Aportes paleobiológicos sobre la familia Ursidae en la península ibérica durante el Pleistoceno Medio.Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1789, Ursus thibetanus (Cuvier, 1823) y Ursus deningeri von Reichenau, 1904

Résumé

The Middle Pleistocene is a period that spans from 780,000 to 128,000 years ago.This period is of great importance for the study of Prehistory, and several faunal changes that we know about today took place during this time. The discovery of new sites from this chronological range is vital for the understanding of the ecosystems inhabited by the first representatives of the Neandertal lineage in Europe. During this age, three species of the genus Ursus inhabited the Iberian Peninsula: the brown bear (U. arctos), the Thibetan black bear (U. thibetanus) and Deninger’s bear (U. deningeri). This Dissoertation has been carried out with the objectives of observing their geographical distribution and studying new remains of these species and studying their size and shape from their mandibles and dentition.The brown bear currently inhabits Europe, Asia and North America. During the end of the Middle Pleistocene this species inhabited the Iberian Peninsula. Fossil remains are scarce and are mainly located in the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula. During Middle Pleistocene they habited in the Iberian Peninsula, but their fossils remain are scarce and they are mainly located in the southern half of the peninsula. The oldest evidence in the Iberian Peninsula is from c. 250 ka, which is 300 ka younger than the oldest European records (~550 ka; L’Arago). Up until now, there is no information about Middle Pleistocene sites with brown bear dated during this temporary lapse. And there is either information of this species’ entrance into the southern of Iberia...