The hunter and the hunted – First description of a jackal-like predator and associated bird and gazelle tracks from the Post-Messinian of the Sorbas Basin, SE Spain

A marine-continental transition Tertiary-age succession from the Sorbas Member in the Sorbas Basin (SE Spain) is described. Deposition commenced with nearshore shelf/tidal channel sediments, which were subsequently overlain by lagoonal sediments and capped by a dune field. Within the lagoonal sediments a range of mammal and bird ichnofossils were noted. The bird tracks represent a typical shoreline assemblage, including waders (Antarctichnus fuenzalidae). The mammal ichnofossils include a gazelle (Pecoripeda (Gazellipeda) gazella), but more importantly, a jackal-like predator (Canipeda longigriffa). Jackals have, to date, not been described from this area. Indeed, the oldest representative of the Canidae occurs in the late Miocene, with direct evidence of jackals only in the Plio-Pleistocene. This ichnofossil, therefore, would appear to extend the range of jackal-like predators back to the late Messinian. In addition, it is possible that early jackals crossed to Spain from North Africa.