Osteometrics of South-Central Andean wild camelids: New standards.

A. S. MUÑOZ; M. MONDINI

Zooarchaeology in the Neotropics: Environmental Diversity and Human-Animal Interactions

Springer

Año: 2017; p. 177 - 188

The osteometry of Neotropical camelids has drawn increasing attention over the lastyears given its potential to segregate species. Here we present two new osteometric standards forappendicular bones of wild camelids from the South‐Central Andes (>3500 m.a.s.l.): a vicuña(Vicugna vicugna) and a guanaco (Lama guanicoe). The vicuña is from Antofagasta de la Sierra,near the margins of its present southern range. The Andean guanaco is from Sierra del Aconquija,also in NW Argentina, where this species is poorly documented. These new standards aregenerally consistent with other available ones. While vicuñas and guanacos do not generallyoverlap in size, they do with their domestic counterparts: alpacas and llamas, respectively. Thenew measured guanaco individual is among the smallest known ones, and compares to otherspecimens from NW Argentina. The measured vicuña and guanaco front first phalanx, one of themost diagnostic elements, varies mainly in the breadth dimension of the articular surface and notso much in its width. The forelimb first phalanges of both camelids are about the same length, asare the rear ones and the second phalanges, unlike other studies have reported. Yet, the guanacofirst phalanges are much more robust in their diaphysis. Thus, bone gracility, and not just grossmaximum linear size, may be a distinctive trait in some cases. Some measures are more powerfulthan others to discriminate taxonomy, as has often been emphasized, although this should beused with caution until size and shape variation is further recognized. Variation recognition in wildcamelid osteometry is crucial to help understand its whole range and to link it to specificconditions.