Work

The mandible of Salbatore II: A new Ursus deningeri site in the northern Iberian Peninsula

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Ursus deningeri, together with Ursus spelaeus sensu lato, are chronospecies that belong to the Quaternary iconic cave bear lineage. They inhabited Iberia from the late Early to late Middle Pleistocene.Here we describe a complete bear mandible recovered from Salbatore II cave (Basque Country). To assess its taxonomy, we compared it with other European Pleistocene cave and brown bears. Comparisons were made attending its morphology and using both traditional and 3D geometric morphometrics analyses.The mandible displays several morphological similarities with the cave bears because of a high mandible body and deep masseter fossa. However, it shows a coronoid process leaned backwards, a pointed shape of pterygoid process and the presence of p1-p3, which are characteristics customarily associated with U. deningeri and U. arctos. Metric analyses showed that Salbatore II fits within the cave bear variation, with a minimum overlap with brown bears once size its accounted for. However, geometric morphometric analyses showed that Salbatore II is similar to U. arctos, but within U. deningeri variation.According to the overall size and the morphological characteristics, Salbatore II displays U. deningeri affinities with many ancestral characteristics, which suggest a minimum mid-Middle Pleistocene chronology, which is scarcely recorded in the Cantabrian region.

Source: Geobios

DOI: 10.1016/j.geobios.2024.08.019

Authors: Mónica Villalba de Alvarado, María Prat-Vericat, Martin Arriolabengoa, Joan Madurell- Malapeira, Asier Gómez-Olivencia