Fish fauna of the Camp dels Ninots locality (Pliocene; Caldes de Malavella, province of Girona, Spain) – first results with notes on palaeoecology and taphonomy

Abstract

The Konservat-Lagerstätte locality Camp dels Ninots (Late Pliocene) in north-eastern Spain was interpreted as a maar lake and its sediments produced, among others, numerous fish fossils. These are represented by articulated (and semi-articulated) specimens and isolated bones and can be classified (within open nomenclature) to two Cyprinidae species: a barb Barbus (‘Luciobarbus’) sp. and a chub Leuciscus sp. The selected specimens of both groups are described and main morphological characters are presented. The composition of the fish fauna clearly indicates a freshwater environment. From the point of the view of taphonomy, it is possible to recognise two different types of preservations of the fish fossils at the locality: (i) larger specimens are preserved in good conditions, with occasional partial dislocations from their natural anatomical position, and relatively quickly buried by sediment, whereas (ii) a second type was observed in smaller specimens with supposed decomposition in the hypoxic environment and with slow burying.

Keywords::

• Teleostei
• Cyprinidae
• Pliocene
• Camp dels Ninots
• maar lake
• NE Spain

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Esteve Miquel and Tauler families, the land owners, for their permission to work in the area. The Town Council of Caldes de Malavella and the Departament de Cultura i Mitjans de Comuniciacó de la Generalitat de Catalunya for the economic funding of excavation. We would like to acknowledge anonymous reviewers and editor for their comments and help during review and editorial process. The research of T.P. was financially supported by RVO67985831 (Institute of Geology AS CR, v.v.i.) and SVV 261203 (Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Faculty of Science, Charles University). S.R.'s Ph.D. study is supported thanks to the scholarship MAEC-AECID: Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de Cooperación y la Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo. The authors also received support from projects CGL2011-13293-E/BTE, CGL2012-38358, CGL2012-38434-C03-03, CGL2012-38481 and SGR2014–901 of the Ministerio de Economía y Competividad of Spain and Generalitat de Catalunya.

Notes

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