A review of the Quaternary Scelidotheriinae (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Tardigrada) from the Tarija-Padcaya basin, Bolivia

MIÑO-BOILINI, ÁNGEL R.; CARLINI, ALFREDO A.; ZURITA, ALFREDO E.; SOIBELZON, ESTEBAN; RODRÍGUEZ-BUALÓ, SANTIAGO M.

ANAIS DA ACADEMIA BRASILEIRA DE CIENCIAS.

ACAD BRASILEIRA DE CIENCIAS

Año: 2018 vol. 91 p. 1 - 11

0001-3765

The Mylodontidae Scelidotheriinae (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Tardigrada) are a diversified clade of SouthAmerican fossil ground sloths, with a wide geographic distribution, especially in high and middle latitudes.According to the last revision, the Quaternary diversity includes the genera Scelidotherium, Catonyx, andValgipes. The clade Scelidotheriinae is well represented in the Pleistocene of the Tarija-Padcaya basin,and the first mention of these ground sloths correspond to the middle of the XIX Century. Since then,several species (i.e., Scelidotherium tarijensis, Scelidodon tarijensis, Scelidotherium capellini) have beenreported as inhabiting the Tarija-Padcaya basin during the Pleistocene. Despite the abundance of fossilrecords of Scelidotheriinae in this area, no modern taxonomic revisions are available. In consequence, inthis contribution a revision of the remains assigned to Scelidotheriinae from the Tarija-Padcaya basin isaccomplished, and some biostratigraphic and geographic implications are discussed. Our results show thatone single species (Catonyx tarijensis) can be recognized in the studied area, whereas a supposed smallerone (Scelidotherium patrium) actually corresponds to juvenile specimens of C. tarijensis.