Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Palaeothentid Marsupials of the Salla Beds of Bolivia (Late Oligocene): Two New Species and Insights into the Post-Eocene Radiation of Palaeothentoids

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Mammalian Evolution Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We report the finding of new remains of palaeothentid marsupials (Paucituberculata: Marsupialia) from the late Oligocene of Salla, Bolivia (Deseadan South American Land Mammal Age). These fossils represent two new taxa, Antawallathentes illimani and Antawallathentes quimsacruza, increasing the known number of Deseadan palaeothentoid species to 11. Antawallathentes illimani is represented by two incomplete skulls and A. quimsacruza is known only from the holotype, a partial mandible with p3 - m4. Our phylogenetic analysis, based on a data matrix modified from that of Abello, suggests that the two new Salla species are members of the Palaeothentidae (sensu stricto) and are more closely related to each other than they are to other known palaeothentids. Although these new taxa inidicate a greater diversity of Deseadan palaeothentoids than previously appreciated, nowhere in the Deseadan are palaeothentoids abundant, as they are in later Colhuehuapian and Santacrucian faunas. Thus, Deseadan palaeothentoid species richness, coupled with the observation that these palaeothentoids are numerically few in Deseadan faunas, permits the development of a general outline of the post-Eocene palaeothentoid radiation. This may be summarized as follows: 1) EOB Pulse that began near the Eocene/Oligocene Boundary; 2) Deseadan Diversification, increased species richness without large population sizes; and 3) Early Miocene Diversification, increased species richness with local abundances. This Colhuehuapian to Santacrucian diversity with local abundences declined after the Santacrucian. Palaeothentoids are unknown after the Laventan SALMA.

Resumen

Reportamos el hallazgo de nuevos restos de marsupiales palaeonthentidos (Paucituberculata:Marsupialia) del Oligoceno Tardío de Salla, Bolivia (Edad Mamífero Suramericana Deseadense). Estos fósiles representan dos nuevos taxa Antawallathentes illimani y A. quimsacruza, los cuales incrementan el número de especies de palaeothentoideos Deseadenses a once. Antawallathentes illimani esta representado por dos cráneos incompletos y A. quimsacruza solo se conoce por el holotipo, una mandíbula parcial con p3 - m4. Nuestro análisis filogenético, mayormente basado en la matriz de Abello, sugiere que los dos nuevos ejemplares de Salla son miembros de Palaeothentidae (sensu stricto) y están más cercanamente relacionados entre ellos que con los otros palaeothentidos conocidos. Aunque estos nuevos taxa indican una gran diversidad de palaeothentoideos Deseadenses nunca antes vista, en ninguna parte en le Deseadense son abundantes del palaeothentoideos, como lo son el en las faunas del Colhuehuapiense o el Santacrusense. Así, la riqueza de especies de palaeothentoideos Deseadenses, asociado con la observación que estos palaeothentoideos son numéricamente pocos en las faunas Deseadenses, permite el desarrollo de un bosquejo general de la radiación post-Eocena de los palaeothentoideos. Esto se podría resumir de la siguiente manera: 1) Pulso EOB (Eocene-Oligocene Boundary) incrementan el número de especies paleothentoideos que comienza cerca del limite Eoceno/Oligoceno; 2) Diversificación Deseadense, sin grandes tamaños poblacionales; y 3) Diversificación del Mioceno Temprano con abundancias locales. Esta diversidad con abundancias locales en las faunas locales del Colhuehuapiense y Santacrusense declina después del Santacrusense. Los palaeothentoideos son desconocidos después del SALMA La Ventense.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abello MA (2007) Sistemática y bioestratigrafía de los Paucituberculata (Mammalia: Marsupialia) del Cenozoico de América del Sur. Ph.D. dissertation, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Argentina

  • Abello MA (2013) Analysis of dental homologies and phylogeny of Paucituberculata (Mammalia: Marsupialia). Biol J Linn Soc 109(2):441–465. doi: 10.1111/bij.12048

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abello MA, Candela AM (2010) Postcranial skeleton of the Miocene marsupial Palaeothentes (Paucituberculata, Palaeothentidae): paleobiology and phylogeny. J Vertebr Paleontol 30(5):1515–1527 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2010.501437

