Villafranchian large mammals from the Iberian Peninsula: paleobiogeography, paleoecology and dispersal events J. Madurell-Malapeira 1, *, S. Ros-Montoya 2 , M.P. Espigares 2 , D.M. Alba 1 , J. Aurell-Garrido 1 1 Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Edifici ICP, Campus de la UAB s/n, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain. 2 Museo Municipal de Prehistoria y Paleontología, Calle Tiendas, sn, 18858 Orce, Granada, Spain. e-mail addresses: joan.madurell@icp.cat ,(J.M.-M., *corresponding author), sergiorosm@gmail.com (S.R.-M.), mpespigares@gmail.com (M.P.E); david.alba@icp.cat (D.M.A.), josep.aurell@icp.cat (J.A.-G.) Received: 27 July 2013 / Accepted: 5 December 2013 / Available online: 25 February 2014 Abstract The Pleistocene of the Iberian Peninsula is currently a focus of intense paleontological, archaeological and geological research. To a large extent, these inquiries are intended to decipher the ecological factors that might have conditioned early Homo dispersals into the European continent during the late Early Pleistocene. In this respect, the research carried out during the last twenty years in several areas of the Iberian Peninsula (the Guadix-Baza Basin, the Sierra de Atapuerca, the Vallparadís Section and the Banyoles-Besalú Basin) have yielded a large amount of new signiicant data. Here we review such data and provide for the irst time a comprehensive synthesis from a faunal, geologi- cal and paleoecological perspectives, by focusing on the relationship between paleoenvironmental conditions and early human dispersals during the late Early Pleistocene in the Iberian Peninsula. In particular, the Iberian fossil record of Early to Late Villafranchian large mam- mals is synthesized, on the basis of recent publications and unpublished data collected by the authors during the last ive years, in order to provide the adequate faunal and paleocological framework for understanding the factors that limited or conditioned human dispersal events. Keywords: Mammals, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Villafranchian, Iberian Peninsula Resumen El Pleistoceno de la Península Ibérica es actualmente foco de intensa investigación paleontológica, arqueológica y geológica. En gran medida, estos trabajos están encaminados a descifrar los factores ecológicos que podrían haber condicionado las dispersiones de los Homo iniciales hacia Europa durante el Pleistoceno inferior. En este sentido, la investigación realizada durante los últimos veinte años en diversas zonas de la Península Ibérica (la Cuenca de Guadix-Baza, la Sierra de Atapuerca, la Sección de Vallparadís y la Cuenca de Banyoles- Besalú) ha proporcionado una gran cantidad de nuevos datos signiicativos. Aquí revisamos estos datos y se proporciona por primera vez una síntesis exhaustiva desde una perspectiva paleontológica, paleoecológica y geológica, centrándonos en las relaciones entre las condi- ciones paleoambientales y las dispersiones de los primeros humanos en el Pleistoceno inferior de la Península Ibérica. Concretamente, se sintetiza el registro fósil ibérico de grandes mamíferos villafranquienses en base a publicaciones recientes y datos inéditos recopilados por los autores en los últimos cinco años, para así proporcionar el marco faunístico y paleoecológico adecuado para comprender los factores que limitaron o condicionaron los eventos de dispersión humana. Palabras clave: Mamíferos, Plioceno, Pleistoceno, Villafranquiense, Península Ibérica Journal of Iberian Geology 40 (1) 2014: 167-178 http://dx.doi.org/10.5209/rev_JIGE.2014.v40.n1.44093 www.ucm.es/info/estratig/journal.htm ISSN (print): 1698-6180. ISSN (online): 1886-7995 1. Introduction The Villafranchian is a European large mammal biochrono- logic unit irst introduced by Pareto (1865) as a continental stage referred to luvial and lacustrine sediments in the sur- roundings of Villafranca d’Asti (Piedmont, Italy). During most of the past century, the Villafranchian was considered the irst stage of the continental Pleistocene (Rook and Mar- tínez-Navarro, 2010). Nevertheless, several authors pointed that the so-called Villafranchian faunas were not homogene- ous (Azzaroli, 1962, 1970). Nowadays the Villafranchian is divided into three different stages: the Early Villafranchian (Late Pliocene, ca. 3.6-2.6 Ma), the Middle Villafranchi- an (Early Pleistocene, ca. 2.6-1.8 Ma) and the Late Villa- franchian (Early Pleistocene, ca. 1.8-1.1 Ma). According to some scholars, next to the Villafranchian it would follow the