Cerro de los Batallones

2015 field works at Batallones 10 fossil site.

A baculum of Indarctos arctoides found at Batallones-3.

Cerro de los Batallones (Hill of the Battalions) is a hill at Torrejón de Velasco, Madrid, Spain where a number of fossil sites from the Upper Miocene (MN10) have been found. Nine sites have been discovered with predominantly vertebrate fossils, invertebrates and plants being less represented. The first deposits were discovered accidentally in July 1991.

Batallones-10 (B-10) is considered to contain the oldest representative of fossils.

Fossils

Nearly the entire proportion of fossils of Batallones-1 were of Carnivorans. The species of sabre-tooth cat known as Promegantereon ogygia and Machairodus aphanistus (the first complete skull) were found at B-1, as was Simocyon a type of red panda. In regards to the saber-tooth cats, Batallones-1 represents an ideal site for recording the percentage of specimens for which breakage of the upper canines occurred. Promegantereon, Machairodus and Paramachaerodus are perfect examples of this at Batallones; fossils indicate a high number of canine breaks from where the teeth hit the bones of a struggling victim, indicating these early machairodonts would use their elongated teeth to subdue prey as modern big cats do.

A new species of Hispanomys (Rodentia) was found at various sites. A new species of Micromeryx (deer) was found at B-1 and B-10.

Fauna

Vallesian environment and fauna of Cerro de los Batallones by Mauricio Antón

Below is a list of notable fossil genera from Cerro de los Batallones.

Artiodactyla

• †Boselaphine antelopes
• †Decennatherium rex
• †Micromeryx flourensianus
• †Microstonyx major

Carnivora

• †Ammitocyon kainos
• †Amphicyon major
• †Eomellivora piveteaui
• †Indarctos arctoides
• †Leptofelis vallesiensis
• †Machairodus aphanistus & M. alberdiae
• †Magericyon anceps & M. castellanus
• †Promegantereon ogygia
• †Protictitherium crassum
• †Simocyon batalleri

Perissodactyla

• †Aceratherium incisivum
• †Hippotherium primigenium
• †Hispanotherium matritense

Proboscidea

• †Tetralophodon longirostris

Rodentia

• †Hispanomys

See also

• List of fossil sites

References

• Domingo, MS; Domingo, L; Sánchez, IM; Alberdi, MT; Azanza, B; Morales, J (January 2011). "New Insights on the Taphonomy of the Exceptional Mammalian Sites of Cerro de los Batallones (Late Miocene, Spain) Based on Rare Earth element Geochemistry". PALAIOS. 26 (1): 55–65. doi:10.2110/palo.2010.p10-047r. S2CID 129590339.
• López-Antoñanzas, R; Peláez-Campomanes, P; Álvarez-Sierra, MA; García-Paredes, I (December 2010). "New species of Hispanomys (Rodentia, Cricetodontinae) from the Upper Miocene of Batallones (Madrid, Spain)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 160 (4): 725–47. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2010.00618.x.
• Antón, M; Salesa, MJ; Morales, J; Turner, A (2004). "First known complete skulls of the scimitar-toothed cat Machairodus aphanistus (Felidae, Carnivora) from the Spanish late Miocene site of Batallones-1". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 24 (4): 957–969. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2004)024[0957:FKCSOT]2.0.CO;2.
• Morales, J; Alcalá, L; Álvarez-Sierra, M (June 2004). "Paleontología del sistema de yacimientos de mamíferos miocenos del Cerro de los Batallones, Cuenca de Madrid". Geogaceta (35).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
• Peigné, S; Salesa, MJ; Antón, M; Morales, J (2005). "Ailurid carnivoran mammal Simocyon from the late Miocene of Spain and the systematics of the genus" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 50 (2): 219–238. OCLC 716595914.
• Peigné, S; Salesa, MJ; Antón, M; Morales, J (July 2008). "A New Amphicyonine (Carnivora: Amphicyonidae) from the Upper Miocene of Batallones-1, Madrid, Spain". Palaeontology. 51 (4): 943–65. Bibcode:2008Palgy..51..943P. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00788.x.
• Salesa, MJ; Antón, M; Turner, A; Morales, J (March 2006). "Inferred behaviour and ecology of the primitive sabre-toothed cat Paramachairodus ogygia (Felidae, Machairodontinae) from the Late Miocene of Spain". Journal of Zoology. 268 (3): 243–254. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2005.00032.x.
• Sánchez, IM; Domingo, MS; Morales, J (2009). "New data on the Moschidae (Mammalia, Ruminantia) from the upper Miocene of Spain (Mn 10–Mn 11)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 29 (2): 567–575. Bibcode:2009JVPal..29..567S. doi:10.1671/039.029.0223. S2CID 84973629.