NEW MIOCENE HOMINOID SPECIMENS FROM CAN-LLOBATERES (VALLES-PENEDES, SPAIN) AND THEIR GEOLOGICAL AND PALEOECOLOGICAL CONTEXT

Nine new dental specimens and their geological context are described from the Late Miocene hominoid locality of Can Llobateres (Vallès Penedès, Spain). This brings the number of accessioned specimens from Can Llobateres to 46, nearly twice the number of specimens from the next richest Dryopithecus locality. The collection from Can Llobateres samples a broad range of morphological and metric variability. However, relative measures of sample variability indicate that this diversity is within the observed ranges for individual sexually dimorphic anthropoid species. Thus, the whole sample is attributed to Dryopithecus laietanus, based on strong similarities to the type specimen from the nearby locality of La Tarumba. Dryopithecus laietanus is the most widespread species of the genus in Spain. Six of the eight Miocene hominoid localities from Spain contain only this form, which persists for two to three million years, from the late Middle Miocene (MN 8) to the early part of the Late Miocene (MN 10). © 1990.