Palaeoecology of Early Miocene proboscideans from the Aragonian type area (Iberian Peninsula)
Alquézar-Blesa, Francisco (Universidad de Zaragoza. Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra)
Azanza, Beatriz (Universidad de Zaragoza. Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Ciencias Ambientales de Aragón)
DeMiguel, Daniel (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)
Strani, Flavia (Universidad de Zaragoza. Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra)

Data:	2026
Resum:	The northeast Iberian Peninsula preserves fossil localities that record the Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO) and the Middle Miocene Climatic Transition (MMCT). Specifically, the Calatayud-Daroca Basin is the reference area for European Early-Middle Miocene mammal palaeocommunities (Aragonian type area), and includes the Artesilla locality (∼16. 49 Ma) which contains the earliest records of diverse proboscideans (Gomphotheriidae and Deinotheriidae), following their dispersal from Africa to Europe at the onset of the MCO. In this paper, we study the palaeoecology of Gomphotherium and Prodeinotherium from the Aragonian type area to investigate habitat adaptation during the early phases of the MCO and compare results with the palaeoecology of Gomphotherium specimens from Tarazona (∼14. 50 Ma), a rich Middle Miocene locality in the nearby Ebro Basin at the onset of the MMCT. Proboscideans are among the best-studied examples of the evolutionary response of herbivorous mammals to changes in vegetation following Neogene C4 grassland expansion. A clear transition from a "mastodont-like" low-crowned bunolophodont tooth morphology with a reduced number of loph(id)s to an "elephant-like" high-crowned lophodont teeth adapted to grass-consumption is observed between Early and Late Neogene forms. We analyse ecometric parameters (hypsodonty, enamel thickness and number of loph(id)s) and dental wear patterns of individuals from Artesilla and Tarazona. We find that while both taxa, Gomphotherium and Prodeinotherium, displayed dental morphologies that are concordant with a low-abrasion diet, as observed in other early forms of these groups, dietary signals indicate more abrasive feeding behaviours. These results suggest that some lineages of proboscideans adapted to grass-rich diets more than 7 Myr before the Late Neogene expansion of open grasslands.
Ajuts:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2024-160207NB-I00 European Commission 101102131
Nota:	Altres ajuts: Government of Aragon (ref. E33_23R)
Drets:	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, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Matèria:	Dental wear patterns ; Gomphotherium ; Iberian Peninsula ; Miocene Climate Optimum ; Palaeoenvironments ; Prodeinotherium
Publicat a:	Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Vol. 694 (July 2026) , art. 113833, ISSN 1872-616X

DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2026.113833

12 p, 11.4 MB

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