PREPIDOLÓPIDOS (METATHERIA, POLYDOLOPIMORPHIA) DEL NOROESTE DE ARGENTINA: NUEVOS MORFOTIPOS Y NUEVOS DATOS DE LA ANATOMÍA DENTARIA DE PUNADOLOPS

JUDITH BABOT; FACUNDO DEFOREL

San Miguel de Tucumán

Congreso; XX CONGRESO GEOLÓGICO ARGENTINO; 2017

Abstract. Prepidolopids (Metatheria, Polydolopimorphia) from Northwestern Argentina: New morphotypes and new data about dental anatomy of Punadolops. Prepidolopidae is a group of small metatherians which inhabited low, intermediate, and high latitudes of South America during the Eocene. It includes the genera Prepidolops, Punadolops, Perrodelphys, and Incadelphys. In Northwestern Argentina, the known species are Prepidolops didelphoides, P. molinai, and Punadolops alonsoi coming from middle and late Eocene deposits of Lumbrera inferior and Geste formations. In this work we present new specimens of Prepidolopidae recovered through the use of sieving techniques in sediments of Geste, Quebrada de los Colorados, and Casa Grande formations. They include more complete materials of Punadolops which allowed a revision of some diagnostic features of the genus (e.g. the development of the mandibular ramus, the relative size third premolar, the strong reduction of the last lower molar) and new morphotypes with close affinities with Prepidolops didelphoides. These last results extend the stratigraphical, temporal and geographical distribution of the genus Prepidolops, which is similar to that described for some Eocene cingulates from the region. Interestingly, this pattern differs from that known for some notoungulates (e.g. Interatheriidae and Archaeohyracidae).