The post-Jaramillo persistence of Sus strozzii (Suidae, Mammalia) in Europe: New evidence from the Vallparadís Section (NE Iberian Peninsula) and other coeval sites Marco Cherin a, * , David M. Alba b , Marco Crotti c , Sofia Menconero d , Pierre-  Elie Moull  e e , Leonardo Sorbelli b , Joan Madurell-Malapeira b a Dipartimento di Fisica e Geologia, Universit a degli Studi di Perugia, Via A. Pascoli, 06123, Perugia, Italy b Institut Catal a de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Aut onoma de Barcelona, Edifici ICTA-ICP, c/ Columnes s/n, Campus de la UAB, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vall es, Barcelona, Spain c Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, G12 8QQ, Glasgow, UK d Dipartimento di Storia, Disegno e Restauro dell’Architettura, Sapienza Universit a di Roma, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185, Roma, Italy e Mus ee de Pr ehistoire R egionale de Menton, 06500, Menton, France article info Article history: Received 25 October 2019 Received in revised form 30 January 2020 Accepted 15 February 2020 Available online xxx Keywords: Dispersal Early-Middle Pleistocene transition Epivillafranchian Europe Quaternary Suinae Systematics abstract The Vallparadís composite section (VCS) includes the nearby paleontological sites of Cal Guardiola and Vallparadís Estaci o (Vall es-Pened es Basin, northeastern Iberian Peninsula). The section spans from before the Jaramillo subchron to the early Middle Pleistocene (ca. 1.2e0.6 Ma). In this study, we describe the suid record from VCS and we review those from several other European sites, in order to refine the taxonomic identity and chronostratigraphic range of Quaternary suids in Europe. The VCS sample in- cludes a nearly complete skull, several teeth, and postcranial elements, and stands out as the richest European suid collection from the latest Early Pleistocene. Suid remains have been unearthed from both Cal Guardiola and Vallparadís Estaci o layers, whose age spans from the Jaramillo subchron (ca. 1.07 e0.99 Ma; MIS31) to post-Jaramillo time (ca. 0.86 Ma; MIS21). Several craniomandibular and dental morphological features support an attribution to Sus strozzii. These features include a low and very deep preorbital fossa, a narrow nuchal crest, a well-developed longitudinal swelling in the middle of the mandibular corpus, the presence of styles/stylids in the upper/lower premolars, and especially the “verrucosic” morphology of the lower canine. The attribution to S. strozzii is also sustained by a cladistic analysis. These results provide interesting clues on the chronological occurrence of Quaternary suids. Sus strozzii is relatively common in Europe during the middle and early late Villafranchian (ca. 2.5e1.8 Ma), but it almost completely disappears during the latest Villafranchian (ca. 1.8e1.2 Ma). During and slightly after the Epivillafranchian (ca. 1.2e0.8 Ma), S. strozzii reappears in Europe although with relatively small samples, at VCS and several other sites including Untermassfeld (Germany; ca. 1.0 Ma), Le Vallonnet (France; ca. 1.2e1.1 Ma), Taman Peninsula (Russia; ca.1.1e0.8 Ma), Arda River (Italy; ca. 0.99 Ma), and Slivia (Italy; ca. 0.8 Ma), among others. Consequently, in contrast to previous knowledge, we conclude that (1) S. strozzii survived in Europe (or returned there with a second dispersal event from Asia during the Epivillafranchian) at least until the end of the Early Pleistocene and (2) the arrival of Sus scrofa into that continent is not older than the Early-Middle Pleistocene boundary. Crown Copyright © 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction At the beginning of the Quaternary, suids are represented in Europe by a single species of the subfamily Suinae, namely Sus strozzii. This large-sized species is overall morphologically similar and phylogenetically related to extant and extinct suines occurring in Island South East Asia (ISEA) (Azzaroli, 1954; Cherin et al., 2018). The most primitive species of this cladedas well as the earliest member of the genus Susdis Sus arvernensis, occurring during the Pliocene (Ruscinian and early Villafranchian Land Mammal Ages; * Corresponding author. E-mail address: marco.cherin@unipg.it (M. Cherin). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Quaternary Science Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quascirev https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106234 0277-3791/Crown Copyright © 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Quaternary Science Reviews 233 (2020) 106234