OSTEOLOGÍA CRANEANA Y TAXONOMÍA DE PRONOTHROTHERIUM (XENARTHRA, FOLIVORA, NOTHROTHERIIDAE) DEL MIOCENO TARDÍO–PLIOCENO TEMPRANO DE LA PROVINCIA DE CATAMARCA (ARGENTINA)

Autores/as

  • Timothy Gaudin Department of Biology, Geology and Environmental Science (Department 2653), University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, TN, USA
  • Susan Tuckniss Department of Biology, Geology and Environmental Science (Department 2653), University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, TN, USA
  • Alberto Boscaini División Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina | IEGEBA – CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • François Pujos Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales (IANIGLA), CCT‐CONICET Mendoza, Argentina
  • Gerardo De Iuliis Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Canada | Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5710/PEAPA.04.09.2020.320

Palabras clave:

Xenartros, Perezosos, Pronothrotherium, Cráneo, Taxonomía

Resumen

Pronothrotherium typicum es un perezoso notrotérido del Mioceno tardío–Plioceno temprano (Edades Mamífero Huayqueriense–Chapadmalense) de la provincia de Catamarca, noroeste de Argentina. Pronothrotherium es uno de los cuatro géneros de notroterinos cuyos esqueletos son relativamente completos, pero a diferencia de los otros tres, su anatomía no ha sido formalmente descripta. El presente estudio proporciona las primeras descripciones e ilustraciones de la anatomía craneana de Pronothrotherium, basadas principalmente en un cráneo casi completo de un subadulto y un fragmento de cráneo de un adulto de P. typicum, depositados en las colecciones del Field Museum (Chicago, Illinois, USA). Se provee también una revisión de la diagnosis de P. typicum basada en caracteres craneanos. El cráneo de esta especie muestra una serie de características específicas, como una marcada quilla del vómer en la región nasofaríngea que termina en una protuberancia globosa, que representaría una característica única dentro de los mamíferos. Sobre la base del presente estudio se reconocen dos especies contemporáneas del género Pronothrotherium, P. typicum y P. mirabilis, aunque la segunda es más dudosa. No se acepta la validez de una tercera especie anteriormente descripta, P. figueirasi, que es considerada como sinónimo de P. mirabilis. Este estudio no se propone resolver las relaciones filogenéticas inciertas entre los notroterinos más conocidos Pronothrotherium, Mionothropus (Mioceno tardío) y los dos géneros de Nothrotheriini pleistocenos, Nothrotherium y Nothrotheriops. Sin embargo, esperamos que los datos proporcionados faciliten futuros estudios que abarquen estas cuestiones.

Citas

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