Micromammal biostratigraphy of the Upper Miocene to lowest Pleistocene continental deposits of the Guadix basin, southern Spain

Recent study of the small mammals (rodents and insectivores) from several fossil-bearingsites situated in the central sector of the Guadix Basin (Southern Spain) has notablyincreased the knowledge of the mammal assemblages that existed in Southern Iberiafrom the latest Miocene to the earliest Pleistocene. On the basis of this new information,we propose a biozonation for the continental deposits of the Guadix Basin, which con-sists of six biozones ranging in age from the late Turolian (MN13) to the early Villanyian(MN17). These biozones, defined according to the rules of the International Stratigraphi-cal Guide, include not only the mentioned recently discovered fossil sites, but also other,previously known, localities of the basin. Finally, we integrate the described biozones inthe Neogene Mammal units and the European Land Mammal Ages, correlate them withseveral classical mammal sites from other Iberian basins and the rest of Europe, andestablish an approximate numerical age for the lower and upper limits of each biozone.

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