RT Journal Article
T1 New vertebrate tracksites from the Last Interglacial dune deposits of coastal Murcia (southeastern Spain): ecological corridors for elephants in Iberia?
A1 Neto de Carvalho, Carlos
A1 Jiménez Espejo, Francisco J.
A1 Moreira, Noel
A1 Muñiz Guinea, Fernando
A1 Belo, Joao
A1 Gutiérrez Meseguer, Jorge
A1 Camuera, Jon
A1 Cortés Sánchez, Miguel
A1 Cáceres Puro, Luis Miguel
AB Analysis of new vertebrate tracksites from the Last Interglacial (Marine Isotope Stage 5e) dune deposits along the southeastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, specifically in Murcia, Spain, enabled to identify the likely presence of a medium-sized mustelid, wolf, large artiodactyls, an equid and the straight-tusked elephant Palaeoloxodon antiquus. These eolianite successions offer valuable ichnological evidence beyond the traditional body fossil record, illuminating the presence and behaviors of several Pleistocene mammals in coastal dune and beach environments. Detailed fieldwork, geological mapping, digital photogrammetry, paleoenvironmental reconstruction and morphometric analyses provided ichnotaxonomic and behavioral ecology data from vertebrate tracks preserved in the oolitic dune systems at alblanque (Cartagena) and Torre de Cope (Aguilas). The mammalian ichnoassemblages reflect the proximity of a Last Interglacial mixed forest ecosystem on the coast of southeastern Iberia, with forest-adapted species thriving near coastal dunes stabilized by shrub vegetation. The presence of the track-inferred producers highlights a mosaic of habitats influenced by climate shifts toward more oceanic conditions during MIS 5. The straight-tusked elephant tracks suggest an episodic presence in the coast, possibly related to seasonal congregation or transit. Obtained evidence has been compared with other Pleistocene sites with straight-tusked elephants in Iberian Peninsula, pointing to the use of beaches and dune systems as travel corridors for this species during interglacials, likely associated to main Neanderthal site distribution.
PB Elsevier
SN 0277-3791
SN 1873-457X (electrónico)
YR 2025
FD 2025
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/27356
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/27356
LA eng
NO Neto de Carvalho, C., Jiménez Espejo, F. J., Moreira, N., Muñiz, F., Belo, J., Meseguer, J. G., Camuera, J., Cortés-Sánchez, M., & Cáceres, L. M. (2025). New vertebrate tracksites from the Last Interglacial dune deposits of coastal Murcia (southeastern Spain): ecological corridors for elephants in Iberia? Quaternary Science Reviews, 369, 109631. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109631
NO This work was also supported by the Andalusian Government and University of Huelva, Spain (Group RNM-293). Noel Moreira acknowl edges the funding provided by ICT, under contract with FCT (the tuguese Science and Technology Foundation): UID/04683/2025.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 30 may 2026