The suid assemblage from the Vallesian locality of Can Llobateres 1 (Vallès-Penedès Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula) revisited

The suid assemblages from Europe experienced considerable turnover during the Vallesian (MN9-MN10, early Late Miocene), ultimately leading to a marked decline in diversity during the Turolian. To provide further insight into the timing and paleoecological context of this Vallesian turnover in the suid assemblages, here we revisit the taxonomic composition of the suids from the Late Miocene (9.8 Ma) fossil locality of Can Llobateres 1 (CLL1; Vallès-Penedès Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula), with emphasis on species other than the small tetraconodontine Parachleuastochoerus crusafonti (for which CLL1 is the type locality). Although CLL1 is one of the most thoroughly sampled Vallesian sites from Europe, a recent revision of the faunal list evinced that the occurrence of multiple large mammals is based on fossil remains that were described many decades ago or that have never been published, leading to potentially misleading or, at least, insufficiently substantiated attributions. According to published accounts, three additional suid species are recorded at CLL1, being much scarcer than Pa. crusafonti: the listriodontine Listriodon splendens, the suine Propotamochoerus palaeochoerus, and a large tetraconodontine variously assigned to Versoporcus steinheimensis or ‘Parachleuastochoerus’ valentini. Our revision of the available remains, including unpublished material recovered from the 1980s onward, confirms the presence of the two former species and the assignment of the large tetraconodontine to ‘Pa.’ valentini. On biochronological grounds, the association of these taxa is characteristic of the early Vallesian, with the record of L. splendens representing the last well-dated occurrence of this species. From a paleoenvironmental viewpoint, the suid assemblage from CLL1 is consistent with previous inferences indicating the presence of a densely forested and humid environment with more open habitats nearby.