New macaque remains from the Middle Pleistocene of Gruta da Aroeira (Almonda karst system, Portugal)

Abstract

The Middle Pleistocene site of Gruta da Aroeira, in the Almonda karst system (Torres Novas, central Portugal; Supplementary Online Material [SOM] Fig. S1), has yielded a rich Acheulean lithic assemblage alongside a human cranium and associated faunal remains (Trinkaus et al., 2003, Daura et al., 2017, Conde-Valverde et al., 2018). The recovery of macaques in the 1997–2002 phase of the excavations is mentioned in the literature (Marks et al., 2002a, Marks et al., 2002b, Trinkaus et al., 2003, Brugal, 2004, Marigó et al., 2014); the specimens were assigned to Macaca sylvanus ?florentina (Cocchi, 1872), although the material remains undescribed. Here we describe a juvenile macaque mandible (ARO17-J8-Xa-934, hereinafter ARO 934) recovered in 2017 from a level that is correlated to Marine Isotope Stage 11 and radiometrically dated to 436–390 ka (Daura et al., 2017; see SOM S1 and SOM Fig. S1). We compare it with other fossil papionins from Europe to provide a taxonomic assignment.