Les grands Mammifèresdu Pléistocène supérieur du Portugal. Essai de synthèse

Abstract

This study presents a review of the large-sized mammals from the Upper Pleistocene of Portugal, excluding Mustelids. Following the study of the materials kept in the Serviços Geológicos de Portugal and from other Institutions, as well as from sites presently under exploration, we studied materials collected by ourselves, namely at one of the most important sites known, the Figueira Brava cave, at the Arrabida coast. The studied sites presented unequal interest. As for as the older excavations, no elements concerning stratigraphy are known, except for the Furninha and Casa da Moura caves, explored by J.F. Nery Delgado in the second half of the XIX century. In the chapter concerning Paleontology, 26 taxa are described. 10 of these taxa are referred for the first time in Portugal, one of them — Equus caballus antunesi — described in 1989. Finally, the paleontological information, together with the faunistic associations allow us to made an essay of paleoclimatic evolution during the Upper Pleistocene. Until the Late Würmthe climate was essentially humid and temperate to warm; some taxa, as Canis lupus lunellensis, Hyaena hyaena prisca and Elephas antiquus survived here until the last glaciation, the latter even during the Late Würmlater than is known elsewhere in Europe. Climate amenity extended out to Late Würmwas interrupted by short periods of moderate but humid cold, that justify the occurrence of species like Capra pyrenaica and Rupicapra rupicapra and, probably, Mammuthus primigenius..