A new land mammal locality from the Eocene of Seymour Island, Antarctica

GELFO J. N.; ACOSTA HOSPITALECHE, CAROLINA; REGUERO, M.A.,

Kuala Lumpur

Congreso; XXXIV SCAR (Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research); 2016

SCAR

In the last summer Antarctic fieldtrip during January and February of 2016, within the activities of the ―Vertebrate Paleontology of the James Ross Basin, Antarctic Peninsula‖ project of the Instituto Antártico Argentino (IAA), new remains of fossil terrestrial mammals were found in Seymour Island, NE of Antarctic Peninsula. The new locality IAA 2/16 is placed near the López de Bertodano Bay coast where crop out the Eocene (Ypresian) levels of Campamento and Cucullaea I Allomember of the La Meseta Formation. The fossil remains came from the lower coquina bed of Cucullaea I, which in contrast to the upper naticid bank of the same allomember, were reworked from the lower Campamento level. The surface was prospected seeking for fossils to the naked eye and also, a lot of sediment were sieved, concentrating around 400 kg for future search of small remains, by "picking" under loupe magnification. The faunistic association was dominated by invertebrates, mainly bivalves and a few gastropods. The more abundant vertebrates were sharks teeth, followed by chimaerid tooth plates and teleostean teeth. Isolated bones of Aves, particularly penguins were also present but not so rich, like those from the upper naticid bank which outcrop in other classic Antarctic localities.