Anancus arvernensis ( Croizet & Jobert, 1828 )

Montoya, Plinio, Ginsburg, Léonard, Alberdi, María Teresa, Made, Jan Van Der, Morales, Jorge & Soria, María Dolores, 2006, Fossil large mammals from the early Pliocene locality of Alcoy (Spain) and their importance in biostratigraphy, Geodiversitas 28 (1), pp. 137-173 : 137-173

Anancus arvernensis ( Croizet & Jobert, 1828) ( Fig. 14 )

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Different fragments of molars and a tusk fragment ( MAA).

332M, left m3 ( MGM).

MEASUREMENTS. — See Appendix: Table 12.

DESCRIPTION

Left m3 (332M) probably had five lophs and a talonid with four tubercles. The first loph is broken. The tooth shows intermediate wear. The entoconids show a binary division, the ectoconids are trefoiled and the central conules are strong and always between the ectoconids. The talonid presents a clear angular arrangement that can be neatly observed along the tooth. The wear is more pronounced in the labial edge, and diminishes backwards from the first lophid, in the fourth loph the wear has started but without giving rise to the typical trefoiled figures. In the internal edge the wear reaches the first three lophs. The dimensions of this specimen are shown in Table 12.

Among the material stored in the MAA there are seven dental fragments that correspond to different teeth and show different wear degrees, although some of them could belong to the same individual. Three of them correspond to the talon of the tooth and do not fit the rest of the fragments. All are bunodont and display a clear anancoidy (angle formed by the arrangement between entocones and ectocones). The very robust talon forms a sort of tubercle platform, and the last loph is clearly anancoid with a maximal width of 70 mm and a height between 45 and 50 mm. This talon is 58.7 mm wide and 40 mm high. The largest fragment consists of two and a half lophs, anancoid, little worn, without showing wear, and with clearly bunodont cones. Another of the studied fragments consists in part of a cone, where the enamel characteristics of these teeth are clearly observed: very thick and fibrous or laminated, but not rugose.

The fragment of tusk actually corresponds to small fragments assembled as the apical part of the tusk, where remains of the enamel band can be observed.

DISCUSSION

Despite the scarcity of the dental material, the features both of the molar 332M and of the fragments in the MAA and the kind of enamel are very characteristic, and can belong only to Anancus arvernensis , described and figured by Croizet & Jobert (1828: 133-138, pl. I, figs 1-4, pl. II, fig. 7) from the upper Pliocene (MN16) of Perrier (Auvergne, France). This form is found in the Iberian Peninsula from the Turolian and reaches the lower Villafranchian in the site of Las Higueruelas (Ciudad Real). In France and Italy it lived until the middle Villafranchian-earlier late Villafranchian, thus coexisting probably with Mammuthus meridionalis (Nesti, 1825) .

Figures

FIG. 14. — Anancus arvernensis (Croizet & Jobert, 1828) from Alcoy, left m3 (332M), occlusal view. Scale bar: 10 mm.