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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
*
jgelfo@fcnym.unlp.edu.ar
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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
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Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2017 

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