Cerro de los Batallones
Spanish fossil site
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cerro de los Batallones (Hill of the Battalions) is a hill at Torrejón de Velasco, Madrid, Spain where a number of fossil sites from the Upper Miocene (MN10) have been found.[1][2][3] Nine sites have been discovered with predominantly vertebrate fossils, invertebrates and plants being less represented. The first deposits were discovered accidentally in July 1991.
Batallones-10 (B-10) is considered to contain the oldest representative of fossils.[3]
Fossils
Nearly the entire proportion of fossils of Batallones-1 were of Carnivorans.[4] The species of sabre-tooth cat known as Promegantereon ogygia and Machairodus aphanistus (the first complete skull)[5] were found at B-1,[6] as was Simocyon a type of red panda.[7] In regards to the saber-tooth cats, Batallones-1 represents an ideal site for recording the percentage of specimens for which breakage of the upper canines occurred. Promegantereon, Machairodus and Paramachaerodus are perfect examples of this at Batallones; fossils indicate a high number of canine breaks from where the teeth hit the bones of a struggling victim, indicating these early machairodonts would use their elongated teeth to subdue prey as modern big cats do.[8]
A new species of Hispanomys (Rodentia) was found at various sites.[3] A new species of Micromeryx (deer) was found at B-1 and B-10.[9]
Fauna
Below is a list of notable fossil genera from Cerro de los Batallones.[10]
Artiodactyla
- †Microstonyx
- †Boselaphine antelopes
- †Decennatherium rex
- †Micromeryx flourensianus
Carnivora
- †Ammitocyon kainos[11]
- †Amphicyon major
- †Eomellivora piveteaui
- †Indarctos arctoides
- †Leptofelis vallesiensis
- †Machairodus aphanistus & M. alberdiae
- †Magericyon anceps & M. castellanus
- †Promegantereon ogygia
- †Protictitherium crassum
- †Simocyon batalleri
Perissodactyla
Proboscidea
Rodentia
- †Hispanomys
.svg){kind=small}