FIRST TAXON DATE AND STABLE ISOTOPES (C, N) FOR THE LARGE HYPERCARNIVOROUS SOUTH AMERICAN CANID PROTOCYON TROGLODYTES (CANIDAE, CARNIVORA)

FRANCISCO J. PREVOSTI; BLAINE SCHUBERT

QUATERNARY INTERNATIONAL

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2013 vol. 305 p. 67 - 73

1040-6182

Protocyon troglodytes was a hypercarnivorous South American canid that died out during the LatePleistocene-early Holocene extinction, an event that eliminated most large mammals on the continent.The precise timing of these extinctions is poorly understood in South America, primarily due to a lack ofradiometric dates on taxa. Of the extinct South American canids, P. troglodytes have the most extensivefossil record and widest distribution. However, the age of these specimens is based on relatively coarseassociation with other dated taxa or sediments. This paper describes an unpublished specimen ofP. troglodytes and present the first 14C date and stable isotopes (d13C and d15N) for the species. This is thefirst taxon date for the genus and species, with an age of 17,338
85 BP, and represents the youngestspecimen dated by any means. The isotopes indicate that P. troglodytes was a hypercarnivore, in agreementwith morphological studies, and that Equus neogeus, Hippidion principale, Stegomastodon platensis,Toxodon, and Megatherium americanum may have been part of its diet.