The ventian mammal age (latest miocene): Present state

Abstract

The Ventian land mammal age includes most of the Spanish faunas assigned to the biochronologic unit MN 13. It is correlatable with the Messinian, although it may include, in its latest part, early Pliocene faunas. We propose that the Ventian begins with the fi rst occurrence of the Muridae genus Stephanomys (7 Ma, paleomagnetic dating from El Bunker, Teruel basin), well recorded in Teruel basin, and ends with the appearance of Promimomys (ca. 5 Ma), also registered in the Teruel basin. We suggest a new reorganization of the Ventian. The fi rst subdivision corresponds to the zone M (Dam et al., 2001). The second, zone N, is proposed here for the fi rst time, being equivalent to the zone with Celadensia (Mein et al., 1990; Dam et al., 2006) plus the part of the zone with two Paraethomys (Dam et al., 2006) in which Celadensia has dissappeared and still does not register Promimomys. The Ventian is now accurately recognized with quite precise boundaries and divisions, so that it can be easily recognized in the Iberian continental basins with Mio-Pliocene sediments allowing refi ned intra- and inter-basin correlations.