ANALISIS ECOMORFOLOGICO DEL CANIDO HIPERCARNIVORO THERIODICTIS PLATENSIS (MAMMALIA CARNÍVORA) DEL PLEISTOCENO DE SUDAMERICA.

PREVOSTI, F. J. Y P. PALMQVIST

AMEGHINIANA

APA

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2001 p. 375 - 384

0002-7014

Theriodictis was part of a South American clade of canids showing hypercarnivorous characters such as large carnassial teeth lacking the metaconid and the hypoconid, wide palate, and small postcarnassial molars. This genus comprises two species: T. platensis, from the pampean region of Argentina, and T. tarijensis from Tarija, Bolivia. Both are restricted to the Ensenadan Age, early to lowest late Pleistocene (Biozone of Tolypeutes pampeus, 1.8 to 0.5 Ma). The discovery of an almost complete skeleton of T. platensis (MLP 96-IX-1-1) permits ecomorphological analysis (Palmqvist et al., 1999). This approach uses principal components and discriminant function analyses, as well as multiple regression analysis for estimating ecomorphological adaptations and body mass in extinct canids. The body mass estimated for T. platensis was ~37 kg. The craniodental morphology of this species was similar to that shown by extant hypercarnivorous canids whose diet includes >70% of herbivores and other carnivores. The potential ungulate prey of T. platensis included camelids (Lama sp.), cervids (Epieurycerus truncus, Antifer ensenadensis), equids (Equus (Amerhippus) sp., Hippidion devillei), and tayassuids (Catagonus metropolitanus), as well as giant rodents (Neochoerus sp.), mesotherids (Mesotherium cristatum), and giant dasypodids (Eutatus seguini, Propraopus grandis, Pampatherium sp.).