Los camélidos de Cueva Túnel (Santa Cruz): desde la osteometría, hacia una diferenciación de especies

VALIZA DAVIS, CATALINA; GASCO, ALEJANDRA

REVISTA BRASILEIRA DE PALEONTOLOGIA

SOC BRASILEIRA PALEONTOLOGIA

Lugar: Porto Alegre; Año: 2019 p. 146 - 164

1519-7530

The camelids of Cueva Tunel (Santa Cruz): from the osteometry, towards a di erentiation of species. We present a multivariate osteometric analysis on the rst camelid phalanges from the archaeological site Cueva Túnel (10.500 years 14C BP), Central Plateau of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. We discriminate between fore and hind phalanges. We classify the elements taxonomically by means of Conglomerate and Principal Component analyses. The results show a wide metric variability of the elements assigned to the family Camelidae. We con rm the presence of three camelid morphotypes in a limited temporal range (10.500/10.000 years 14C BP) during the Pleistocene?Holocene transition. We hypothesize that these types correspond to Lama guanicoe, a larger species such as Hemiauchenia paradoxa, and at least one smaller taxa such as Lama gracilis or Vicugna vicugna. Importantly, all these species would have shared the same ecological niche. This work provides the rst morphometric assessment conducted upon extinct camelids from this Patagonian region.