Cerro de los Batallones

Cerro de los Batallones (Hill of the Battalions) is a hill at Torrejón de Velasco, Madrid, Spain where a number of fossil sites from the Upper Miocene (MN10) have been found.¹²³ Nine sites have been discovered with predominantly vertebrate fossils, invertebrates and plants being less represented. The first deposits were discovered accidentally in July 1991.

Batallones-10 (B-10) is considered to contain the oldest representative of fossils.³

Nearly the entire proportion of fossils of Batallones-1 were of Carnivorans.⁴ The species of sabre-tooth cat known as Promegantereon ogygia and Machairodus aphanistus (the first complete skull)⁵ were found at B-1,⁶ as was Simocyon a type of red panda.⁷ In regards to the saber-tooth cats, Batallones-1 represents an ideal site for recording the percentage of specimens for which breakage of the upper canines occurred. Promegantereon, Machairodus and Paramachaerodus are perfect examples of this at Batallones; fossils indicate a high number of canine breaks from where the teeth hit the bones of a struggling victim, indicating these early machairodonts would use their elongated teeth to subdue prey as modern big cats do.⁸

A new species of Hispanomys (Rodentia) was found at various sites.³ A new species of Micromeryx (deer) was found at B-1 and B-10.⁹

Below is a list of notable fossil genera from Cerro de los Batallones.¹⁰

• †Boselaphine antelopes
• †Decennatherium rex
• †Micromeryx flourensianus
• †Microstonyx major

• †Ammitocyon kainos¹¹
• †Amphicyon major
• †Eomellivora piveteaui
• †Indarctos arctoides
• †Leptofelis vallesiensis
• †Machairodus aphanistus & M. alberdiae
• †Magericyon anceps & M. castellanus
• †Promegantereon ogygia
• †Protictitherium crassum
• †Simocyon batalleri

• †Aceratherium incisivum
• †Hippotherium primigenium
• †Hispanotherium matritense

• †Tetralophodon longirostris

• †Hispanomys