Pseudoloris cuestai, a new microchoerine (Primates, Omomyidae) from the middle Eocene of the Iberian Peninsula

ABSTRACT

A new species of Pseudoloris (Primates, Microchoerinae, Omomyidae) is described from the middle Eocene (Robiacian) locality of Mazaterón (Almazán Basin, Spain). Pseudoloris cuestai is characterized by its medium size, high and thick paracristid and absence of a distinct paraconid in the lower molars, large hypoconulid in the m3, well-developed protocone in the P3 and P4, reduced hypocone and presence of a weak postprotocingulum in the M1–2, and especially by the lower incisor, with a buccolingually enlarged crown and a very wide, anteroposteriorly compressed root. The material from Mazaterón constitutes the only record of the subfamily Microchoerinae in the Western Iberian Bioprovince, and is clearly different from the species of Pseudoloris that appear in the middle and late Eocene in the Pyrenean basins (P. isabenae from Capella, P. parvulus from Sossís, and the recently described P. pyrenaicus from Sant Jaume de Frontanyà). This discovery reinforces the endemic nature of the mammal faunas from this bioprovince, already observed in other groups such as Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, Rodentia, and also evidenced in adapoid primates, with the recent description of the genus Mazateronodon.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study has been supported by the project “Grandes simios fósiles (Hominoidea) del Mioceno del área mediterránea: origen, paleobiología y evolución,” HOPE, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, CGL2008-00325/BTE. Judit Marigó has been funded by the Generalitat de Catalunya (predoctoral fellowship 2010FIB176 and travel grant 2010BE00758) and a grant from the SYNTHESYS Project (FR-TAF-80; http://www.synthesys.info/), which is financed by the European Community Research Infrastructure Action under the FP6 “Structuring the European Research Area” Programme. We are very grateful to M. Godinot for letting us check out the material of Pseudoloris crusafonti from Grisolles stored at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris, France). We thank M. Palmero for drawings, S. Val and M. Valls for the preparation of the specimens, as well as D. DeMiguel for the critical revision of the manuscript. We are also indebted to A. Badiola, an anonymous reviewer, and the editor A. Goswami for their constructive comments that greatly improved the manuscript.

Handling editor: Anjali Goswami