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[EN] Body size analyses in zooarchaeology require reliable osteometrical databases in order to evaluate phenomena such as the existence of diachronic and geographic changes and the estimation of the sex ratio. Despite it being a major hunting item in the Iberian Peninsula since Upper Palaeolithic times, the Spanish ibex presently lacks such a reference database. This paper intends to address such absence by offering a comprehensive overview of selected postcranial measurements of the Spanish ibex that includes data from the two extant sub-species, plus a compilation of measurements from Upper Pleistocene Basque Country sites and those retrieved at Sector C of the NE Iberian site of Cova Fosca., [ES] En Zooarqueología la evaluación del tamaño corporal, tanto para inferir cambios de talla espacio-temporales como para estimar la proporción de sexos, requiere de bases de datos que abarquen la variabilidad documentada para dicha especie. Siendo la cabra montés un recurso clave en la Península Ibérica desde el Paleolítico Superior, sorprende la falta de bases de datos osteométricos. Este trabajo pretende neutralizar tal ausencia para el caso del esqueleto postcraneal incorporando medidas de las dos subespecies existentes, así como una recopilación de medidas de yacimientos vascos del Pleistoceno Superior y las de la colección recuperada en el Sector C del abrigo levantino de Cova Fosca.

Palaeomerycids were strange three-horned Eurasian Miocene ruminants known through fossils from Spain to China. We here study their systematics, offering the first cladistic phylogeny of the best-known species of the group, and also reassess their phylogenetic position among ruminants, which is currently disputed. The beautifully preserved remains of a new palaeomerycid from middle Miocene deposits of Spain, Xenokeryx amidalae gen. et sp. nov., helps us to better understand palaeomerycid anatomy, especially that of the nuchal region in the skull, significantly improving our current knowledge on these enigmatic ruminants. Our results show two main lineages of palaeomerycids, one containing the genus Ampelomeryx diagnosed by a characteristic type of cranium / cranial appendages and some dental derived traits, and another one that clusters those forms more closely related to Triceromeryx than to Ampelomeryx, characterized by a more derived dentition and a set of apomorphic cranial features. Xenokeryx branches as a basal offshoot of this clade. Also, we find that Eurasian palaeomerycids are not closely related to North American dromomerycids, thus rejecting the currently more accepted view of palaeomerycids as the Eurasian part of the dromomerycid lineage. Instead of this, palaeomerycids are nested with the African Miocene pecoran Propalaeoryx and with giraffoids. On the other hand, dromomerycids are closely related to cervids. We define a clade Giraffomorpha that includes palaeomerycids and giraffids, and propose an emended diagnosis of the Palaeomerycidae based on cranial and postcranial characters, including several features of the cranium not described so far. We also define the Palaeomerycidae as the least inclusive clade of pecorans containing Triceromeryx and Ampelomeryx. Finally, we reassess the taxonomy of several palaeomerycid taxa.

New remains of the small tragulid Dorcatherium songhorensis Whitworth, 1958 from the Early Miocene fossil site of Napak XXI (Uganda) include the first significant sample of postcranial bones from this species ever described. The limb bones of this tragulid are very similar to that described in the Miocene Asian long-legged tragulids of the genus Siamotragulus Thomas et al., 1990, a type previously unknown in the African Miocene. A cladistic analysis links D. songhorensis to a Siamotragulus clade as its basal offshoot, so we propose the name Siamotragulus songhorensis (Whitworth, 1958) for this species. Also, the Siamotragulus clade belongs to a monophyletic group that includes Afrotragulus Sánchez et al., 2010 and the extant Asian genera Moschiola and Tragulus. This inclusive clade is characterized by both a derived selenodont dentition and an advanced postcranial skeleton. Additionally Siamotragulus shows some cursorial refinements reflected in its postcranial skeleton including the pecoran-like metatarsals III–IV. Siamotragulus songhorensis shows that the genus Siamotragulus was not endemic to Asia as previously thought, and that a highly diverse guild of tragulids, including different members of the advanced selenodont clade, inhabited Africa as early as the Early Miocene (19–20 Ma).

