Primera cita de un Delphinidae en el Neógeno de las Islas Baleares

Abstract

[eng] A unique tooth of Delphinidae from the Lower Tortonian (Upper Miocene) of the bioturbated packstones (inner ramp) located in Torre d'en Penjat (Es Castell, south eastern end of the island of Menorca) is described. This was the first discovery of a Delphinidae in the Balearic Neogene. The length of the tooth is in accordance with the variation range of Etruridelphis giulii Lawley, 1876 (=Steno bellardii Portis, 1886) from the Italian Pliocene. However, the máximum diameter of the root in this specimen is swiftly thickness. Despite the Upper Miocene chronology, the possibility that the tooth belonged to a species described in the Italian or Iberian Peninsula Pliocene cannot be discarded, given that some of the Upper Miocene marine species appeared in Pliocene sediments, once the Messinian regressive episode finished.