, Víctor (Universidad de Zaragoza)
Rabal-Garcés, Raquel (Universidad de Zaragoza)
Madurell-Malapeira, Joan (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)
Gisbert, Mario (Centro de espeleología de Aragón)
Zamora, Samuel (Instituto Geológico y Minero de España)
Torres, Trinidad (Laboratory of Biomolecular Stratigraphy)
Ortíz, José Eugenio (Laboratory of Biomolecular Stratigraphy)
Cuenca-Bescos, Gloria (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Date:	2017
Abstract:	A new Pleistocene paleontological site, Los Aprendices, located in the northwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula in the area of the Moncayo (Zaragoza) is presented. The layer with fossil remains has been dated by amino acid racemization to 143. 8 ± 38. 9 ka (earliest Late Pleistocene or latest Middle Pleistocene). Five mammal species have been identified in the assemblage: Crocuta spelaea (Goldfuss, 1823) Capra pyrenaica (Schinz, 1838), Lagomorpha indet, Arvicolidae indet and Galemys pyrenaicus (Geoffroy, 1811). The remains of C. spelaea represent a mostly complete skeleton in anatomical semi-connection. The hyena specimen represents the most complete skeleton ever recovered in Iberia and one of the most complete remains in Europe. It has been compared anatomically and biometrically with both European cave hyenas and extant spotted hyenas. In addition, a taphonomic study has been carried out in order to understand the origin and preservation of these exceptional remains. The results suggest rapid burial with few scavenging modifications putatively produced by a medium sized carnivore. A review of the Pleistocene Iberian record of Crocuta spp. has been carried out, enabling us to establish one of the earliest records of C. spelaea in the recently discovered Los Aprendices cave, and also showing that the most extensive geographical distribution of this species occurred during the Late Pleistocene (MIS4-2).
Grants:	Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CGL2011-28681 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CGR2014-5473-P Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CGL2012-38434-C03-01 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2014/SGR-416 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad RYC-2012-10576
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Pleistocene ; Crocuta spelaea ; Taphonomy ; Distribution ; Iberian Peninsula
Published in:	Paleontologia Electronica, Vol. 20.1 (March 2017) , art. 20.1.11A

DOI: 10.26879/622

38 p, 19.6 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles