The oldest Quaternary turtle remains from the Basque-Cantabrian Basin (Atxoste, Alava, Spain)

摘要

References to fossil remains of turtles from the Quaternary record of the Spanish Basque-Cantabrian Basin are almost non-existent, and are limited to a problematic report from a Mesolithic Age site. Here, we report remains of turtles in the Mesolithic levels of the site of Atxoste (Alava), the oldest reference, and the only one so far confirmed, to turtles in the Quaternary record of that Basin. The abundance of well-preserved specimens of turtles from Atxoste permits a precise systematic attribution. All this material is attributed to a single taxon: the European Pond Terrapin Emys orbicularis. Therefore, this material represents the oldest known reference to an emydid in the Basque-Cantabrian Basin. (C) 2015 Academie des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.