New Medium-Sized Amphicyonid Species Identified from 1990s Spanish Fossil Skull

Euronews reported that a fossil skull unearthed in the 1990s at the Els Casots site in Subirats, Alt Penedès, has been identified as a previously undescribed species of amphicyonid named Paludocyon moyasolai. The skull was initially assigned to the genus Paludocyon based on fragmentary remains from the area and other countries. It was placed in storage after the initial 1990s examination.

In 2014, during preparation of a doctoral thesis, researchers noted that the specimen was smaller and less muscular than the known Paludocyon species, which reached lion or tiger size and weighed close to 200 kilograms. The Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont team spent the last two years confirming the find. The new species honors palaeontologist Salvador Moyà-Solà.

Els Casots now serves as the world reference site for Paludocyon moyasolai. The study drew on collaboration among the National Museum of Natural Sciences of the CSIC, the University of Valencia, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the Complutense University of Madrid, Ecuador’s National Biodiversity Institute, and South Africa’s Iziko museum.

The animal weighed between 50 and 70 kilograms, comparable to a large dog.

Recovered material includes the skull, much of the dentition, and an isolated lower molar. The posterior molars show unusual development, with an especially broad second upper molar and a third molar larger than typical for the genus. This dentition indicates a mesocarnivorous diet that included small and medium-sized prey such as primitive deer, bovids, and ancestral pigs.

A second, larger undescribed amphicyonid roughly the size of a leopard was also recovered at the site. Paludocyon moyasolai lived around 15.9 million years ago in a shallow lagoon surrounded by tropical forest that supported crocodiles, snakes, fish, and diverse mammals. The aquatic setting promoted preservation because bodies became trapped in mud after death.