  • Abello MA, Mamani Quispe B, Pujos F (2011) Avances en el estudio de los marsupials Paucituberculata (Palaeothentoidea) y Polydolopimorphia (Argyrolagidae) de los estratos de Salla (Oligoceno Tardío), Bolivia. Reunión Anual de Comunicaciones de la Asociación Paleontológica Argentina 2011: p. 16

    Google Scholar 

  • Abello MA, Ortiz-Jaureguizar E, Candela AM (2012) Palecology of the Paucituberculata and Microbiotheria (Mammalia, Marsupialia) from the late early Miocene of Patagonia. In: Vizcaíno SF, Kay RF, Bargo MS (eds) Paleoecology of the Early Miocene Paleobiology in Patagonia: High-Latitude Paleocommunities of the Santa Cruz Formation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 156–172

  • Anaya F, Shockey BJ, Croft DA (2010) Sparassodonts of Salla: species richness and new taxa of carnivorous marsupials from the late Oligocene of Bolivia. J Vertebr Paleontol, SVP Program and Abstracts Book 2010:53A

    Google Scholar 

  • Antoine PO, Marivaux L, Croft DA, Billet G, Ganerød M, Jaramillo C, Martin T, Orliac MJ, Tejada J, Altamirano AJ, Duranthon F, Fanjat G, Rousse S, Salas-Gismondi R (2012) Middle Eocene rodents from Peruvian Amazonia reveal the pattern and timing of caviomorph origins and biogeography. Proc Roy Soc B 279:1319–1326. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2011.1732

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Asher RJ, Horovitz IA, Sánchez-Villagra MR (2004) First combined cladistic analysis of marsupial mammal interrelationships. Mol Phylogenet Evol 33:240–250. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2004.05.004

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bensley (1903) On the evolution of the Australian Marsupialia: with remarks on the relationships of the marsupials in general. Trans Linn Soc Lond 9:83–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bond M, Tejedor MF, Campbell Jr KE, Chornogubsky L, Novo N, Goin F (2015) Eocene primates of South America and the African origins of New World monkeys. Nature, doi:10.1038/nature14120

    Google Scholar 

  • Bown TM, Fleagle JG (1993) Systematics, biostratigraphy, and dental evolution of the Palaeothentidae, later Oligocene to early-middle Miocene (Deseadan-Santacrucian) caenolestoid marsupials of South America. J Paleontol (suppl mem 29) 67(2):1–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell KE Jr, Frailey CD, Romero-Pittman L (2004) The Paleogene Santa Rosa local fauna of Amazonian Perú. Science Series (Nat Hist Mus Los Angeles County) 40:3–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Dumont ER, Bown TM (1997) New caenolestoid marsupials. In: Kay RF, Madden RH, Cifelli RH, Flynn JJ (eds) Vertebrate Paleontology in the Neotropics: the Miocene Fauna of La Venta. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, pp 207–202

  • Dumont ER, Strait SG, Friscia AR (2000) Abderitid marsupials from the Miocene of Patagonia: an assessment of form, function, and evolution. J Paleontol 74:1161–1172. doi: 10.1666/0022-3360(2000)074<1161:AMFTMO>2.0.CO;2

  • Flynn JJ, Wyss AR, Croft DA, Charrier R (2003) The Tinguiririca Fauna, Chile: biochronology, paleoecology, biogeography, and a new earliest Oligocene South American Land Mammal “Age.” Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 195:229–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forasiepi AM, Sánchez-Villagra MR, Schmelzle T, Ladevèze S, Kay RF (2014) An exceptionally well-preserved skeleton of Palaeothentes from the early Miocene of Patagonia, Argentina: new insights into the anatomy of extinct paucituberculatan marsupials. Swiss J Paleontol. doi: 10.1007/s13358-014-0063-9

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner AL (2005) Family Caenolestidae.In: Wilson DE, Reeder DM (eds) Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, third edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, pp 19–20

  • Goin FJ, Abello MA, Chornogubsky L (2010) Middle Tertiary marsupials from central Patagonia (early Oligocene of the Gran Barranca): understanding South America’s Grand Coupure. In: Madden R, Carlini F, Vucetich G, Kay RF (eds) The Paleontology of Gran Barranca: Evolution and Environmental Change through the Middle Cenozoic of Patagonia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 69–105

