Meles iberica n. sp., a new Eurasian badger (Mammalia, Carnivora, Mustelidae) from Fonelas P-1 (Plio-Pleistocene boundary, Guadix Basin, Granada, Spain)

This paper reports a new species of ancient badger – Meles iberica n. sp. – discovered at the Fonelas P-1 Plio-Pleistocene site (Cuenca de Guadix, Granada, Spain). The anatomical features of its fossils, which identify it as a new species of Meles, include: the great robustness and small size of the specimens found, orbits nearly closed by well-developed zygomatic processes of the frontal bone, very small and rounded infraorbital foramens that open above the fourth upper premolar metacone, upper carnassial teeth with a concave linguodistal outline, the reduction of the talon of the first upper molar, a very deep masseteric fossa, whose anterior margin reaches the mesial limit of the second lower molar, an extensive horizontal platform at the base of this fossa, and a very long and narrow angular apophysis. This species is the most ancient of the genus recorded for the Iberian Peninsula.