New early Miocene primate fossils from Northern Patagonia, Argentina

KRAMARZ, A.; TEJEDOR, M.; FORASIEPI, A.; GARRIDO, ALBERTO

JOURNAL OF HUMAN EVOLUTION

ACADEMIC PRESS LTD-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: New York; Año: 2012 vol. 62 p. 186 - 189

0047-2484

There is a long history of fossil primate discoveries in South America since the nineteenth century with the pioneering works of Peter Lund and Carlos and Florentino Ameghino. Most of the 26 extinct described genera come from two distant regions: Patagonia (Argentina and Chile) and La Venta (Colombia), ranging from the early to middle Miocene. The fossil record still remains limited, hampering the proper understanding of the history of the group, which is still under debate. The oldest records of primates in South America belong to Branisella and Szalatavus, derived from late Oligocene deposits at Salla, Bolivia, assigned to the Deseadan SALMA (South American Land Mammal Age). The second-oldest series of platyrrhine primates is derived from early Miocene levels of central Patagonia and Chile which are assigned to the Colhuehuapian SALMA, and includes Dolichocebus, Tremacebus, Mazzonicebus, and Chilecebus (Kay, 2010 and references therein). In this work, we report the discovery and discuss the implications of two isolated primate teeth from early Miocene beds of Northern Patagonia (Neuquén Province, Argentina). Due to the fact that platyrrhines are by far one of the rarest groups among the South American Cenozoic mammals, new findings, even fragmentary remains, are always relevant. Particularly, these new findings represent the first reports of early Miocene primates in Northern Patagonia ?and possibly the oldest in Patagonia? and thus extend the oldest primate records in southern latitudes.