  • Goin FJ, Candela AM (1998) Dos nuevos marsupiales “Pseudodiprotodontes” del Eoceno de Patagonia, Argentina. Asociación Paleontológica Argentina. Publicación Especial Paleógeno de América del Sur y de la Península Antártica 5:30–12

  • Goin FJ, Candela AM (2004) New Paleogene marsupials from the Amazon Basin of eastern Perú. Science Series (Nat Hist Mus Los Angeles County) 40:15–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goin FJ, Candela AM, Abello MA, Oliveira EV (2009) Earliest South American paucituberculatans and their significance in the understanding of ‘pseudodiprotodont’marsupial radiations. Zool J Linn Soc 155(4):867–884. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00471.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goin FJ, Sánchez-Villagra MR, Abello A, Kay RF (2007) A new generalized paucituberculatan marsupial from the Oligocene of Bolivia and the origin of ‘shrew-like’ opossums. Palaeontology 50:1267–1276. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2007.00706.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goin FJ, Sánchez-Villagra MR, Kay RF, Anaya F, Takai M (2003) New palaeothentid marsupial from the middle Miocene of Bolivia. Palaeontology 46(2):307–315. doi: 10.1111/j.0031-0239.2003.00300.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goloboff PA (1993) Estimating character weights during tree search. Cladistics 9:83–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goloboff PA, Farris JS, Nixon K (2008). TNT, a free program for phylogenetic analysis. Cladistics 24:774–786. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-0031.2008.00217.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hume ID (1982) Monographs on Marsupial Biology: Digestive Physiology and Nutrition of Marsupials. Cambridge, University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Kay RF (1984) On the use of anatomical features to infer foraging behavior in extinct primates. In: Rodman PS, Cant JGH (eds) Adaptations for Foraging in Nonhuman Primates: Contributions to an Organismal Biology of Prosimians, Monkeys, and Apes. Colombia University Press, New York, pp 21–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Kay RF, Hiiemae K (1974) Mastication in Galago crassicaudatus: a cineflourographic and occlusal study. In: Martin RD, Doyle GA, Walker AC (eds) Prosimian Biology. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, pp 501–530

  • Kay RF, Hylander WL (1978) The dental structure of mammalian folivores with special reference to primates and Phalangeroidea (Marsupialia). In: Montgomery GG (ed) The Ecology of Arboreal Folivores. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D. C., pp 172–191

    Google Scholar 

  • Kay RF, MacFadden BJ, Madden RH, Sandeman H, Anaya F (1998) Revised age of the Salla Beds, Bolivia, and its bearing on the age of the Deseadan South American Land Mammal “Age.” J Vertebr Paleontol 18:189–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kay RF, Madden RH, Vucetich MG, Carlini AA, Mazzoni MM, Re GH, Heizler M, Sandeman H (1999) Revised geochronology of the Casamayoran South American Land Mammal Age: climatic and biotic implications. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96(23): 13235–13240

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kirsch JAW (1977) The six-percent solution: second thoughts of the adaptedness of the Marsupialia. Am Sci 65(3):276–288

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kennett JP (1977) Cenozoic evolution of Antarctic galaciation, the circum-Antarctic Ocean, and their impact on global paleoceanography. J Geophys Res 82:3843–3860

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lawver LA, Gahagan LM (2003) Evolution of Cenozoic seaways in the circum-Antarctic region. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 198:11–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loomis FB (1914) The Deseado Formation of Patagonia. The Rumford Press, Concord, New Hampshire

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • MacFadden BJ, Campbell KE, Cifelli RL, Sile O, Johnson NW, Maeser CW, Zeitler PK (1985) Magnetic polarity stratigraphy and mammalian fauna of the Deseadan (late Oligocene- early Miocene) Salla beds of northern Bolivia. J Geol 93:223–250

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • MacFadden BJ, Frailey CD (1984) Pyrotherium, a large enigmatic ungulate (Mammalia, incertae sedis) from the Deseadan (Oligocene) of Salla, Bolivia. Palaeontology 27:867–874

