The cingulates (Mammalia: Xenarthra) from the late Quaternary of Northern Brazil: fossil records, paleoclimates and displacements in America

SOIBELZON, E.; AVILLA, L.; CASTRO, M.

QUATERNARY INTERNATIONAL

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2015

1040-6182

This paper presents the Quaternary cingulates collected from two limestone caves in Aurora do Tocantins, northern Brazil. Osteoderms of Euphractus sexcinctus, Dasypus novemcinctus, Propraopus sulcatus, and Pachyarmaterium brasiliense were retrieved, representing an expansion on the known distribution of the taxa. The specimens are described herein, and their geographic and chronologic distributions are reviewed. Absolute datings allied to the presence of biostratigraphically relevant taxa indicate a Late Pleistocene?middle Holocene age. Considering that E. sexcinctus and D. novemcinctus occupy the area nowadays, why part of the past cingulate community survived and the other part went extinct? We believe that their distribution was affected by paleoclimatic shifts, especially during glacial/interglacial cycles. The colder and arid climate of the Pleistocene glacial periods favored the development of open forests and savannas in Brazil, whereas grasslands and steppes were predominant in higher latitudes. Probably, Propraopus and Pachyarmatherium (from the South and from the North, respectively) took refuge in lower latitudes, including in Brazil. Later, during the interglacial cycle, warm and moist climates favored the development of an evergreen forest in central Brazil, leading Propraopus and Pachyarmatherium to extinction and positively selecting E. sexcinctus and D. novemcinctus.