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Deinotheres (Proboscidea, Deinotheriidae) are a clade of non-elephantiform proboscideans that originated in Africa and dispersed into Eurasia by the early Miocene. In Europe, deinotheres are first recorded in Greece during MN3, although they did not become a common faunal element throughout Europe until MN4. Early Miocene (MN3–MN4) deinothere remains from Europe are generally assigned to a different species (Prodeinotherium cuvieri) than those from the early middle Miocene (Prodeinotherium bavaricum; MN5–MN6). In the Valles-Penedes Basin (NE Iberian Peninsula), Prodeinotherium remains are very scarce and largely remain unpublished. To clarify their taxonomic assignment, we describe the available material and compare it with that from elsewhere in Europe. Based on size and a few diagnostic occlusal details, we tentatively recognize both Prodeinotherium cf. P. cuvieri and Prodeinotherium cf. P. bavaricum in the basin. Although all the studied sites had previously been correlated to MN4, the recognition of P. cf. P. bavaricum at els Casots and les Escletxes is consistent with ongoing litho- and magnetostratigraphic studies suggesting a slightly younger age for these sites. The lack of Prodeinotherium remains in older (MN3) localities from the Valles-Penedes Basin, where Gomphotherium is already recorded, further supports the view that deinotheres dispersed into Western Europe somewhat later than gomphotheres.

Three species of Deinotherium sensu stricto (Proboscidea, Deinotheriidae), i.e., excluding Prodeinotherium, generally considered to have nonoverlapping chronostratigraphic distributions, are currently recognized from the Miocene of Europe: Deinotherium levius (late Astaracian/Aragonian, MN7+8), Deinotherium giganteum (type species; Vallesian, MN9–MN10), and Deinotherium proavum (a senior synonym of Deinotherium gigantissimum; Turolian, MN11–MN13). Here we describe a sample of 26 cheek teeth from four roughly coeval localities of Ronda Oest de Sabadell (ROS), in the Vallès-Penedès Basin, northeastern Iberian Peninsula, dated to the latest Vallesian (∼9.4–9.1 Ma, MN10) on biostratigraphic grounds. The remains from ROS-D3 represent all the permanent upper and lower dentition and can be unambiguously assigned to D. proavum, the largest deinothere from Europe, based on their large size (well above the range of D. giganteum). Remains from the other localities (ROS-D2, ROS-D5, and ROS-D8) are smaller and generally overlap in size with both D. proavum and D. giganteum. However, an assignment to the former species is more likely given that these species are not known to co-occur and that their dental size ranges were already known to overlap partially. The remains of D. proavum from ROS represent the oldest record of this species, the occurrence of which in the late Vallesian had already been recorded in the slightly younger (∼9.1 Ma) locality of Sinap 49, Turkey. Given that D. proavum is recorded before the Vallesian/Turolian boundary, and that smaller individuals of this species overlap in size with D. giganteum from the Vallesian, caution is required when making biostratigraphic correlations based on late Miocene deinothere remains from Europe.

Here, we revise all the published and unpublished scimitar-toothed cat remains from the Valles-Penedes Basin (NE Iberian Peninsula), in order to confirm their taxonomic attribution to Machairodus aphanistus as well as to provide more precise information about its chronological distribution in this basin. The studied material (including dentognathic as well as postcranial remains) comes from the following localities: Can Mata indeterminate (late MN7+8 or MN9), Creu Conill 22 (MN9), Can Poncic 1 (MN9), Can Llobateres 1 (MN9), Santiga (MN9), La Tarumba 1 (MN10), Viladecavalls (MN10), Ronda Oest Sabadell ROS-D3 (MN10), and Torrent de Febulines (MN10). Most of the studied material fits well with the morphologic and metrical features characteristic of the Vallesian species M. aphanistus , with the exception of the remains from Creu Conill 22 (an undescribed partial P4 formerly attributed to this taxon), which belongs in fact to a medium-sized hyaenid. From a biostratigraphic viewpoint, the removal of the Creu Conill material from the hypodigm of M. aphanistus has important implications, because this locality (11.1 Ma) was considered to record the first appearance datum of this taxon in the Valles-Penedes Basin. However, the report of a previously unpublished talus from Can Mata (late MN7+8 or MN9) indicates that this taxon was present in this basin at least by the earliest Vallesian. Therefore, our results indicate that the first appearance datum of Machairodus in the Valles-Penedes Basin might be somewhat younger than previously assumed, although dating uncertainties for the Can Mata remains preclude a more precise assessment. In contrast, the new mandibular remains from ROS-D3 (MN10) are likely coeval with those from La Tarumba 1, with the last appearance datum of M. aphanistus in the Valles-Penedes Basin corresponding to Torrent de Febulines (ca. 9.1 Ma). The postcranial material described from various Valles-Penedes localities further indicates that M. aphanistus displayed less cursorial adaptations than its purported descendant Homotherium .