The locality of El Salt (Alcoi, Spain) is a key site for understanding the extirpation of Neanderthals in the eastern part of Iberia. In this paper, we analyse an assemblage of amphibians and reptiles from Stratigraphic Unit V (45.2 ± 3.4 ka to 44.7 ± 3.4 ka), which corresponds to one of the last regional records of Neanderthals, to improve knowledge of the palaeoecology and palaeoclimate of this event. The assemblage comprises three anurans (Pelodytes sp., Alytes obstetricans, and Epidalea calamita), two lizards (Lacertidae indet. and Chalcides bedriagai), and five snakes (Colubridae indet., Coronella sp., Coronella sp./Zamenis sp., Natrix maura, and Vipera latastei). Palaeoclimatic reconstruction, based on the Mutual Ecogeographic Range method, indicates that climate was cooler and slightly wetter climate than the present day climate of the Alcoi area. Applying the Habitat Weighting Method, we infer that the area surrounding El Salt was dominated by open dry regions, alternating with rocky areas with scarce scrubs and forest patches that would have developed under mesomediterranean conditions. These results are not entirely consistent with those obtained with other proxies (charcoal and small mammal assemblages) from the same site, which suggest slightly warmer and drier conditions. We hypothesise that these divergences may be partly related to the current wide distribution of reptiles and amphibians across Iberia. A key finding is that the extirpation of the Neanderthals in Iberia coincided with aridification.

El Salt（西班牙Alcoi）的所在地是了解伊比利亚东部尼安德特人灭绝的重要地点。在本文中，我们分析了地层单元V（45.2±3.4 ka至44.7±3.4 ka）中的两栖动物和爬行动物的组合，这对应于尼安德特人的最后区域记录之一，以提高对这一古生态学和古气候的认识事件。该组合包括三只无脊椎动物（Pelodytes sp。，Alytes obstetricansans和Epidalea calamita），两只蜥蜴（Lacertidae indet。和Chalcides bedriagai）和五只蛇（Colubridae indet。，Coronella sp。，Coronella sp./ Zamenis sp。，纳特里克斯·毛拉（Natrix maura）和Vi蛇（Vipera latastei））。根据相互生态地理范围法进行的古气候重建表明，气候比Alcoi地区今天的气候凉爽和稍湿一些。应用生境加权法，我们推断El Salt周围地区主要是开放的干旱地区，而岩石稀疏灌木丛和森林斑块则在中土条件下交替发展。这些结果与从同一地点的其他代理（木炭和小型哺乳动物组合）获得的结果并不完全一致，这表明天气略暖和干燥。我们假设这些差异可能部分与当前伊比利亚地区爬行动物和两栖动物的广泛分布有关。