New localities with Pleistocene mammals from the Department of Chuquisaca (Bolivia)

Abstract

Since the XIX century, the mammalian palaeofauna that inhabited the Pleistocene (ca. 2.6–0.0011 Ma) of South America is well known in several regions of this subcontinent, especially in the lowlands and at high latitudes. However, there is an imbalance in our knowledge of the diversity achieved by this palaeofauna, especially in the highlands of the current territory of Bolivia, known mainly from the Tarija Valley. With the aim of improving this situation, this paper presents and describes new fossil localities yielding Pleistocene mammals from the northern Department of Chuquisaca, in the Eastern Cordillera and Subandean geological provinces (ca. 2500–3500 m.a.s.l.). These localities include Sucre (S), Yampárez (Ya), Yotala (Yo), Redención Pampa (Rp), Potolo (P), Quila Quila (Q), Maragua (M), and Padilla (Pa), from which eight taxa have been identified: Xenarthra: Panochthus sp. (Rp, Ya), Glyptodon jatunkhirkhi (Yo, Rp), Pampatherium sp. (Rp), Tolypeutes cf. T. matacus (Rp), Megatherium sp. (P); Perissodactyla: Equus sp. (Yo, Rp, Q, M); Artiodactyla: Lama guanicoe (Rp); Proboscidea: Cuvieronius hyodon (Rp). The results show that so far G. jatunkhirkhi is endemic to the Eastern Cordillera and Subandean ranges, while it is reported the first Pleistocene record of Tolypeutes (Chlamyphoridae) for Bolivia, previously restricted to the Early Holocene, in addition to the first mandibular remains of G. jatunkhirkhi, which allows a better characterization of this species. Overall, the recognized assemblages suggest the presence of open and arid/semiarid environments, taking into account the presence of two living sensitive species, i.e. Tolypeutes T. cf. matacus and L. guanicoe. The large number of specimens recorded shows the high fossil potential of some localities in northern Chuquisaca.