A team of researchers has identified and described Vulcanoscaptor ninoti ("the Camp dels Ninots volcano digger"), a previously unknown genus and species of Pliocene mole. The fossil was unearthed at the Camp dels Ninots paleontological site (Caldes de Malavella, Girona), one of the most important locations for studying the fauna that inhabited southern Europe more than 3.5 million years ago.

A team of researchers has identified and described Vulcanoscaptor ninoti (“the Camp dels Ninots volcano digger”), a previously unknown genus and species of Pliocene mole. The fossil was unearthed at the Camp dels Ninots paleontological site (Caldes de Malavella, Girona), one of the most important locations for studying the fauna that inhabited southern Europe more than 3.5 million years ago.

The specimen preserves the mandible with a complete dentition, part of the torso, and several bones from both the forelimbs and hindlimbs, many of them still in anatomical connection. This exceptional state of preservation is extremely rare in small mammals such as moles and makes this specimen one of the oldest and most complete ever found in Europe.