Tetraconodontines and suines (Artiodactyla: Suidae) from the earliest Vallesian site of Castell de Barberà (Vallès-Penedès Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula)

Abstract

The earliest Vallesian (~11.2 Ma) site of Castell de Barberà (CB) figures prominently in the paleoanthropological literature because of the co-occurrence of pliopithecoid and hominoid primates. However, the rest of the fauna remains understudied. In the case of suids, fossils of Albanohyus castellensis and Listriodon splendens have been described in detail, but those of suines and tetraconodontines need revision. Here, we describe more than 200 remains (both published and unpublished) of these suid subfamilies from CB, including mostly isolated teeth and some dentognathic fragments, to justify their taxonomic attribution. We conclude that CB records the suine Propotamochoerus palaeochoerus and the tetraconodontines Parachleuastochoerus valentini and Versoporcus steinheimensis—contrasting with previous reports that the latter was the only large tetraconodontine present there. The remains of Pa. valentini confirm the distinctiveness of this species and reinforce the contention that it is not a junior synonym of Conohyus simorrensis, while those of Versoporcus lead us to conclude that Versoporcus grivensis is a junior subjective synonym of V. steinheimensis. We further conclude that many remains previously included in Conohyus doati belong instead to Pa. valentini, although the species is considered a nomen dubium because its lectotype might belong to either Conohyus or Versoporcus.