CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Gomphotheres are a conspicuous group of immigrant mammals from North America that arrived in South America during the Pleistocene. There are scarce data that suggested they arrived during the late Miocene or during the late Pliocene, but there is insufficient information to confirm this early arrival. This group became extinct at latest Pleistocene, the time that humans arrived. Both genera reached South America in two independent dispersal events, Cuvieronius dispersed across the Andean corridor, while Stegomastodon spread along the eastern route. The present study compiles updated data on the phylogeny, systematics, ecology and distributions of gomphotheres in Argentina from data provided over the past decades.