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall LG (1980) Systematics of the South American marsupial family Caenolestidae. Fieldiana (Geol) 5:1–145

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall LG, Muizon C de, Hoffstetter R (1984) Fossil marsupials in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle collected by André Tournouër from Patagonia, southern Argentina. Bull Mus natl Hist nat Paris 6(1):33–58

  • McNab BK (1980) Food habits, energetics, and the population biology of mammals. Am Nat 116:106–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNab BK (2005). Uniformity in the basal metabolic rate of marsupials: its causes and consequences. Rev Chil Hist Nat 78:183–198. http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0716-078X2005000200002

  • Meserve PL, King BK, Patterson BD (1988) Trophic relationships of small mammals in a Chilean temperate rainforest. J Mammal 69:721–730

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nilsson MA, Arnason U, Spencer PBS, Axel Janke A (2004) Marsupial relationships and a timeline for marsupial radiation in South Gondwana. Gene 340:189–196. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2004.07.040

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ojala-Barbour R, Pinto CM, Brito J, Albuja L, Lee TE Jr, Patterson BD (2013) A new species of shrew-opossum (Paucituberculata: Caenolestidae) with a phylogeny of extant caenolestids. J Mammal 94(5):967–982. doi: 10.1644/13-MAMM-A-018.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osgood WH (1921) A monographic study of the American marsupial, Caenolestes. Field Mus Nat Hist (Zool Ser) 14(1):1–156

    Google Scholar 

  • Patterson B, Pascual R (1968) The fossil mammal fauna of South America. Q Rev Biol 43(4):409–451

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pascual R, Ortiz Jaureguizar E (1990) Evolving climates and mammal faunas in Cenozoic South America. J Hum Evol 19:23–60. doi: 10.1016/0047-2484(90)90011-Y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patterson B, Marshall LG (1978) The Deseadan, early Oligocene, Marsupialia of South America. Fieldiana (Geol) 41:37–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Patterson B, Wood A (1982) Rodents from the Deseadan Oligocene of Bolivia and the relationships of the Caviomorpha. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 149: 371–543

    Google Scholar 

  • Ré GH, Geuna SE, Vilas JF (2010) Paleomagnetism and magnetostratigraphy of Sarmiento Formation (Eocene-Miocene) at Gran Barranca, Chubut, Argentina. In: Madden RM, Carlini AA, Vucetich MG, Kay RF (eds), The Paleontology of Gran Barranca. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 32–45

    Google Scholar 

  • Ride WDL (1962) On the evolution of Australian marsupials. In: Leeper GW (ed) The Evolution of the Living Organisms. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, pp 281–306

    Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez-Villagra M, Kay RF (1997) A skull of Proargyrolagus, the oldest argyrolagid (late Oligocene Salla Beds, Bolivia), with brief comments concerning it paleobiology. J Vertebr Paleontol 17:717–724. doi: 10.1080/02724634.1997.10011019

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt-Neilsen K (1984) Scaling: Why is Animal Size so Important? Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Shockey BJ, Anaya F (2004) Pyrotherium macfaddeni, sp. nov. (late Oligocene, Bolivia) and the pedal morphology of pyrotheres. J Vertebr Paleontol 24:481–488. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1671/2521

  • Shockey BJ, Anaya F (2008) Postcranial osteology of mammals of Salla, Bolivia (late Oligocene): form, function, and phylogeny. In: Sargis EJ, Dagosto M (eds) Mammalian Evolutionary Morphology: a Tribute to Frederick S. Szalay. Springer, AA Dordrecht, pp 135–157

  • Shockey BJ, Anaya F (2011) Grazing in a new late Oligocene mylodontid sloth and a mylodontid radiation as a component of the Eocene-Oligocene fauna turnover and the early spread of grasslands/savannas in South America. J Mammal Evol 18(2):101–115. doi: 10.1007/s10914-010-9147-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shockey BJ, Croft DA, Anaya F (2007) Analysis of function in the absence of extant functional homologues: a case study using mesotheriid notoungulates (Mammalia) Paleobiology 33(2):227–247. http://dx.doi.org/10.1666/05052.1