Le gisement d âge Miocène moyen de Sansan a livré de nombreux restes du tragulidé Dorcatherium crassum, espèce définie par Lartet dans cette localité. D. crassum se distingue de D. naui (espèce-type du genre) par sa denture plus brachyodonte, ses molaires inférieures (m1, m2) plus courtes, ses molaires supérieures plus larges, ses prémolaires inférieures plus longues, de même longueur entre elles, l¿absence de p1, la morphologie de la région intermétacarpale proximale des Mc III et Mc IV, la morphologie de la surface articulaire proximale du Mc III et le développement relatif des surfaces articulaires proximales du tibia.

The Cerro de los Batallones (Los Batallones Butte) is located in the central-northern area of the Madrid Basin, central Spain. Nine vertebrates localities containing a large variety of mammals of Upper Vallesian Age (Late Miocene) have been found associated with the sediments forming the butte. From bottom to top, these sediments consist of magnesian lutite beds (Unit I), paleosols formed of sepiolite and opal (Unit II), and siliclastic, marlstone and carbonate beds (Unit III). The set of ERT profiles developed in Los Batallones Butte have demonstrate that electrical imaging techniques are an estimable tool for the characterization and prospecting of fossil sites developed in fine-grained siliciclastic sequences. These localities contain an exceptionally rich, varied and well-preserved vertebrate fauna together with invertebrate and plant fossils. Carnivore species are strikingly well represented at Batallones 1 and 3, and large herbivore species, such as mastodons, rhinoceros and giraffes, at Batallones 2, 4, 5 and 10. The taphonomical studies, together with the morphological features shown by the sedimentary fills of the mammal localities, permit an overall interpretation of these deposits as vertebrate traps. The study of these localities should offer a significant contribution to our understanding of the formation pattern of trap-like paleontological sites - which so far have been typically reported in karstic-type systems -, as well as an important source of paleobiological information about numerous vertebrate groups.

[ES] Este trabajo constituye un estudio preliminar de los restos de rumiantes fósiles hallados en el yacimiento del Mioceno inferior de La Encinilla (Colmenar Viejo, Madrid). La descripción morfológica de la dentición y del esqueleto postcraneal, así como el estudio métrico y comparativo con material procedente de localidades francesas y españolas de edad similar ha permitido constatar hasta el momento la presencia de dos formas de rumiantes Pecora en La Encinilla: Andegameryx sp. y un rumiante de mayor talla relacionado con Teruelia Moyá-Solá, 1987. Aunque la identificación en uno de los casos necesitaría confirmarse con más material, la presencia de estas dos formas en la Cuenca de Madrid ampliaría la distribución biogeográfica conocida para ambos taxones. La posición sistemática de Andegameryx y Teruelia permanece abierta a discusión, pero ambos géneros se diferencian de los Cervoidea del Mioceno inferior encontrados en Europa y la Península Ibérica, tales como Amphitragulus, Oriomeryx, Bedenomeryx o Dremotherium., [EN] This article is a preliminary study of the fossil ruminants found in the Early Miocene site of La Encinilla (Colmenar Viejo, Madrid). The morphological description of dentition and postcranial bones, along with the metrical and comparative study with material from localities of similar age in France and Spain has allowed us to confirm the presence of two Pecoran ruminants in La Encinilla: Andegameryx sp. and a larger species related to Teruelia Moyá-Solá, 1987. Although the identification in one of the cases should be confirmed with more material, the record in the Madrid Bassin would represent new information regarding the known biogeographical distribution of both taxa. The systematic position of Andegameryx and Teruelia is still under discussion, but both forms are clearly distinct from the Cervoidea ruminants found in Europe and the Iberian Peninsula at the same age, such as Amphitragulus, Oriomeryx, Bedenomeryx or Dremotherium.

