Macaque remains from the early Pliocene of the Iberian Peninsula.

Macaques dispersed out of Africa into Eurasia in the framework of a broader intercontinental faunal exchange that coincided in time with the sea level drop associated with the Messinian Salinity Crisis. They are first recorded in Europe (Italy and Spain) by the latest Miocene, being subsequently recorded all over Europe, albeit sparsely, throughout the Pliocene and Pleistocene. These fossil European macaques are attributed to several (sub)species of the extant Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus). In Iberia, fossil macaques are best documented by Macaca sylvanus florentina from various Early Pleistocene sites, whereas their published Pliocene record is very scarce. Here we report the oldest post-Messinian occurrence of macaques in the Iberian Peninsula, based on the description and metrical comparisons of two upper teeth (a male canine and a third molar of two different individuals) from the early Pliocene (MN14, 5.0-4.9 Ma) site of Puerto de la Cadena (Murcia, SE Spain). The male C1 is fully comparable in morphology with those of extant and fossil M. sylvanus, and larger than those of Mesopithecus. The M3, in turn, displays the typical papionin morphology that characterizes the dentally-conservative genus Macaca-thereby discounting an alternate assignment to either the extinct colobine monkey Mesopithecus or the more dentally-derived papionin Theropithecus. Dental size and proportions of the M3 further support an attribution to an extinct subspecies of M. sylvanus instead of the larger papionin Paradolichopithecus. Mostly on biochronologic grounds, the two macaque teeth from Puerto de la Cadena are here assigned to Macaca sylvanus cf. prisca, albeit tentatively, given the lack of clear-cut criteria to distinguish this subspecies from the younger Macaca sylvanus florentina. The described material represents the oldest well-dated Pliocene record of macaques in Iberia, predating the record of Paradolichopithecus by almost 1.5 million years.

First record of Mesopithecus (Cercopithecidae, Colobinae) from the Miocene of the Iberian Peninsula.

We report dental remains of the extinct colobine monkey Mesopithecus from the Turolian (MN13, Late Miocene, ca. 6.23 Ma) locality of Venta del Moro (Valencia, Spain). They include most of the deciduous dentition and the unerupted germs of the first molars of a single infantile individual, as well as two lower left lateral incisors from two additional individuals. On the basis of morphometric comparisons, mainly based on the M1s, these remains are attributed to the Late Miocene species Mesopithecus pentelicus. They represent a significant addition to the knowledge of the deciduous dentition of this taxon, much less well-known than the permanent dentition. Although this genus was widely distributed from the Late Miocene through the Pliocene across Europe, southwestern Asia, Pakistan, and China, until now its occurence in the Late Miocene of the Iberian Peninsula had not been documented conclusively. Hence, the reported remains considerably enlarge southwestwards the known geographic distribution of Mesopithecus. The presence of this genus at Venta del Moro must be understood within the framework of the significant faunal turnover that took place in European faunas during the latest Turolian (the second Messinian mammalian dispersal), which is further documented at this locality by the occurrence of other eastern immigrants. At the same time, the presence of M. pentelicus at this site agrees well with previous paleoenvironmental and sedimentological evidence, indicating a lacustrine depositional environment with strong hydrologic seasonality.

Fossil remains of Macaca sylvanus florentina (Cocchi, 1872) (Primates, Cercopithecidae) from the Early Pleistocene of Quibas (Murcia, Spain).

The macaque material from the Early Pleistocene site of Quibas (Albanilla, Murcia, Spain), including dentognathic remains, isolated teeth and some postcranial bone fragments, is described. Both metrically and morphologically, this sample must be attributed to Macaca sylvanus (the Barbary macaque). This species is currently distributed through North Africa and Gibraltar, but was much more widely distributed during the Plio-Pleistocene, being represented by several European fossil subspecies. Metrical comparisons of dental size and proportions between extant M. s. sylvanus and fossil Macaca sylvanus florentina from the type locality and other Italian sites are undertaken, in order to classify the remains from Quibas at the subspecies level. The results show that the Quibas sample not only fits the range of variation of M. s. florentina from the type locality, but also differs from the extant Barbary macaque condition in several regards. This permits us to formally attribute the material from Quibas to M. s. florentina. The material described in this paper therefore significantly improves the knowledge of this fossil taxon, particularly regarding the upper dentition, and further confirms the taxonomic distinctiveness of this extinct taxon at the subspecies rank. Taken as a whole, M. s. florentina largely overlaps in dental dimensions with M. s. sylvanus, but differs from the latter by displaying (on average): (1) absolutely longer upper molars (especially M(1) and M(3)); (2) relatively wider upper molars (especially M(1) and M(2)); (3) longer M(3) as compared with the M(2); (4) absolutely longer M(1) and M(3); and (5) relatively narrower M(3).