Data from: Diversification of mammals from the Miocene of Spain

The mammalian fossil record of Spain is long and taxonomically well
resolved, offering the most complete record of faunal change for the
Neogene of Europe. We evaluated changes in diversification, composition,
trophic structure, and size structure of large mammals over the middle and
late Miocene with methods applied to this record for the first time,
including ordination of fossil localities to improve temporal resolution
and estimation of confidence intervals on taxa temporal ranges. By
contrast, analysis within the traditional Mammal Neogene (MN)
biochronology obscures important aspects of diversification. We used
inferred temporal ranges of species and evaluated per capita rates of
origination, extinction, diversification, and turnover over 0.5-Myr time
intervals. Three periods of significant faunal change occurred between
12.0 and 5.5 Ma: (1) From 12.0 to 10.5 Ma, elevated origination rates led
to an increase in diversity without significant change in ecological
structure. Immigrants and geographic-range shifts of species to lower
latitudes during an interval of global cooling contributed to these faunal
changes. (2) From 9.5 to 7.5 Ma, high extinction rates followed by high
origination rates coincided with significant changes in taxonomic
composition and ecological structure. These changes represent the
Vallesian Crisis, with replacement of a fauna of forest affinities (with
frugivores and browsers) by a fauna of open woodlands (with grazers and
mixed feeders). (3) From 6.5 to 5.5 Ma, high extinction rates reduced
diversity without substantial changes in ecological structure, and large
mammal faunas became highly endemic across the northern Mediterranean
region. This interval includes the Messinian Salinity Crisis, the
desiccation of the Mediterranean basin. Extinction may have been caused by
geographic isolation and aridification, with evolution of endemic lineages
giving rise to new species in the early Pliocene. These distinct
macroevolutionary patterns of faunal change correspond to different
geographic scales of inferred climatic and tectonic drivers.