A catalogue of the vertebrate fossil record from the Guadix-Baza Basin (SE Spain)

Abstract

In this paper, a catalogue of the vertebrate content of the Guadix-Baza Basin is presented. A total of 93 localities have been reviewed, providing more than 300 vertebrate species. These localities have been included in 11 biochronological units, ranging in age from the late Miocene (MN 13) to the Middle Pleistocene (MmQ 4), including also two MN 10 localities. The best-represented epoch in the Guadix-Baza Basin is the Pliocene (MN 14 to MN 16), with 41 sites. This is followed by the Early Pleistocene (MN17 and MmQ1 to MmQ3) with 30 sites. The vertebrate classes represented in the basin are Actinopterygii, Amphibia, Aves, Reptilia and Mammalia, this last one being the best represented. Among mammals, small mammals are in their turn the most abundant, particularly rodents. The families Muridae and Arvicolidae dominate the rodent assemblages, murids being the dominant family in the late Miocene and early Pliocene, and arvicolids the most abundant group in the late Pliocene and Pleistocene.