PRELIMINARY TAPHONOMIC STUDY OF THE CARNIVORAN-DOMINATED ASSEMBLAGE OF BATALLONES-3 (LATE MIOCENE, MADRID BASIN, SPAIN) David Martín-Pereaa,b*, M. Soledad Domingoc, Alberto Valencianoa,d, Juan Abellae, Jorge Moralesb

a Paleontology Department, School of Geological Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid (Madrid, Spain)

b Paleobiology Department, National Museum of Natural Sciences-CSIC (Madrid, Spain)

c Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Doñana Biological Station (Seville, Spain)

d Sedimentary Geology and Environmental Change Department, Geosciences Institute-UCM/CSIC (Madrid, Spain)

e Santa Elena Península State University (Santa Elena, Ecuador)

*Corresponding author: [email protected] Introduction Batallones-3 is one of the nine late Miocene mammalian sites found in the Batallones butte (Madrid basin, central Spain, Calvo et al., 2013). Alongside Batallones-1, Batallones-3 contains an unusually large concentration of carnivoran remains: Batallones-1 hosting 98.39% of carnivoran remains whereas Batallones-3 99.58%. Carnivore-rich fossil sites are highly uncommon in the fossil record so their taphonomic study can provide valuable insights about the causes of formation of such concentrations and about the paleoecology of these species (Domingo et al., 2013). Remains are found in marl deposited inside a domically-shaped pseudokarstic cave, with an inferred upper opening in the center. % NISP 0 5 10 15 20 25

Mammalia undet. 3 N=19187 undet. 236 CARNIVORA Protictitherium crassum 470 MNI: 13 Assemblage Data Felidae undet. 5 N aphanistus 4323 MNI: 32 A total of 19,187 large- remains have ogygia 3467 Pseudaelurus sp. 17 MNI: 32 been retrieved,belonging to at least 15 species. Felinae undet. 124 Styriofelis vallesiensis 6 Amphicyonidae undet. 206 Magericyon anceps 255 MNI: 2 The most abundant taxa are the saber-toothed Thaumastocyon sp. 144 cats Machairodus aphanistus (35.92%) and Ursidae undet. 2 Indarctos arctoides 2364 MNI: 18 Promegantereon ogygia (28.81%) and the ursid Mustelidae undet. 255 Eomellivora piveteaui 302 MNI: 4 Indarctos arctoides (19.64%). Other taxa found at aff. Adroverictis ginsburgi 36 aff. Circamustela decheseauxi 12 the site include the hyaenid Protictitherium crassum, Mephitidae undet. 28 Promephitis nov. sp. 4 the amphicyonids Magericyon anceps and Hipparion spp. 19 PERISSODACTYLA Thaumastocyon sp., the mustelids Eomellivora Rhinocerotidae undet. 6 Bovidae undet. 8 ARTIODACTYLA piveteaui, aff. Adroverictis ginsburgi and aff. Austroportax sp. 4 Ruminantia undet. 3 Circamustela decheseauxi and the mephitid Moschidae undet. 5 Suidae undet. Promephitis nov. sp.. Repeated entrance 5 of fauna Spatial Data Two preferential orientations of the remains are observed: outwards from the center of the cave and with a northwestern trend. However, remains appear to have suffered little to no transport, since for each species the number of density clusters correlates to the MNI. N 0.04 N N N 0.015 800

600 0.03

400 0.01

200 0.02

Y 0

-200 0.005 0.01

-400

-600 0 0 -800 -600 -400 -200 0 200 400 600 800 X Stereoplot diagrams, red arrows indicate Eomellivora piveteaui spatial density. Indarctos arctoides spatial density. preferrential orientations. Sedimentation Assemblage data NISP 19187 Number of large mammal species 15 Predominant ecological type Carnivores Predominant ecological groups Felidae, Ursidae Body sizes (kg ) 1 - 250 N N

S patial data Assemblage area 115 m² Fossil density 164.49 specimens/m² Bone orientation 2 preferential directions

Slope erosion

During diagenesis, a high percentage Batallones Butte was reforested with of the remains were fractured, with pine trees, which caused abundant fracture surfaces ranging from smooth root marks in a large amount of the to irregular. assemblage.

MnO mineralization is very common on MnO Batallones-3 was discovered after most of the bones. slope erosion unearthed some remains. Indarctos arctoides L5 vertebra. Root Marks Indarctos arctoides L5 vertebra. References Domingo, M.S.; Alberdi, M.T.; Azanza, B.; Silva, P.G.; Morales, J. (2013) Origin of an Assemblage Massively Dominated by Carnivorans from the Miocene of Spain. PLoS One, 8, e63046. Calvo, J.P.; Pozo, M.; Silva, P.G.; Morales, J. (2013) Pattern of sedimentary infilling of fossil mammal traps formed in pseudokarst at Cerro de los Batallones. Sedimentology, 60: 1681-1708.