Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T19:44:19.138Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Eocene ungulate mammals from West Antarctica: implications from their fossil record and a new species

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2017

Javier N. Gelfo ,
Guillermo M. López  and
Sergio N. Santillana
Javier N. Gelfo*
Affiliation:
CONICET, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina División Paleontología de Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata. Paseo del Bosque s/n B1900FWA, La Plata, Argentina Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina
Guillermo M. López
Affiliation:
División Paleontología de Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata. Paseo del Bosque s/n B1900FWA, La Plata, Argentina Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina
Sergio N. Santillana
Affiliation:
Instituto Antártico Argentino (Dirección Nacional del Antártico), 25 de mayo 1143, San Martín, Argentina
*
[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Here we describe a new terrestrial mammal from the Eocene of Seymour Island (Isla Marambio) represented by a lower left third molar and assigned to a new species of Sparnotheriodontidae, an ungulate family with a broad palaeobiogeographical distribution in South America. The specimen was found in the Cucullaea I allomember of the La Meseta Formation, in a new mammalian locality (IAA 2/16). Notiolofos regueroi sp. nov. shares a brachyodont, lophoselenodont and bicrescentic molar pattern with N. arquinotiensis, recorded for a stratigraphic sequence of 17.5 Ma in Antarctica. The criteria for the species differentiation are the absence of mesial and labial cingulids, the larger paraconid, the wider talonid basin, the accentuated distal projection of the hypoconulid, the centroconid development and the smaller size. Together with the astrapotherian Antarctodon sobrali, they represent the medium to large terrestrial mammals of the early Eocene Antarctic landscape that was mostly dominated by closed forests of Nothofagus. Dental wear facets and differences in their body mass are inferred and discussed as possible evidence of niche differentiation. Additionally, the presence of land mammals with Patagonian affinities in the Eocene of Antarctica reinforces the Cretaceous–Palaeocene presence of the Weddellian Isthmus, a functional land corridor between Antarctica and South America.

Keywords

land mammalLitopternaNotiolofosSeymour IslandSparnotheriodontidae
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 29 , Issue 5 , October 2017 , pp. 445 - 455
Check for updates
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acosta Hospitaleche, C., Reguero, M. & Scarano, A. 2013. Main pathways in the evolution of the Paleogene Antarctic Sphenisciformes. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 43, 101–111.Google Scholar
Albright, B.L., Woodburne, M.O., Case, J.A. & Chaney, D.S. 2003. A leatherback sea turtle from the Eocene of Antarctica: implications for the antiquity of gigantothermy in Dermochelyidae. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 23, 945–949.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bijl, P.K., Bendle, J.A.P., Bohaty, S.M., Pross, J., Schouten, S., Tauxe, L., Stickley, C.E., McKay, R.M., Röhl, U., Olney, M., Sluijs, A., Escutia, C. & Brinkhuis, H. 2013. Eocene cooling linked to early flow across the Tasmanian Gateway. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110, 9645–9650.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bond, M., Kramarz, A., MacPhee, R.D.E. & Reguero, M. 2011. A new astrapothere (Mammalia, Meridiungulata) from La Meseta Formation, Seymour (Marambio) Island, and a reassessment of previous records of Antarctic astrapotheres. American Museum Novitates, 10.1206/3718.2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond, M., Reguero, M.A., Vizcaíno, S.F. & Marenssi, S.A. 2006. A new “South American ungulate” (Mammalia:: Litopterna) from the Eocene of Antarctic Peninsula. Special Publication of the Geological Society of London, No. 258, 163–176.Google Scholar
