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Late Cretaceous/Paleogene West Antarctica Terrestrial Biota and its Intercontinental Affinities

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Earth System Sciences ((BRIEFSEARTHSYST))

Abstract

One of the most intriguing paleobiogeographical phenomena related to the final stage of Gondwanan breakup is the close similarities and, in most cases, inferred sister-group relationships, of a number of terrestrial and marine/coastal vertebrate taxa recovered from Paleogene deposits of West Antarctica with those from other continents (South America, Australia). These continents are today separated by large and deep ocean floors, which was not the case in the geological past. However, the inferred timing of continental separation does not always match with the inferred time of vertebrate dispersals.

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Abbreviations

ACC:

Antarctic Circumpolar Current

EOB:

Eocene–Oligocene boundary

IB/P/B:

Institute of Biology, University of Białystok, Poland

Ma:

Megannum

MLP:

Vertebrate Paleontology collections, Museo de la Plata (UNLP), Argentina

Nd:

Neodynium

SALMA:

South American Land-Mammal Age

SAM:

South America

SANU:

South American native ungulates

SEM:

Scanning electron micrograph

St:

Strontium

WANT:

West Antarctica

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. División Paleontología de Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s/n, 1900, La Plata, Argentina

    Marcelo Reguero, Francisco Goin & Carolina Acosta Hospitaleche

  2. Instituto Antártico Argentino, 1010, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Sergio Marenssi

  3. SINOS—UNISINOS, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos, Av. Unisinos 950, 93022-000, Sao Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Tania Dutra

Authors
  1. Marcelo Reguero
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  2. Francisco Goin
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  3. Carolina Acosta Hospitaleche
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  4. Sergio Marenssi
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  5. Tania Dutra
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Correspondence to Marcelo Reguero .

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Reguero, M., Goin, F., Acosta Hospitaleche, C., Marenssi, S., Dutra, T. (2013). Introduction. In: Late Cretaceous/Paleogene West Antarctica Terrestrial Biota and its Intercontinental Affinities. SpringerBriefs in Earth System Sciences. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5491-1_1

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