The “living fossil” peccary, Catagonus wagneri (Tayassuidae) and its climatic significance during the Pleistocene and Holocene.

GASPARINI, G. M.; SOIBELZON E.; TONNI, E. P.; UBILLA, M.

Current Researches in the Pleistocene

Center for the Study of the First Americans

Año: 2011 vol. 28

8755-898X

The Tayassuidae first expanded their range into North America from Eurasiaand then extended into South America during the “Great American BioticInterchange,” becoming one of the first North American mammalian immigrants.Three genera are recognized in South America: Platygonus Le Conte(middle Pliocene to early Pleistocene), Catagonus Ameghino (late Pliocene?early Pleistocene to Recent), and Tayassu Fischer (middle Pleistocene toRecent; see Gasparini et al. 2009, 2010).Catagonus wagneri was assigned to the genus Catagonus Ameghino by Wetzelet al. (1975); it is commonly known as Chacoan peccary, taguá or chanchoquimilero. It has the most restricted geographical distribution among extantTayassuidae and inhabits semiarid thorny forests of Dry Chaco in westernParaguay, southeastern Bolivia and northern Argentina (Mayer and Wetzel1986; Gasparini et al. 2006; see Figure 1). The genus Catagonus was knownfrom early- to middle-Pleistocene deposits in Buenos Aires City, Argentina(the extinct species C. metropolitanus). The species C. wagneri was reported byRusconi (1930) in archaeological sites from Santiago del Estero Province,Argentina (ca. 1000 RCYBP; see Tonni 2006); it was believed to be extinct untilit was described by Wetzel et al. (1975). Recently a partial skull from latePleistocene of Uruguay (Cuareim River, Artigas Department) was assigned toC. wagneri (Gasparini et al. 2009, 2010). This material comes from the SopasFormation (>45,000 RCYBP; 43,500 ± 3600 and 58,300 ± 7400 CALYBP [TLdates]; see Ubilla 2004). This is the oldest fossil record of this species andshows that the species ranged out of its present distribution during latePleistocene.Chacoan peccary is more like the extinct Platygonus than the other livingpeccaries. Certain anatomical features of C. wagneri are linked with a cursoriallife in open and arid or semiarid environments (e.g., elongated limbs, areduction of the lateral digits, and a great development of the sinuses andnasal chambers; see Wetzel 1977).At present, C. wagneri inhabits areas of rainfall between 800 mm (MariscalEstigarribia, Paraguay) and 80 mm (Las Lomitas, Argentina)—concentratedin summer months—and high temperatures (mean annual temperature over24°C). During the late Pleistocene (Uruguay) and the late Holocene (Argentina),C. wagneri is recorded in association with mammals that also indicatearid or semiarid conditions (e.g., Lama guanicoe, Myrmecophaga tridactyla)linked to chacoan vegetation.During the arid phases of the Pleistocene and Holocene, C. wagneri extendedits geographic range; during the mainly humid phases—similar to thepresent ones—it has survived in a scrub-thorn refugium.