Bond, M., Reguero, M.A., Vizcaíno, S.F., Marenssi, S.A. & Ortiz-jaureguizar, E. 2009. Short communication Notiolofos, a replacement name for Notolophus Bond, Reguero, Vizcaíno, and Marenssi, 2006, a preoccupied name. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 29, 979.Google Scholar
Buono, M.R., Fernández, M.S., Reguero, M.A., Marenssi, S.A., Santillana, S.N. & Mörs, T. 2016. Eocene basilosaurid whales from the la Meseta formation, Marambio (Seymour) Island, Antarctica. Ameghiniana, 53, 296–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butler, M.A. 1952. The milk molars of Perissodactyla, with remarks on molar occlusion. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 121, 777–817.Google Scholar
Cifelli, R.L. 1993. The phylogeny of the native South American ungulates. In Szalay, F.S., Novacek, M.J. & McKenna, M.C., eds. Mammal phylogeny, volume 2. Placentals. New York, NY: Springer, 195–216.Google Scholar
Cocozza, C.D. & Clarke, C.M. 1992. Eocene microplankton from La Meseta Formation, northern Seymour Island. Antarctic Science, 4, 355–362.Google Scholar
Concheyro, A., Amenábar, C.R., Santillana, S., Montes, M.S. & Nozal, F.B.M. 2016. Primer registro de nanofósiles calcáreos en la Formación La Meseta (Eoceno medio), Isla Marambio, Antártida. Proceedings of the 11 Congreso de la Asociación Paleontológica Argentina, abstract no. 126. Available at: http://www.conicet.gov.ar/new_scp/detalle.php?keywords=&id=20037&congresos=yes&detalles=yes&congr_id=6259349.Google Scholar
Damuth, J. 1990. Problems in estimating body masses of archaic ungulates using dental measurements. In Damuth, J. & MacFadden, B.J., eds. Body size in mammalian paleobiology: estimation and biological implications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 229–253.Google Scholar
de la Fuente, M.S., Santillana, S.N. & Marenssi, S.A. 1995. An Eocene leatherback turtle (Cryptodira: Dermochelydae) from Seymour Island, Antarctica. Studia Geologica Salmanticensia, 31, 21–34.Google Scholar
Dingle, R.V. & Lavelle, M. 1998. Antarctic Peninsular cryosphere: early Oligocene (c. 30 Ma) initiation and a revised glacial chronology. Journal of the Geological Society, 155, 433–437.Google Scholar
Dutton, A.L., Lohmann, K.C. & Zinsmeister, W.J. 2002. Stable isotope and minor element proxies for Eocene climate of Seymour Island, Antarctica. Paleoceanography, 10.1029/2000PA000593.Google Scholar
Elissamburu, A. 2012. Estimación de la masa corporal en géneros del Orden Notoungulata. Estudios Geológicos, 68, 91–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elliot, D.H. & Trautman, T.A. 1982. Lower Tertiary strata on Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. In Craddock, C., ed. Antarctic geoscience. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 287–297.Google Scholar
Exon, N.F., Kennett, J.P. & Malone, M.J. 2004. The Cenozoic Southern Ocean: tectonics, sedimentation, and climate change between Australia and Antarctica. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union, 151 pp.Google Scholar
Gelfo, J.N. 2016. Considerations about the evolutionary stasis of Notiolofos arquinotiensis (Mammalia: Sparnotheriodontidae), Eocene of Seymour Island, Antarctica. Ameghiniana, 10.5710/AMGH.14.09.2015.2934.Google Scholar
Goin, F.J., Woodburne, M.O., Zimicz, A.N., Martin, G.M. & Chornogubsky, L. 2016. A brief history of South American metatherians: evolutionary contexts and intercontinental dispersals. Dordrecht: Springer, 237 pp.Google Scholar
Ivany, L.C., van Simaeys, S., Domack, E.W. & Samson, SD. 2006. Evidence for an earliest Oligocene ice sheet on the Antarctic Peninsula. Geology, 10.1130/G22383.1.Google Scholar
