New materials of the white rhinoceros Ceratotherium simum and auerochs Bos primigenius from a Late Pleistocene terrace of the Oued el Haï (NE Morocco) - two elements of the Maghrebi Palearctic fauna

ABSTRACT

Most biogeographers considered the Maghreb to be part of the Palearctic biogeographic region, though it is relatively recently that the proportion of Palearctic species increased there. How and when exactly these biogeographic changes occurred is not well understood, but they are probably the result of the increasing aridification of the Sahara and decreasing global temperatures. Fossils of Bos primigenius and Ceratotherium simum from a new fossil locality in a terrace of the Oued el Haï (NE Morocco) contribute to our understanding of some of these biogeographic processes and their timing. They also suggest an age between ~57 and ~100 ka for the terrace. The same evolutionary change in Bos in Europe and the Maghreb suggests geneflow as the most parsimonious explanation, though parallel evolution is an alternative possibility. Oued el Haï has the oldest well-documented record of C. simum in the Maghreb. The dispersal of this species to North Africa, where it replaced C. mauritanicum, may have occurred during a ‘Green Sahara Period’ between 80–85 or 100–105 ka, when the Maghreb had acquired already a Palearctic character. The study of the biogeography and requirements of the large mammals of the Maghreb may provide information to calibrate the region’s climate modelling.

KEYWORDS:

• Biogeography
• Green Sahara
• Rhinocerotidae
• Bovini
• gene flow
• High Plateau Basin

Acknowledgments

We thank the Moroccan cultural heritage for having issued the prospecting and excavation permits and the Jerada Government and Local Authorities of Aïn Beni Mathar for the local permits and the facilities they granted us in the field. We also thank the local population for their contribution to the discovery of these fossils and the valuation of the region’s heritage. The following persons gave access to material or helped in any other way: F. Alférez, S.D. Aliev, F.X. Amprimoz, E. Baquedano, J.M. Bermúdez de Castro, G. Bosinski, P. Brewer, E. Carbonell, E. Cioppi, M. Dermitzakis, S. Fraile, E. Frey, J. Galkin, U. Göhlig, K.M. Gregersen, O. Hampe, W.D. Heinrich, N. Ibañez, J.W.M. Jagt, R.D. Kahlke, D. Mania, S. van der Mije, B. Möllenkamp, A.M. Moigne, W. Munk, R. O’Leary, B. Ouchaou, G. Lyras, H. de Lumley, E. Pons, K. Rauscher, J. Rodriguéz, L. Rook, B. Sánchez Chillón, C. Smeenk, Tong H.w., E. Turner, R. Ziegler. We thank Denis Geraads, who acted as a reviewer, for constructive comments which improved our manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no potential conflict of interest.

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported / funded by: Palarq Foundation, Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sport under grant numbers 42-T002018N0000042853 and 170-T002019N0000038589); Direction of Cultural Heritage (Ministry of Culture and Communication, Morocco); Faculty of Sciences (Mohamed 1r University of Oujda, Morocco); INSAP (Institut National des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine); Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities under grant numbers CGL2016-80975-P, CGL2016-80000-P, PGC2018-095489-B-I00 and PGC2018-093925-B-C31; Synthesys (European Science Foundation) under grant numbers DE-TAF-668, GB-TAF-4119, AT-TAF-3663, DK-TAF-6538; Research Group Support of the Generalitat de Catalunya under grant numbers 2017 SGR 859 and 2017 SGR 836. The research of A.R.-H., J.A., R.S.-R. and M.G.Ch. was supported by ‘CERCA Programme/Genarlitat de Catalunya’. The Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA) was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the ‘María de Maeztu’ program for Units of Excellence under grant number CEX2019-000945-M. The research of I.A.L. was supported by the Humboldt Foundation.