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The Columbretes Islands (eastern Spain) comprise a volcanic archipelago 50 km off the eastern Spanish coast. Illa Grossa is the main island of the archipelago. After the settlement of humans during the mid-19th century, strong modifications in biodiversity took place, including the reduction of the non-flying vertebrate fauna to a single taxon, Podarcis liolepis atratus (Boscá, 1916). The study of the fossils yielded at the COLT site (dated by AMC between 2780-2724 cal BP and 2600-2492 cal BP) from a loess deposit located at the south of Illa Grossa Island shows that this fauna was more diverse in the past. The assemblage was dominated by squamate reptiles, belonging to two lizards (Chalcides bedriagai (Boscá, 1880) and cf. Podarcis Wagler, 1830) and one snake (Vipera cf. latastei Boscá, 1878). The record in the late Holocene of Columbretes of Vipera cf. latastei settles the existing controversy about the identity of snakes in the archipelago. Regarding Chalcides bedriagai, this is the first record of its presence in the Columbretes Islands. Other faunal elements recovered from the site include at least six species of undetermined birds (passeriforms and procellariforms) and the anthropophilic Mus cf. musculus Linnaeus, 1758. The origin of the squamates taxa from Columbretes palaeontological site (COLT) is still unclear, but was probably related to the Late Pleistocene-Greenlandian (11 700 to 8300 BP, Early Holocene) sea transgression, natural passive colonization, and/or human introduction. We hypothesize implications for the conservation and management of the Natural Reserve.

En el presente trabajo se describe la asociación de Megacricetodon crusafonti (Freudenthal, 1963), Megacricetodon sp. y Heteroxerus aff. grivensis (Forsyth Major, 1893) de Cazuma 1, localidad situada en el sector de Bicorp, en la cuenca terciaria de Quesa - Bicorp (Prov. Valencia). La edad atribuida a esta localidad es Aragoniense Superior. Hasta el momento, con ésta, ya son cinco las localidades conocidas de mamíferos en el Aragoniense de la cuenca de Quesa - Bicorp (Cazuma 1, Quesa 0, Quesa 2, Quesa 3 y Quesa 6).

Se estudian cuatro dientes aislados y una falange ungueal encontrados en cinco nuevas localidades de Alpuente (Los Serranos, Valencia) del Jurásico Superior - Cretácico Inferior del Sistema Ibérico. Se describen tres morfotipos de dientes de acuerdo con variables métricas y la morfología de los dentículos. Tres de ellos y la falange ungueal se asignan a Theropoda indet. y el cuarto diente se asigna a Coelurosauria indet.

The deficient management of the paleontological heritage through the environmental impact assessment procedures from the Valencian public administrations, linked mainly to the lack of competent technical means in the matter, results in an almost abandonment of it. On the contrary, the archaeological heritage has a series of perfectly structured tools that allow any possible impact on it regarding projects and actions subject to environmental impact assessment that can be detected and corrected. The damage that this situation creates results in the abandonment and almost absolute lack of protection of the palaeontological heritage in the Valencian Community. Despite how much has been written defending the location of paleontological heritage in the administrative field of Natural Heritage, the legal reality in the whole of the Spanish state is another, being based on its inclusion in the procedures together with the cultural heritage. This work defends the incorporation of a series of small legislative changes that make possible to equate the management of the palaeontological heritage with that of the archaeological one in the Valencian Community, thus avoiding the comparative torts that currently occur.

La Cuenca de Fortuna estuvo emplazada, durante el Mioceno superior, en el extremo oriental del Estrecho Nordbético. Esta cuenca contiene depósitos que corresponden a numerosas bioconstrucciones coralinas desarrolladas durante el Tortoniense y Messiniense. Estas bioconstrucciones están estrechamente relacionadas con depósitos terrígenos formados en sistemas como deltas y "fan-deltas". Los arrecifes presentan una gran variedad morfológica en sus corales principales Porites y Tarbellastraea, la cual es la consecuencia de una gran diversidad de factores físicos para cada parte del arrecife. En esta guía de campo se analizan las característas más sobresalientes de los arrecifes tortonienses Víctor y El Puerto.

En el presente trabajo se exponen los resultados más significativos de los numerosos estudios geológicos y paleontológicos realizados a lo largo de este siglo en la cuenca terciaria de Rubielos de Mora. El conocimiento sobre el contenido paleontológico de la cuenca se limitaba, hasta ahora, a unos pocos yacimientos localiza­dos en su extremo occidental (Rubielos de Mora I, 2 y 3, y Cerro del Porpol). Recientemente se ha iniciado el estudio de nue­vos yacimientos situados en las partes central y oriental de la cuenca (Río Rubielos, Alto de Ballester I y 2, y Alto de la Venta), presentándose aquí los resultados obtenidos hasta el momento. Entre estas nuevas localidades destacan Alto de Ballester l y Río Rubielos. La primera de ellas, incluida en facies de arcillas are­nosas, ha proporcionado una rica asociación de micromamíferos que permite situar Alto de Ballester I en el Mioceno inferior (bio­zona A del Rambliense). Además, se han obtenido también macromamíferos entre los que destaca el hallazgo de restos de un cali­cotérido, atribuido al genero Moropus. Río Rubielos es un yacimiento del tipo Konservat-Lagerstátte, formado por ritmitas bituminosas, con una rica y variada flora y fauna fósiles. Esta última se halla constituida básicamente por anfibios, crustáceos, arácnidos e insectos.

New palynological analysis of the Arcillas de Morella Formation provides data for determinations of age of the Lower Cretaceous strata in the Ermita Sant Antoni de la Vespa section located in the d...

Five new localities with micromammal remains have been located in the Cabriel Basin. These localities are situated in the eastern area of the Cabriel Basin, in the Juan Vich ravine, where the oldest deposits of this basin crop out. The localities JV2, JV3 and JV6 are of Middle Miocene age, JVTLI1 of Middle Miocene or Late Miocene age and JVTS1 of Late Miocene or Early Pliocene age. The beginning of the sedimentary history of the basin was attributed to Late Turolian (Late Miocene). The new sedimentary record from the Juan Vich ravine and the mammalian findings extend the stratigraphic and paleontological knowledge of the Basin.

The Colour Alteration Index of conodonts (CAI) is indicative of the degree of alteration of organic material that exists in the interior of the conodonts. This CAI is used ordinarily in the determination of paleotemperatures. More frequent findings of abnormally high CAI values, equivalent to paleotemperatures that are not compatible with temperatures obtained by other more trustworthy methods, has taken us to use values not superior to 6 for the establishment of paleotemperatures. The CAI values measured in specimens proceding from dolostones in the Iberian Range (Spain) show in this way a certain degree of incompatibility with geological data. These anomalous values are the consequence of the remobilization of apatite during the dolomitization of the carbonates the conodonts contain, and are indicative only of their diagenetic alteration.