The earliest primates from the Iberian Peninsula: 60 years of research

Abstract New findings of Paleogene primates in Spain have occurred during the last decade, including the discovery of new fossil-bearing levels as well as the description and erection of new taxa. This research line has a long tradition in Spain thanks to paleontologists like Crusafont and, more especially, Moyà-Solà, who have led research on these primates as well as other mammals for decades. A warm climate and the presence of tropical forests at high latitudes during the Eocene have provided us with the highest diversity of Iberian primates during the Eocene, thus reflecting the radiation of both adapiforms and omomyiforms. In contrast, only a single plesiadapiform genus has been recorded in the Iberian Peninsula. Near the Eocene–Oligocene boundary, paleoclimatic changes led to a primate diversity crisis and other faunal changes, although two Iberian omomyiforms survived the Grande Coupure. The paleodiversity of Paleogene fossil primates keeps increasing thanks to the field campaigns organized annually by our team, devoted to the recovery of new levels and study of new taxa. Moreover, already known taxa are further studied thanks to the recovery and identification of not only dental but also postcranial remains that have provided insights into the locomotor repertoire of these taxa. In addition, traditional locomotor studies have been refined thanks to the use of 3D geometric morphometric techniques combined with evolutionary modelling. This has provided new insights into the evolutionary history of the group and the evolution of their locomotor repertoires at the dawn of the primate family tree.