The exceptionally high diversity of small carnivorans from the Late Miocene hominid locality of Hammerschmiede (Bavaria, Germany)

Kargopoulos, N. ; Valenciano, A. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Abella, J. ; Kampouridis, P. ; Lechner, T. ; Böhme, M.

Resumen: The present study deals with new material of carnivorans (Mustelidae, Mephitidae, Ailuridae, Potamotheriinae and Viverridae) from the basal Tortonian (Late Miocene, late Astaracian) hominid-bearing locality of Hammerschmiede (Bavaria, Germany). The small carnivoran fauna includes 20 species belonging to nine different subfamilies (Guloninae, Lutrinae, Mellivorinae, Potamotheriinae, Leptarctinae, Mephitinae, Simocyoninae, Genettinae and Viverrinae). The identified forms include: “Martes” sansaniensis, “Martes” cf. munki, “Martes” sp., Circamustela hartmanni n. sp., Laphyctis mustelinus, Guloninae indet., Eomellivora moralesi, Vishnuonyx neptuni, Paralutra jaegeri, Lartetictis cf. dubia, Trocharion albanense, Palaeomeles pachecoi, Proputorius sansaniensis, Proputorius pusillus, Alopecocyon goeriachensis, Simocyoninae indet., Potamotherium sp., Semigenetta sansaniensis, Semigenetta grandis and Viverrictis modica. The new species Circamustela hartmanni n. sp. is differentiated from the other members of the genus by its small size and the morphology of its dental cusps in the upper and lower carnassials. This is one of the highest reported taxonomic diversities for fossil small carnivorans in the Miocene of Europe, including also first and last occurrences for several genera and species. Additionally, the assemblage comprises some rare taxa such as Palaeomeles pachecoi and Eomellivora moralesi. An ecomorphological comparison of the discovered taxa reveals possible cases of competition and niche partitioning. © 2022 Kargopoulos et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268968

Año: 2022

Publicado en: PLoS ONE 17, 7 (2022), e0268968 [64 pp]
ISSN: 1932-6203

Factor impacto JCR: 3.7 (2022)

Categ. JCR: MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES rank: 26 / 73 = 0.356 (2022) - Q2 - T2

Factor impacto CITESCORE: 6.0 - General (Q1)

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 0.885 - Multidisciplinary (Q1)

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/E33-20R
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICINN/FJC-2018-036669-I
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO-FEDER/PGC2018-094122-B-100
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO-FEDER/PID2020-116220GB-I00

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)

Área (Departamento): Área Paleontología (Dpto. Ciencias de la Tierra)