The most ancient caviine rodent (Hystricognathi, Cavioidea) comes from the late Miocene of Northwest Argentina (South America)

MADOZZO-JAÉN, M. C.; PÉREZ, M. E.

Historical Biology

Taylor & Francis Editor Resources

Año: 2016 vol. 29 p. 376 - 383

0891-2963

The family Caviidae is one of the most diverse groups among South American hystricognath rodents andis represented by three main living lineages: Caviinae (cavies), Dolichotinae (maras) and Hydrochoerinae(capybaras). Caviinae includes the smaller forms of caviids represented by the extant Microcavia, Cavia andGalea. They are distributed in a wide range of environments throughout South America. In addition, threeother genera from the late Miocene?Pliocene (Dolicavia, Palaeocavia and Neocavia) are recognised in highlatitudes. In northwestern Argentina, the fossil forms of Caviinae have been poorly studied and for mostof them there is no precise stratigraphic information. We describe and evaluate the phylogenetic affinitiesof the most ancient caviine from the Chiquimil Formation, Catamarca province, northwestern Argentina(9.14?7.14 ma). According to the morphological analysis of the mandibular and dental morphology andthe results of the phylogenetic analysis, we assigned the new species tentatively to genus Palaeocavia. Thephylogenetic position of the new species suggests an earlier origin for the lineage Palaeocavia + Cavia andfor the entire clade Caviinae.