Ebusia moralesi n. gen. nov. sp, a new endemic caprine (Bovidae, Mammalia) from the Neogene of Eivissa Island (Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean) : evolutionary implications

We describe the first endemic large mammal from the Neogene of the Island Eivissa (Balearic Islands, Spain), a new genus and species of an endemic insular bovid, Ebusia n. gen. moralesi n. sp. (Artiodactyla, Caprini). This new taxon is the smallest caprine currently described and shows primitive, continental-like complete dentition. It has a long and complex lower p2 and upper P2 and P3, long premolar series, non-hypsodont incisors and a moderate degree of hypsodonty of the check teeth. The long bones (in particular the tibia) are rather slender, similar to those of continental bovids. However, the metapodials show an intermediate degree of shortening between continental bovids and Myotragus species and other insular ruminants. The few derived insular adaptations of Ebusia n. gen. suggest that this taxon probably represents the first phase of isolation. The morphology of the dentition and postcranial is characteristic of Caprini and similar to that of the Myotragus/Nesogoral group. This suggests that E. moralesi would be close to the ancestral continental pattern of the endemic Neogene-Quaternary caprine lineage that colonised the western Mediterranean Islands during the Messinian salinity crisis.