In the shadow of Catalonia's Vallès-Penedès Basin, paleontologists have named a new extinct carnivore after one of Europe's most influential vertebrate scientists: Paludocyon moyasolai, a medium-sized hunter that prowled shallow wetlands some 15.9 million years ago. The species—whose name means "swamp dog"—was formally described this year by researchers at the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, and the honor reflects Salvador Moyà-Solà's transformative role in shaping paleontology across the Iberian Peninsula.
The discovery matters because it deepens our understanding of the amphicyonids, an extinct family of carnivores that roamed North America and Eurasia throughout much of the Cenozoic era, from the Eocene through the late Miocene. Though commonly called "bear-dogs," these animals are not closely related to either modern bears or dogs; instead, they form their own distinct branch within the order Carnivora, exhibiting remarkable diversity in size and feeding strategy. Some were crushing-dentition specialists that ate more plants than meat, while others had felid-like teeth and diets exceeding 70 percent meat. Paludocyon moyasolai belonged to the more carnivorous end of this spectrum, with robust upper molars and reduced premolars built for a predatory lifestyle.
The type specimen—the fossil specimen that defines the species—consists of a fairly complete but slightly crushed skull with nearly complete upper teeth and an isolated lower molar, recovered from the Els Casots site in Subirats. What distinguishes P. moyasolai from every other known Paludocyon species is the unique proportions of its upper molars and a notably developed third molar with well-defined anterior cusps, features never documented in the genus before. These dental characteristics paint a portrait of a fast, agile hunter considerably smaller than a second amphicyonid species—roughly leopard-sized—that also inhabited the same wetland ecosystem.
The Els Casots site itself is a palimpsest of Middle Miocene life. Discovered in 1989 and systematically excavated from 1989 to 1994, the location was largely abandoned until 2018, when sustained campaigns resumed. To date, researchers have recovered more than 5,000 macrovertebrate remains representing nearly 80 vertebrate species—fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Paludocyon probably hunted the smaller inhabitants of this shallow freshwater lake, preying on certain deer, bovids, and small pigs. Sharing the landscape were primitive felines, large mustelids, and small crocodiles of the genus Diplocynodon. The sedimentology and flora indicate warm conditions consistent with the Miocene Climatic Optimum, a period of unusual planetary warmth.
Salvador Moyà-Solà's connection to this discovery runs deeper than the naming alone. Born in Palma de Mallorca in 1955, with a geology degree and Ph.D. from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Moyà-Solà was one of the architects of the original Els Casots excavation campaigns in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He later became an ICREA research professor and played a decisive role in founding the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, which he directed from its establishment until 2017. By naming this newly described species in his honor, the research team acknowledges both his pioneering excavation work at Els Casots and his outsized influence on European vertebrate paleontology over the past three decades. Moyà-Solà is now an emeritus researcher at the institute that bears Crusafont's name—a fitting recognition for a career spent illuminating the deep past of the Iberian Peninsula.