Burjasot, June 26th 2012

Dear Drs. José López-Gómez / Javier Martín-Chivelet,
Please find enclosed our manuscript entitled:

“First micromammal faunas of the Early Pliocene of the Venta del Moro area (Cabriel Basin, Spain): new data on Debruijnimys Messinian dispersal” by Samuel Mansino París, Francisco Javier Ruiz-Sánchez, Luis de Luque, Plinio Montoya Belló, Luis Gibert, Jorge Morales, Juan Abellá, Vicente Daniel Crespo Roures and Gary R. Scott for submission to Journal of Iberian Geology. 

This paper deals with the rodent faunas of Ruscinian age (Lower Pliocene) from the localities of LB2B and LB3 (Cabriel Basin, Spain). We report the oldest record of the gerbil Debruijnimys cf. julii, which allows expanding the stratigraphical range of this taxon, and discuss the phylogenetic relationships of the Pliocene representatives of the genus in the light of this finding. Also, we provide an estimation of the age of both localities based on paleomagnetic data, and hypothesize about the environmental conditions when the mentioned sites were formed. We hope that it is of interest for Journal of Iberian Geology.

The submitted work is our own, and copyright has not been breached in seeking its publication. Neither of the submitted material, nor portions thereof, have been published previously or are under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Finally, we provide the names and contact details of five possible referees:

-	Dr. Raef Minwer-Barakat, email: raef.minwer@icp.cat
-	Dr. Jordi Agustí, email: jordi.agusti@icrea.cat
-	Dra. Elvira Martín Suárez, email: elvirams@ugr.es
-	Dr. Pablo Peláez Campomanes, email: pablopelaez@mncn.csic.es
-	Dra. Ángeles Álvarez Sierra, email: masierra@ucm.es

We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely, 
Samuel Mansino París

Samuel Mansino París
Department of Geology (Paleontology) 
University of Valencia
Dr. Moliner s/n
46100 Burjasot
Spain
E-mail: samuel.mansino@uv.es