Publication details
Paleoherpetofauna from the Early Miocene Locality of Les Cases de la Valenciana (Catalonia, Spain)
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| Citation | |
| Description | The Miocene record of the Valles-Penedes Basin (NE of the Iberian Peninsula) has provided a rich and diverse herpetofauna (amphibians and reptiles), which is known in the literature since the early 20th Century, thanks to the pioneering work of Bergounioux and, subsequently, Crusafont and Hoffstetter. However, the early Miocene localities have received little attention in comparison to the middle and late Miocene ones from the same basin, and furthermore no comprehensive study of the herpetofauna assemblages of any locality of this area has been conducted for more than fifty years. Here we report on the herpetofauna from the Early Miocene (MN4) site of les Cases de la Valenciana (Gelida, Alt Penedes), including the published remains discovered in the 1950s by Crusafont and the new findings recently recovered by the team of the ICP in the new excavation campaigns from 2012 until 2016. Two turtles, including a large tortoise Titanochelon cf. bolivari and a freshwater turtle Ptychogaster (Ptychogaster) cf. emydoides, a snake cf. Python sp., and an alligatoroid crocodylian Diplocynodon cf. ratelii are identified. The recorded herpetofauna suggests various ecological environments: arid landscapes with open woodland are inferred for the heliophile testudinid; a riparian forest for the semiaquatic ptychogasterine; as well as a small and shallow lake, indicated by the presence of the small alligatoroid. According to the rodent fauna, the age of the site is constrained between 16.3-16.0 Ma, thus it provides an excellent opportunity for the study of the composition of the fossil reptiles of the area during the Miocene Climatic Optimum (17-15 Ma). |