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Taxonomic status of European Plio-Pleistocene
badgers
Journal
Journal of
Vertebrate Paleontology, Volume 31, Number 4, 1 July 2011, pp.
885-894(10)
Authors
Madurell-Malapeira, Joan
1 ; Alba,
David M.
1 ; Marmi,
Josep
1 ; Aurell,
Josep
1 ; Moyą-Solą,
Salvador
2 ;
Abstract
The taxonomic status of European Plio-Pleistocene
badgers is currently uncertain, due to the relative scarcity of their
fossil remains. Here we describe craniodental remains from the Iberian
locality of Vallparadķs, indicating that the extant European badger (Meles
meles) was distributed throughout Europe during the late Villafranchian.
On the basis of morphological and morphometrical comparisons, we attribute
the studied specimens, together with other late Villafranchian and
Epivillafranchian badgers from Europe, to M. meles atavus, thereby
considering that M. hollitzeri and M. dimitrius (in part) are subjective
junior synonyms of the former. Only the early to middle Villafranchian M.
thorali can be considered a distinct species, with M. iberica and M.
dimitrius (in part) being subjective junior synonyms of this other
species. It is concluded that extant European badger species must have
diverged from Asian badgers before the top of the Olduvai subchron.
Available molecular and paleontological data are consistent with an Asian
origin of the Meles lineage, and with M. thorali being the ancestral
species that dispersed into Europe attaining a wholly Palearctic
distribution by the early Villafranchian. Later, before the top of the
Olduvai subchron, M. thorali might have given rise to both the European
and Asian badger lineages through a vicariance process prompted by
paleoclimatic changes.
Keywords
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