A new Xenungulata (Mammalia) from the Paleocene of Patagonia, Argentina

GELFO J.N.; LOPEZ G. M.; BOND M.

JOURNAL OF PALEONTOLOGY

Paleontological Society

Año: 2008 vol. 82 p. 329 - 335

0022-3360

A new form of Xenungulata Paula Couto, 1952 from red levels of the Peñas Coloradas Formation in a locality near Puerto Visser (45º17 S, 67º01 W), Chubut province, Argentina, is represented by a fragmentary left jaw with the m3 (MPEF-PV 1871). Notoetayoa gargantuai n.gen. and n. sp. is the first ever found in direct association with Carodnia feruglioi Simpson, 1935a which characterizes the incompletely known homonymous zone of the late Paleocene of Patagonia. A preliminary phylogenetic analysis, including representatives of Condylarthra, Litopterna, Notoungulata, Pyrotheria, Xenungulata and Astrapotheria, plus the characters that could be scored in the new taxon, was performed using TNT software. A single mostparsimonious tree was obtained. Notoetayoa gargantuai has a closer phylogenetic relationship with the Xenungulate Etayoa bacatensis Villarroel, 1987 from the ?middle Paleocene of Colombia than with any other Tertiary ungulate group of South America. Notoetayoa gargantuai fills an important gap in the knowledge of the mammalian faunas from the Paleocene of Patagonia, particularly of the poorly known pre-Itaborian times.