The paleontological sites of Toril 3A and B (Upper Aragonian, Biozone C3, MN 7/8) posses an exceptional and abundant fauna of vertebrates. From 1997 until 2001 these two localities have been object of systematic paleontological excavations. Up to now 36 species of large and small mammals have been found in these localities; the association of vertebrates also includes amphibians, reptiles and birds, among the remains of fossils birds it is frequent to found egg shell fragments. There are not significant differences in the qualitative and quantitative faunistic composition of the two sites; in both the undetermined bone fragments and the remains of chelonians, most of them dermal bones, are the dominant fossils. An important characteristic is the abundance of small size hornless ruminants, which are quite scarce in the stratified sites of the Spanish Aragonian. Neither there are differences in the composition of the micromammals, the association is overwhelmingly dominated (more than 95%) for different cricetid species; in Toril 3A beavers reappears for the first time during the Aragonian, and they will be frequent in younger faunas of the same basin. The fossils were deposited in different sedimentary environments, related with alluvial and shallow lacustrine environments., Dirección General de Enseñanza Superior e Investigación Científica, Depto. de Mineralogía y Petrología, Fac. de Ciencias Geológicas, TRUE, pub

A pesar del extenso registro fósil del Mioceno español, es escaso el conocimiento de yacimientos provenientes de depósitos que cubran el tránsito Aragoniense-Vallesiense. Durante los últimos años, nuevos muestreos paleontológicos se han llevado a cabo en el área de Daroca (Zaragoza, España) para completar la información sobre este intérvalo. Además se han realizado estudios litoestratigráficos y muestreos magnetoestratigráficos. El resultado de dichos estudios pone de manifiesto la existencia, en el área de Daroca-Nombrevilla, de una sección estratigráfica que incluye quince yacimientos fosilíferos (de los cuales nueve son de reciente hallazgo) y que viene a completar el conocimiento del registro fósil del Aragoniense superior-Vallesiense inferior. [ABSTRACT] Despite the extensive continental fossil record from the Spanish Miocene, few localities from deposits covering the Aragonian-Vallesian boundary are known. During the last few years new sampling has been carried out around Daroca (Zaragoza, Spain) in order to complete the information of that interval. In addition, lithostratigraphic and sedimentological studies as well as magnetostratigraphic sampling have been done. The results of all these studies allow to recognise a stratigrafic section that includes fifteen mammal fossil localities (of which nine are new) completing our knowledge of the fossil record of the upper Aragonian-lower Vallesian., Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Fac. de Ciencias Geológicas, TRUE, pub

[ES] A pesar del extenso registro fósil del Mioceno español, es escaso el conocimiento de yacimientos provenientes de depósitos que cubran el tránsito Aragoniense-Vallesiense. Durante los últimos años, nuevos muestreos paleontológicos se han llevado a cabo en el área de Daroca (Zaragoza, España) para completar la información sobre este intérvalo. Además se han realizado estudios litoestratigráficos y muestreos magnetoestratigráficos. El resultado de dichos estudios pone de manifiesto la existencia, en el área de Daroca-Nombrevilla, de una sección estratigráfica que incluye quince yacimientos fosilíferos (de los cuales nueve son de reciente hallazgo) y que viene a completar el conocimiento del registro fósil del Aragoniense superior-Vallesiense inferior., [EN] Despite the extensive continental fossil record from the Spanish Miocene, few localities from deposits covering the Aragonian- Vallesian boundary are known. During the last few years new sampling has been carried out around Daroca (Zaragoza, Spain) in order to complete the information of that interval. In addition, lithostratigraphic and sedimentological studies as well as magnetostratigraphic sampling have been done. The results of all these studies allow to recognise a stratigrafic section that includes fifteen mammal fossil localities (of which nine are new) completing our knowledge of the fossil record of the upper Aragonian-lower Vallesian.