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A new species of Eomellivora from the latest Aragonian of Abocador de Can Mata (NE Iberian Peninsula)

Abstract:

Eomellivora is a large-bodied mellivorine mustelid genus widely distributed throughout Eurasia and North America during the late Miocene (MN9-MN13). Here, we report the oldest Eurasian material of Eomellivora based on a palate and two mandibular fragments from ACM/PTA-A2, a pre-Vallesian (11.21 Ma; latest MN7+8) locality of Abocador de Can Mata (Vallès-Penedès Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula) that slightly predates the first appearance datum of Hippotherium by ~30 kyr. The described material differs from Hoplictis helbingi–another large mustelid recorded within the same basin in the roughly coeval site of Castell de Barberà (~11.2, earliest MN9)–and more closely resembles Eomellivora spp. Despite closer resemblances in both size and dental shape with the Vallesian (MN9–MN10) species Eomellivora piveteaui, the ACM material differs in possessing multiple features that may be considered plesiomorphic. A new species, Eomellivora moralesi sp. nov., is thus erected based on the described material. A cladistic analysis confirms that the new species occupies a basal-most position within the Eomellivora clade, in agreement with its older age and more plesiomorphic morphology.