The fossil record of the Ocelot Leopardus pardalis (Carnivora, Felidae): a new record from the southern range of its distribution and its paleonvironmental context

FRANCISCO JUAN, PREVOSTI; CECILIA MÉNDEZ; SCHIAFFINI, MAURO I.; SEBASTIÁN CIRIGNOLI; SILVINA CONTRERAS; ALFREDO ZURITA; CARLOS LUNA

JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY

SOC VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY

Lugar: Lawrence; Año: 2021

0272-4634

Leopardus is a genus that, despite currently being widely distributed in SouthAmerica, shows until now a fragmentary fossil record. Among Leopardus, L. pardalis is thelargest species, having an historical range that includes tropical and subtropical habitats fromsouthern U.S.A. to southern South America but, as usual in the Ocelot lineage, fossil remainsthat can be interpreted with certainty are restricted to the Late Pleistocene of southern U.S.A.and Brazil. Here we present a new record (a fragment of right maxillary plus zygomatic withP4-M1; incomplete left mandible with the coronoid process, part of c1 alveolus and p3-m1; isolated right c1) from the Late Pleistocene of Arroyo Toropí, Corrientes province, Argentina.The bearing level was dated with Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) in 98.4 ka(Marine Isotopic Stage, MIS 5c). Present environmental requirements of L. pardalis andclimatic reconstructions carried out here suggest a compatible scenario with MIS 5 for thisfossil, which is concordant with the associated dating (ca. 98.4 ka). Leopardus pardalisappears to be part of a subtropical fauna, with Tayassu pecari and Euphractus sexcinctus,which inhabited the region during warm and wet climatic events of MIS 5c. Phytoliths andother vertebrates are congruent with its presence, since the inferred similar conditions to thepresent one. The new record is relevant not only because it is the first fossil record of thespecies for the Pleistocene of Argentina, but also because it is placed 1800 km south of theclosest accurately identified published fossil.