Terrestrial vertebrates from the karst filling in Cap d'Artrutx, situated in the extreme Southwest of Menorca (Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean) have yielded interesting information on the migration and extinction dynamics in the terrestrial island vertebrate faunas in Mallorca and Menorca between the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene. In this site, remains of the Menorcan giant tortoise ("Testudo" gymnesica Bate, 1914) and two mammals (Nesiotites sp. and Hypnomys sp.) have been found. The remains of the Menorcan giant tortoise represent the youngest record of this species and of the so-called second faunistic group of the island. The morphology and size of Nesiotites sp. are comparable to those of Nesiotites aff. ponsi Reumer, 1979 from the Plio-Pleistocene of Pedrera de S'Onix (Mallorca) and Nesiotites meloussae Pons and Moya, 1980 (=Nesiotites aff. ponsi sensu Pons-Monjo et al., 2012) from the lower Pleistocene of Binigaus (Menorca). Hypnomys sp. can belong to an archaic species not yet described. They represent the first evidence of the entrance of the third faunistic group, which originally evolved on the neighbouring island of Mallorca. This association is interpreted, therefore, as the first evidence of a faunal succession in the Plio-Pleistocene in the Balearic Islands. (C) 2019 Academie des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
1.Univ Autonoma Barcelona, Inst Catala Paleontol Miquel Crusafont, Edifici ICTA ICP,Carrer Columnes S-N,Campus UAB, E-08193 Barcelona, Spain 2.Carrer Gustau Mas 79-1er, Ciutadella De Menorca 07760, Illes Balears, Spain 3.Univ Rovira & Virgili, Inst Catala Paleoecol Humana & Evolucio Social IP, ICREA, Carrer Marcelli Domingo S-N,Edifici W3, E-43007 Tarragona, Spain
Recommended Citation:
Quintana Cardona, Josep,Agusti, Jordi. First evidence of faunal succession in terrestrial vertebrates of the Plio-Pleistocene of the Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean[J]. COMPTES RENDUS PALEVOL,2019-01-01,18(3):317-324