Janis, C.M. 1990. Correlation of cranial and dental variables with body size in ungulates and macropodoids. In Damuth, J. & MacFadden, B.J. eds. Body size in mammalian paleobiology: estimation and biological implications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 255–299.Google Scholar
López, G. M. 2008. Los ungulados de la Formación Divisadero Largo (Eoceno inferior?) de la provincia de Mendoza, Argentina: sistemática y consideraciones bioestratigráficas. Buenos Aires: Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, 407 pp.Google Scholar
Marenssi, S.A., Net, L.I. & Santillana, S.N. 2002. Provenance, environmental and paleogeographic controls on sandstone composition in an incised-valley system: the Eocene La Meseta Formation, Seymour Island, Antarctica. Sedimentary Geology, 150, 301–321.Google Scholar
Marenssi, S.A., Santillana, S.N. & Rinaldi, C. 1998. Stratigraphy of La Meseta Formation (Eocene), Marambio (Seymour) Island, Antarctica. Asociación Paleontológica Argentina Publicación Especial, No. 5, 137–146.Google Scholar
Marenssi, S.A., Reguero, M.A., Santillana, S.N. & Vizcaino, S.F. 1994. Eocene land mammals from Seymour Island, Antarctica: palaeobiogeographical implications. Antarctic Science, 6, 3–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montes, M., Nozal, F., Santillana, S.N., Marenssi, S.A. & Olivero, E.B. 2013. Mapa Geológico de la isla Marambio (Seymour) escala 1:20.000 primera edición. Serie Cartográfica Geocientífica Antártica. Madrid: Instituto Geológico y Minero de España and Buenos Aires: Instituto Antártico Argentino.Google Scholar
Nowak, R.M. 1999. Walker’s mammals of the world, Vol. 1–2. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pascual, R., Archer, M., Jaureguizar, E.O., Prado, J.L., Godthelp, H. & Hand, S.J. 1992. First discovery of monotremes in South America. Nature, 10.1038/356704a0.Google Scholar
Reguero, M., Goin, F.J., Acosta Hospitaleche, C., Dutra, T. & Marenssi, S. 2013. Late Cretaceous/Paleogene West Antarctica terrestrial biota and its intercontinental affinities. London: Springer, 120 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reguero, M.A., Vizcaíno, S.F., Goin, F.J., Marenssi, S.A. & Santillana, S.N. 1998. Eocene high-latitude terrestrial vertebrates from Antarctica as biogeographic evidence. Asociación Paleontológica Argentina Publicación Especial, No. 5, 185–198.Google Scholar
Reguero, M.A., Gelfo, J.N., López, G.M., Bond, M., Abello, A., Santillana, S.N. & Marenssi, S.A. 2014. Final Gondwana breakup: the Paleogene South American native ungulates and the demise of the South America–Antarctica land connection. Global and Planetary Change, 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2014.07.016.Google Scholar
Sadler, P.M. 1988. Geometry and stratification of uppermost Cretaceous and paleogene units on Seymour Island, northern Antarctic Peninsula. Geological Society of America Memoirs, 169, 303–320.Google Scholar
Scarano, A.C., Carlini, A.A. & Illius, A.W. 2011. Interatheriidae (Typotheria; Notoungulata), body size and paleoecology characterization. Mammalian Biology, 10.1016/j.mambio.2010.08.001.Google Scholar
Vizcaino, S.F., Bond, M., Reguero, M.A. & Pascual, R. 1997. The youngest record of fossil land mammals from Antarctica: its significance on the evolution of the terrestrial environment of the Antarctic Peninsula during the late Eocene. Journal of Paleontology, 71, 348–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vizcaíno, S.F., Reguero, M.A., Goin, F.J., Tambussi, C.P. & Noriega, J.I. 1998. Community structure of the Eocene terrestrial vertebrates from Antarctic Peninsula. Asociación Paleontológica Argentina Publicación Especial, No. 5, 177–183.Google Scholar
Zachos, J., Pagani, M., Sloan, L., Thomas, E. & Billups, K. 2001. Trends, rhythms, and aberrations in global climate 65 Ma to present. Science, 10.1126/science.1059412.Google Scholar