New early Eocene mammalian fauna from western Patagonia, Argentina

Title Variants

Alternative: Eocene mammals from western Patagonia

Related Titles

Series: American Museum novitates, no. 3638

By

Tejedor, Marcelo F.
Goin, Francisco
Gelfo, Javier N.
López, Guillermo, paleontologist.
Bond, Mariano.
Carlini, Alfredo A.
Scillato-Yané, Gustavo J.
Woodburne, Michael O.
Chornogubsky, Laura.
Aragón, Eugenio.
Reguero, Marcelo.
Czaplewski, Nicholas J.
Vincon, Sergio.
Martin, Gabriel M.
Ciancio, Martín.

Type

Book

Material

Published material

Publication info

New York, NY, American Museum of Natural History, c2009

Notes

Caption title.

"March 31, 2009."

Two new fossil mammal localities from the Paleogene of central-western Patagonia are preliminarily described as the basis for a new possible biochronological unit for the early Eocene of Patagonia, correlated as being between two conventional SALMAs, the Riochican (older) and the Vacan subage of the Casamayoran SALMA. The mammal-bearing strata belong to the Middle Chubut River Volcanic-Pyroclastic Complex (northwestern Chubut Province, Argentina), of Paleocene-Eocene age. This complex includes a variety of volcaniclastic, intrusive, pyroclastic, and extrusive rocks deposited after the K-T boundary. Geochronological data taken from nearby volcanic deposits that underlie and overlie the mammal-bearing levels indicate that both faunas are of late early Eocene age (Ypresian-Lutetian boundary). In addition to more than 50 species of mammals, including marsupials, ungulates, and xenarthrans, two lower molars are the oldest evidence of bats in South America. Paleobotanical and palynological evidence from inferred contemporary localities nearby indicate subtropical environments characterized by warm and probably moderately humid climate. Remarkably, this new fauna is tentatively correlated with Eocene mammals from the La Meseta Formation in the Antarctic Peninsula. We conclude that the two localities mentioned above are part of a possible new biochronological unit, but the formal proposal of a new SALMA awaits completion of taxonomic analysis of the materials reported upon here. If the La Meseta fauna is correlated biochronologically to western Patagonia, this also suggests a continental extension of the biogeographic Weddelian Province as far north as central-western Patagonia.

Subjects

Argentina , Chubut , Eocene , Mammals, Fossil , Paleoecology , Paleontology , Paleontology, Stratigraphic , Patagonia (Argentina and Chile) , South America , Stratigraphic correlation

Call Number

QL1 .A436 no.3638 2009

Language

English

Identifiers

OCLC: 317626583