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A poorly known rodentlike mammal (Pachyrukhinae, Hegetotheriidae, Notoungulata) from the Deseadan (Late Oligocene) of Argentina. Paleoecology, biogeography, and radiation of the rodentlike ungulates in South America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Marcelo A. Reguero ,
María Teresa Dozo  and
Esperanza Cerdeño
Marcelo A. Reguero
Affiliation:
División Paleontología de Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, B1900FWA La Plata, Argentina,
María Teresa Dozo
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Paleontología, Centro Nacional Patagonico, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Técnicas, 9120 Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina,
Esperanza Cerdeño
Affiliation:
Departamento de Geología y Paleontología, Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología, y Ciencias Ambientales, Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Avda. Ruiz Leal s/n, 5500 Mendoza, Argentina,
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Abstract

The cranial anatomy of the Deseadan species Medistylus dorsatus (Ameghino, 1903) is described based on new and complete material from Cabeza Blanca (Chubut, Argentina). Medistylus is the largest of the Pachyrukhinae and the specimen described here is probably the best-preserved pachyrukhine skull known in the Paleogene of South America. Previously, the validity of the species and its phylogenetic affinities with Interatheriidae (Notoungulata, Typotheria) were ambiguous and not conclusive. The syntypes, now reported lost, were isolated teeth poorly described by Ameghino in 1903. This almost complete skull with teeth provides more diagnostic features in order to complete the knowledge of genus. Details about cranial and dental morphology allow the reassessment of Medistylus dorsatus and its inclusion within the subfamily Pachyrukhinae (Hegetotheriidae, Notoungulata). Its cranial and dental specializations and the apparent sympatry with its close relatives Prosotherium garzoni Ameghino, 1897 and Propachyrucos smithwoodwardi Ameghino, 1897 all imply a narrow niche partitioning among the Pachyrukhinae during the Deseadan (late Oligocene). The occurrence of three euhypsodont genera of Pachyrukhinae in the Deseadan of Patagonia reflects the major radiation of the rodentlike ungulates in the Cenozoic of South America and suggests a great paleoenvironmental difference between the late Oligocene faunas of Patagonia and those from Bolivia and Uruguay, where they did not live.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 81 , Issue 6 , November 2007 , pp. 1301 - 1307
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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