RT Journal Article
T1 A relict tropical forest bat assemblage from the early Miocene of the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin (Castelló, Spain)
A1 Crespo, Vicente D.
A1 Sevilla García, María Paloma
A1 Montoya Belló, Plini
A1 Ruiz Sánchez, Francisco Javier
AB We present the bat assemblage from the early Miocene (MN4, 16.9–15.95 MY) basin of Ribesalbes-Alcora, which has yielded the remains of ten chiropteran taxa. Bat assemblages are rarely recovered in the fluvio-lacustrine fossil record. A bat species described in this work, Cuvierimops penalveri sp. nov., is a new form of a typically Oligocene free-tailed bat. In addition, the other molossids Hydromops helveticus, Rhizomops cf. brasiliensis, Chaerephon sp., Tadarida sp., and the vespertilionids Myotis cf. intermedius and Miostrellus aff. petersbuchensis, as well as undetermined fossils ascribed to the genera Submyotodon, Plecotus, and Rhinolophus are described. This is the first record of the genus Rhizomops in the early Miocene; the genus Cuvierimops is the first recording from the Neogene, while the ‘Lazarus taxon’ Chaerephon is the first fossil record of this genus, registered previously only in Holocene deposits. This bat assemblage with a high abundance of molossids is typical from the early Oligocene of western Europe, while in the early Miocene from Europe the molossids are scarce. The abundance of these bats is consistent with the presence of a tropical forest surrounding a paleolake. The fossils from the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin represent the most complete bat assemblage of the Iberian Peninsula during this age, and significantly increase our knowledge about the early Miocene bats of Europe.
PB Cambridge University Press
SN 1755-6910
YR 2020
FD 2020-12
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/116638
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/116638
LA eng
NO Crespo, V. D., Sevilla, P., Montoya, P., & Ruiz-Sánchez, F. J. (2020). A relict tropical forest bat assemblage from the early Miocene of the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin (Castelló, spain). Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 111(4), 247-258
NO Conselleria de Cultura i Esports of the Generalitat Valenciana
NO Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
NO onsejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (Argentina)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 7 abr 2025