Resumen de Paleontología del sistema de yacimientos de mamíferos miocenos del Cerro de los Batallones, Cuenca de Madrid

Jorge Morales Romero, Luis Alcalá Martínez, María Ángeles Álvarez Sierra, Mauricio Antón Ortúzar, Beatriz Azanza Asensio, José Pedro Calvo Sorando, Pedro Carrasco García, Susana Fraile Gracia, Israel García Paredes, Elena Gómez, Manuel Hernández Fernández, L. Merino, Albert Jan van der Meulen, Carlos Martín Escorza, Plini Montoya Belló, Manuel Nieto, Stephane Peigne, Benigno Pérez Legido, Pablo Peláez-Campomanes de Labra, Manuel Pozo Rodríguez, Victoria Quiralte, Manuel Jesús Salesa Calvo, Israel M. Sánchez, Antonio Sánchez Marco, Pablo G. Silva Barroso, Dolores Soria Mayor, A. Turner

• Six Upper Vallesian (Upper Miocene) fossil vertebrate sites have been found in the Cerro de los Batallones (Torrejón de Velaseo, Madrid). These localities contain an exceptionally rich, varied and well-preserved vertebrate fauna. Carnivore species are strikingly well represented at Batallones 1 and 3, and large herbivore species, such as mastodons, rhinoceros and giraffes, are common in Batallones 2, 4 and 5. The mammalian association, together with the morphological features shown by the sedimentary fills of the mammal sites, enables an overall interpretation of these deposits as vertebrate traps. The study of these localities should offer a significant contribution to our understanding of the formation pattern of trap-like paleontological sites which so far have been typically reported in karstie-type systems. These new sites also will contribute to a better knowledge of some of the most scarce mammal groups in the Miocene fossil record.