New record of Pachyarmatherium (Cingulata: Pachyarmatheriidae) from the Late Pleistocene in Venezuela

REYES CÉSPEDES A.; CARLINI A. A.; CARRILLO-BRICEÑO, J.D.

ANARTIA

Museo de Biología Universidad de Zulia

Lugar: Zulia; Año: 2023 vol. 35 p. 7 - 13

1315-642X

The Falcón state, in northwestern Venezuela, preserves one of the oldest localities documenting human presence on theAmericas in association with megafauna remains. One of these localities is the Late Pleistocene Taima-Taima site, whichis located in the vicinity of the Caribbean coast. Excavations since the 1960s in the Taima-Taima site, and surroundings,have offered new insights into the faunal assemblages that inhabited this arid coastal savannah region during the Late Pleistocene.Isolated osteoderms collected in recent prospections allow us to report here the presence of the extinct cingulatePachyarmatherium cf. brasiliense and Pachyarmatherium sp. from the Taima-Taima site, and the new locality Cucuruchú(Las Dunas). The record of these taxa in the Late Pleistocene of the Falcón state increases the known paleodiversity ofCingulata for the region and expands the geographical distribution of the genus, which is poorly known in South America.