La Roma is a

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

fossil site in the

Teruel Province Teruel ( Catalan: ''Terol'' ) is a province of Aragon, in the northeast of Spain. The capital is Teruel. It is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Castellón, Valencia (including its exclave Rincón de Ademuz), Cuenca, Guadalajara, and Z ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. A micropaleontological analysis of the digestion and diet of

hyenas Hyenas or hyaenas ( ; from Ancient Greek , ) are feliformia, feliform carnivoran mammals belonging to the Family (biology), family Hyaenidae (). With just four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the orde ...

of the latter part of the Miocene age was made possible from a large sample of

coprolite A coprolite (also known as a coprolith) is fossilized feces. Coprolites are classified as trace fossils as opposed to body fossils, as they give evidence for the animal's behaviour (in this case, diet) rather than morphology. The name ...

in the La Roma 2 site. A species of ''

Hipparion ''Hipparion'' is an extinct genus of three-toed, medium-sized equine belonging to the extinct tribe Hipparionini, which lived about 10-5 million years ago. While the genus formerly included most hipparionines, the genus is now more narrowly defi ...

'' from the later

Vallesian The Vallesian age is a period of geologic time (11.6–9.0 Ma) within the Miocene used more specifically with European Land Mammal Ages. It precedes the Turolian age and follows the Astaracian age. The so-called Vallesian Crisis resulted in th ...

was found at La Roma 2. Bones of the rhinoceros '' Dicerorhinus schleiemacheri'' in La Roma 2 and Masia del Barbo in the Teruel region were exceptionally larger than the upper range for the species as specified by Guérin (1980). Excavation of two sites assigned to MN 10 contained the youngest example of the '' Semigenneta'' (''

Viverridae Viverridae is a family (biology), family of small to medium-sized feliform mammals, comprising 14 genera with 33 species. This family was named and first described by John Edward Gray in 1821. Viverrids occur all over Africa, in southern Europe, ...

'') and the oldest ''Ursidae'' (bear) genus ''

Indarctos ''Indarctos'' is an extinct genus of bear, present in Africa, North America, and Eurasia during the Miocene. It was present from ~11.1 to 5.3 Annum, Ma, existing for approximately . The oldest member is from Arizona (~11.1—7.7 Ma) and youngest ...

''.

References

Paleontological sites of Europe Miocene paleontological sites Province of Teruel Paleontology in Spain {{Aragon-geo-stub