THE “CONDYLARTH” DIDOLODONTIDAE FROM GRAN BARRANCA: HISTORY OF THE BUNODONT SOUTH AMERICAN MAMMALS UNTIL THE EOCENE-OLIGOCENE TRANSITION

GELFO J. N.

The Paleontology of Gran Barranca: Evolution and Environmental Change through the Middle Cenozoic of Patagonia

Cambridge University Press

Lugar: Cambridge, UK.; Año: 2010; p. 130 - 142

The Didolodontidae were endemic condylarths, small to medium-sized ungulates with bunodont dentition that were well-represented in the Paleogene mammal communities.In this chapter, the systematics of the Didolodontidae are summarized, with focus on the fossil record of the Gran Barranca locality. New didolodontid remains and a new species are described and illustrated. Aphylogenetic analysisis performed to test the position of the new taxon.The analysis shows the Kollpaniinae and the Didolodontidae as monophyletic sister groups. Like other middle Eocene didolodontids, D. magnus sp. nov. developed larger size, in coincidence with climate cooling. The morphology of didolodonts suggests they filled a unique and distinctive ecological role among nativearchaic ungulates, one that seems to have been susceptible to environmental change during the Eocene-Oligocene transition.