Mammalian predator-prey relationships and reoccupation of burrows in the Pliocene of the Pampean Region (Argentina): new ichnological and taphonomic evidences

CENIZO, M. M.; SOIBELZON, E.; MAGNUSSEN SAFFER, M.

Historical Biology

Taylor and Francis

Año: 2015

0891-2963

Here we describe an unusual taphocenosis found inside a crotovine fromthe middle Pliocene Chapadmalal ?Formation? (Buenos Aires Province). The taphocenosis has the greatest vertebrate diversity recovered insidean ichnofossil of this type (it has  remains of dasypodids,didelphids, procyonids,  anurans,  and caviomorph rodents included in coprolitesand disaggregated eschatological waste). We describe the four general size-typesfor crotovines and paleoburrows found in the Pliocene-Holocene of Argentina andBrazil according to their maximum diameters and the possible builders. The crotovine corresponds to the mid-large size-type andis linked to the activity of the large dasypodidae Ringueletia simpsoni, which remains were found inside. A detailedbibliographic search, allow us to determine that the eschatological remains correspondsto a small-sized carnivorous mammal with a body mass of between 1 and 6 kg. Within the guild of Chapadmalalancarnivore mammals, the inferred mass range is restricted to large didelphidsand mid-sized procyonids (represented in the association by Thylophorops chapadmalensis and Cyonasua lutaria, respectively), fittingbetter to the estimated mass for T. chapadmalensis. The data gathered here is consistent with the available background, indicatingthat the reoccupation of burrows is a common behavior in small-sized carnivoremammals at least since the early Pliocene. In addition, is postulated a predator-prey relationship between the studiedcarnivores and the most abundant small fossorial mammals of the PampeanPliocene.