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Annual isotopic diet (δ13C) of Eremotherium laurillardi (Lund, 1842) and climate variation (δ18O) through the late Pleistocene in the Brazilian Intertropical Region

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2023

Mário André Trindade Dantas Open the ORCID record for Mário André Trindade Dantas [Opens in a new window] ,
Verônica Santos Gomes ,
Alexander Cherkinsky  and
Hermínio Ismael de Araújo-Junior
Mário André Trindade Dantas*
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Ecologia e Geociências, Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA/IMS-CAT), Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, Brazil
Verônica Santos Gomes
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Ecologia e Geociências, Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA/IMS-CAT), Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, Brazil
Alexander Cherkinsky
Affiliation:
Center for Applied Isotope Studies, University of Georgia, Athens, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA
Hermínio Ismael de Araújo-Junior
Affiliation:
Departamento de Estratigrafia e Paleontologia, Faculdade de Geologia, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
*
Corresponding author: Mário André Trindade Dantas; Email: matdantas@yahoo.com.br
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Abstract

We inferred the annual isotopic diet (δ13C) of an individual of the giant ground sloth Eremotherium laurillardi found in Toca dos Ossos (Ourolândia, Bahia, Brazil) through the extension of its third inferior molar. This individual lived in the region at 40,779–39,617cal yr BP. One year of its life was recorded in a length of 67 mm in the tooth. Two years were recorded in this molariform, during which the diet and climate did not change much, and substantial precipitation occurred during the middle of the year, which is in opposition to the modern pattern. The mean carbon (μδ13C = −13.9 ± 1.8‰) and oxygen (μδ18O = 22.5 ± 2.9‰) isotopic values were similar to values for other individuals of the species found in the same cave but different from the values found in other localities of the Brazilian Intertropical Region, which allows us to suggest that this region had more precipitation and lower temperatures in comparison to today. The oxygen isotopic values found in dated fossils of E. laurillardi and from two other taxa found in the same cave (Toxodon platensis, and Notiomastodon platensis) could help in the understanding of the climatic variation that occurred in the region.

Keywords

Annual dietStable isotopesRadiocarbon datingXenarthraLate Quaternary
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 115 , September 2023 , pp. 194 - 201
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Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2023

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