La fauna villafranquiense de El Rincón-1 (Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha)

Abstract

The El Rincón-1 locality is located at the top of the Casas del Rincón series (Albacete, Júcar basin) with 13 micro- and macromammal species. The taphonomical features indicate a relatively rapid accumulation process of death and burial of the mammal remains, interpreted as a catastrophic event. The micromammals, Mimomys cf. medasensis and Castillomys crusafonti crusafonti, permit us to assign this locality to the Early Villafranchian. The horse, Equus livenzovensis, would be among the oldest ones recorded from Western Europe before the Gauss-Matuyama paleomagnetic boundary (2.48 Ma, revised calibration as 2.6 and 2.58 Ma). Therefore, the horse appears in the most recent part of this mammal age, as it was classically defined.