A new dryopithecine mandibular fragment from the middle Miocene of Abocador de Can Mata and the taxonomic status of ‘Sivapithecus’ occidentalis from Can Vila (Vallès-Penedès Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula)

The Miocene vertebrate record from the Valles-Penedes Basin (NE Iberian Peninsula; Casanovas-Vilar et al., 2016a) differs from that of inner Iberian basins by the presence of fossil hominoids (Alba, 2012; Marigo et al., 2014) as a result of moister and more forested environments during the late Aragonian and Vallesian (ca. 12.6e8.9 Ma; Casanovas-Vilar et al., 2008, 2016a, b; Marmi et al., 2012; Alba et al., 2018). However, until a couple of decades ago, the Aragonian hominoid remains from this basin were very scarce,1 including a molar crown fragment from Trinxera del Ferrocarril- Sant Quirze, an M2 from Can Mata s.l., a C1 of a female individual from Can Mata 1, and a left mandibular fragment with M2eM3 and a lower molar germ fragment from Can Vila (Supplementary Online Material [SOM] Table S1 and references therein). Villalta Comella and Crusafont Pairo (1941) first attributed the Can Vila specimen to Dryopithecus fontani Lartet, 1856. However, soon thereafter the same authors erected Sivapithecus occidentalis Villalta Comella and Crusafont Pairo, 1944 based on distinctive features such as “the buccolingual convergence of the cusps,” the “elongate and narrow lower molars,” and the presence of “secondary cusps on the lingual crest [ ¼ postmetacristid]” (Villalta Comella and Crusafont Pairo, 1944: 115 and 118, our translation from the original in Spanish). This species has been considered a junior subjective synonym of Hispanopithecus laietanus Villalta Comella and Crusafont Pairo, 1944 (formerly also in Dryopithecus) by many authors, or most recently a nomen dubium (e.g., Moya-Sola et al., 2004, 2009a; Alba, 2012), only with few exceptions (Begun, 2009; Pickford, 2012; see SOM Table S1 for further details). The huge sampling effort