Cerro de los Batallones
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.[1][2][3] Nine sites have been discovered with predominantly vertebrate fossils, invertebrates and plants being less represented. The first deposits were discovered accidentally in July 1991.
Quantitative biochronological analyses of the Batallones-1 (B-1) fauna using probabilistic techniques yields ages between 9.8 Ma and 9.1 Ma [4] [5] [6]. Although of similar age [5], Batallones-10 (B-10) is considered to contain the oldest representative of fossils.[3]
Fossils
[edit]Nearly the entire proportion of fossils of Batallones-1 were of Carnivorans.[7] The species of sabre-tooth cat known as Promegantereon ogygia and Machairodus aphanistus (the first complete skull)[8] were found at B-1,[9] as was Simocyon a type of red panda.[10] 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.[11]
A new species of Hispanomys (Rodentia) was found at various sites.[3] A new species of Micromeryx (deer) was found at B-1 and B-10.[12]
Fauna
[edit]
Below is a list of notable fossil genera from Cerro de los Batallones.[13]
Artiodactyla
[edit]Carnivora
[edit]- †Ammitocyon kainos[14]
- †Amphicyon major
- †Eomellivora piveteaui
- †Indarctos arctoides
- †Leptofelis vallesiensis
- †Machairodus aphanistus & M. alberdiae
- †Magericyon anceps & M. castellanus
- †Promegantereon ogygia
- †Protictitherium crassum
- †Simocyon batalleri
Perissodactyla
[edit]Proboscidea
[edit]Rodentia
[edit]See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ↑ Domingo et al. 2011
- ↑ Morales, Alcalá & Álvarez-Sierra 2004
- 1 2 3 López-Antoñanzas et al. 2010
- ↑ Gómez Cano, Ana R.; Hernández Fernández, Manuel; Álvarez-Sierra, María Ángeles (2011). "Biogeographic provincialism in rodent faunas from the Iberoccitanian Region (southwestern Europe) generates severe diachrony within the Mammalian Neogene (MN) biochronologic scale during the Late Miocene". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 307 (1–4): 193–204. Bibcode:2011PPP...307..193G. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2011.05.014.
- 1 2 Domingo, M. Soledad; Badgley, Catherine; Azanza, Beatriz; DeMiguel, Daniel; Alberdi, M. Teresa (2014). "Diversification of mammals from the Miocene of Spain". Paleobiology. 40 (2): 196–2020. doi:10.1666/13043.
- ↑ Juidíaz, Rubén; Blanco, Fernando; Gómez Cano, Ana R.; Oliver, Adriana; Hernández Fernández, Manuel; Domingo, M. Soledad (2026). "Iberian Neogene–Quaternary biochronology: a refined framework based on maximum likelihood analysis of small mammal assemblages". Earth-Science Reviews. 282 105679. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2026.105679.
- ↑ Peigné et al. 2008
- ↑ Antón et al. 2004
- ↑ Salesa et al. 2006
- ↑ Peigné et al. 2005
- ↑ Anton, Mauricio (2013). Sabertooth.
- ↑ Sánchez, Domingo & Morales 2009
- ↑ Antón, Mauricio (2013). Sabertooth. Bloomington, Indiana: University of Indiana Press. p. 52. ISBN 9780253010421.
- ↑ Morales et al. 2021
References
[edit]- 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. Bibcode:2006JZoo..268..243S. 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.
40°10′20″N 3°42′51″W / 40.17222°N 3.71417°W
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