ICP News
The Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP) has successfully renewed the HR Excellence in Research award, a European distinction that recognises the commitment of research institutions to improving the working conditions of their staff. The renewal was confirmed by the European Commission in December 2025, following an extensive analysis…
A New Fossil Lizard from Viladecavalls Is Named with the Participation of Local Residents
02 Dec 2025
736 times
An international team led by the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP-CERCA) has described a new species and genus of fossil lizard from the Miocene of the Vallès–Penedès Basin. The scientific name, Fontisaurus tarumbaire, includes a direct reference to Viladecavalls and was selected through a popular vote in the…
The fossils provide new clues about the evolution and reproduction of ancient mekosuchine crocodiles that dominated the Australian continent 55 million years ago.
The ICP Reaffirms Its Commitment to Open Science Through the Journal Geologica Acta
07 Nov 2025
297 times
The new agreement formalizes the collaboration with the University of Barcelona (UB) and integrates the ICP into the editorial management of the open-access journal.
First the skeleton and now the footprints: tracking the gorgonopsian from Mallorca
23 Oct 2025
364 times
A research team discovered in Banyalbufar (Serra de Tramuntana, Mallorca) a new trace fossil morphotype attributed to a gorgonopsian. This group of sabre-toothed predators from the Permian is related to the ancestors of mammals. The footprints are between 270 and 280 million years old and were discovered very close to…
The researcher Chabier de Jaime defends his doctoral thesis on the paleobiodiversity and paleoenvironment of the Permian and Triassic in the NE of the Iberian Peninsula
14 Oct 2025
168 times
Last July, researcher Chabier DeJaime Soguero defended his doctoral thesis entitled “Palaeobiodiversity of Permian and Triassic vertebrates from the NE of the Iberian Peninsula.” The study, carried out within the framework of the PhD program in Geology at the UAB and developed at the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont…
Prof. Salvador Moyà-Solà—ICREA research professor, leader of the Paleoprimatology & Paleoanthropology Research Group, and founding Director of the ICP—deservedly retired on September 21, 2025, after a fruitful, fifty-year-long trajectory as a researcher. From the ICP, we would like to acknowledge his huge legacy, as well as to thank him for…
A new tool improves the phylogenetic placement of fossils in evolutionary trees
22 Sep 2025
354 times
The open-access tool PlaceMyFossils helps researchers evaluate the evolutionary position of extinct species — even when only fragmentary morphological data is available. It integrates multiple analytical approaches, allowing researchers to test, visualize, and interpret alternative phylogenetic placements with greater confidence. The tool is the result of an international collaboration and…
Fossil ape tails tell their tale: A new fossil informs about hominoid locomotor evolution
04 Sep 2025
212 times
A research article published in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology by an international team led by researchers from the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP-CERCA) describes a new fossil ape talus from Abocador de Can Mata that offers valuable insight into the locomotor adaptations of Miocene hominoids.
A study led by researchers from the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP-CERCA) and the Museu de la Conca Dellà (MCD) reveals a high diversity of carnivorous dinosaurs of various sizes in the present-day Pyrenees at the end of the Cretaceous, shortly before their global extinction. The research, focused…
