INVESTIGADORES
FERNICOLA Juan Carlos
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
New vertebrate assemblage from the Brochero Formation (Late Pliocene), Córdoba Province, Argentina.
Autor/es:
CRUZ, L. E.; FERNICOLA, J. C.; CARIGNANO, C.; BARGO, M. S.; BOND, M.; BRIZUELA, S.; CANDELA, A. M.; DESCHAMPS, C. M.; KALUZA, J.; ORTIZ, P.; PARDIÑAS, U.F.J.; PÉREZ BEN, C.; TETA, P.; GUIOMAR VUCETICH, M.
Lugar:
Mendoza
Reunión:
Congreso; 4th International Palaeontological Congress; 2014
Institución organizadora:
International Palaeontological Association
Resumen:
The Brochero Formation (?Horizonte Brocherense? of Castellanos) was
created on the basis of a mammal assemblage from its type locality Valle de
Traslasierra (San Alberto Department), and from Valle de Los Reartes
(Calamuchita Department), both in Córdoba Province, Central Argentina. The list
of taxa included: Nonotherium and Paedotherium (Notungulata); Plaina,
Propanochthus, Nopachthus and Plohophorus (Xenarthra,
Cingulata); Orthomyctera, Ctenomys and Paleocavia (Rodentia);
and Felidae indet. (Carnivora). In 1944, this mammal association was assigned
by Castellanos to his ?Uquian Stage? (early Pliocene for Castellanos). Later,
different authors considered this association either Montehermosan Stage/Age
(early Pliocene) or Huayquerian Stage/Age (late Miocene). Here we present new
vertebrates from the Brochero Formation, recovered in recent field trips to the
type locality, and discuss the age of the fauna and its bearing sediments. This
stratigraphic unit crops out along the Valle de Traslasierra and is composed by
two red beds facies normally graded, with discontinuous laminate and nodular
calcretes. The basal facies is a very fine matrix-supported conglomerate; the
grain size is sabulitic and the matrix is sandy silt. The upper facies is a
fine sandy to clayed silt with paleosoils. The vertebrates recovered include
the following taxa: the anurans Rhinella cf. R. arenarum and R.
cf. R. spinulosa (Bufonidae); squamate reptiles represented by
snakes (?Colubridae? indet.) and different lizards: Teius sp. (Teiidae),
Iguanidae indet. and Tropidurinae indet. Within mammals, Rodentia are
represented by ?Akodon (Abrothrix)? magnus and a new,
still unnamed, genus (Cricetidae), Phugatherium cf. P. novum (Hydrochoeridae),
and an Echimyidae indet; xenarthrans include the cingulates Doellotatus cf.
D. chapadmalensis (Dasypodidae) and Panochthidae indet. Snakes, lizards,
Rhinella cf. R. spinulosa, the rodents, and the dasypodid are
first records for the Brochero Formation. Phugatherium novum is recorded
in the Chapadmalalan (late Zanclian-early Piacenzian), whereas ?Akodon (Abrothrix)?
magnus is recorded in the Vorohuean (Piacenzian) in the Atlantic coast
of Buenos Aires Province. These new records suggest that the Brochero Formation
would have been deposited in the late Zanclean-Piacenzian interval. However, in
order to refine its age further analyses and field works are needed. [PICT
2012-1054 (LEC), UNLu CCD-CD: 054/12 (JCF), PICT 2010-0804 (EPT), PICT 2008-547
(to UFJP), and PIP 2011-164 (to UFJP)].