  • Shockey BJ, Flynn JJ (2007). Morphological diversity in the postcranial skeleton of ?middle to late Eocene (Casamayoran) notoungulates and the evolution of foot posture in notoungulates. Am Mus Novitates 3601:1–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shockey BJ, Hitz R, Bond M (2004) Paleogene notoungulates from the Amazon Basin of Peru. In: Campbell KE (ed) The Paleogene Mammalian Fauna of Santa Rosa, Amazonian Peru. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, pp 61–70

  • Sinclair WJ (1906) Mammalia of the Santa Cruz beds; Marsupialia. Report of the Princeton University Expedition to Patagonia 4:333–460

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith AP, Lee A (1984) The evolution of strategies for survival and reproduction in possums and gliders. In: Smith A, Hume I (eds) Possums and Gliders. Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chipping Norton, Australia, pp 17–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Strait SG (1993) Molar morphology and food texture among small-bodied, insectivorous mammals. J Mammal 74(2):391–402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Takai, M, Anaya F, Shigehara N, Setoguchi T (2000) New fossil materials of the earliest new world monkey, Branisella boliviana, and the problem of platyrrhine origins. Am J Phys Anthropol 111(2):263–281

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Turnbull WD (1970) Mammalian masticatory apparatus. Fieldiana (Geol) 18:149–356

    Google Scholar 

  • Villarroel C, Marshall LG (1982) Geology of the Deseadan (early Oligocene) age Estratos Salla in the Salla-Luribay basin, Bolivia, with description of new Marsupialia. Geobios: Mémoire spécial 6:201–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wible JR (2003) On the cranial osteology of the short-tailed opossum, Monodelphis brevicaudata (Didelphidae, Marsupialia). Ann Carnegie Mus 72(3):137–202

    Google Scholar 

  • Witmer LM (1995) The extant phylogenetic bracket and the importance of reconstructing soft tissues in fossils. In: Thomason JJ (ed) Functional Morphology in Vertebrate Paleontology. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 19–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolff RG (1984) New early Oligocene Argyrolagidae (Mammalia, Marsupialia) from Salla, Bolivia. J Vertebr Paleontol 4:108–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zachos J, Pagani M, Sloan L, Thomas E, Billups K (2001) Trends, rhythms, and aberrations in global climate 65 Ma to present. Science 292:686–693

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Agustín Pérez Lozano of the Facultad de Ingeniería Geológica, Universidad Autónoma Tomás Frías, Potosí, Bolivia (UATF), who provided a vehicle for our field work to Salla and permitted our studies in the lab at UATF, and to Fidel Mamani Choque, also of UATF, who served as driver and occasional cook, along with the master sheep chefs of Sahalla—Jacinto and Daniel Calle. We are also grateful to Richard Hulbert, Bruce J. MacFadden, and Jonathan Bloch of the University of Florida, who facilitated our studies at the Florida Museum of Natural History, and to Chris Norris and Daniel Brinkman of the Yale Peabody Museum for all their help there. BJS also wishes to thank Ruth O’Leary, John Flynn, and Susan Bell for the liberal access given him to the research collections and to the Osborn Library of the American Museum of Natural History. This work benefited from having the author of the matrix upon which the phylogenetic analysis is based –M.A. Abello of the Museo de La Plata – serving as a one of the reviewers. Her experience and efforts led her to detect a variety of errors in an earlier version of this work. Of course, we are solely responsible for any errors that may remain. We are also grateful to an anonymous reviewer and to John R. Wible of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History for their critiques and suggestions. This work was supported by a grant from the Venezuelan Science and Technology Ministry (IVIC-1096 to ADR) and a Summer Research Grant from Manhattan College (to BJS).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Ecología, Laboratorio de Paleontología, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Km 11 de la Carretera Panamericana, Apartado Postal 21827, Caracas, 1020, Venezuela

    Ascanio D. Rincón & Andrés Solórzano

  2. Biology Department, Manhattan College and the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA

    Bruce J. Shockey

  3. Facultad de Ingeniería Geológica, Universidad Autónoma Tomás Frías, Potosí, Bolivia

    Federico Anaya

Authors
  1. Ascanio D. Rincón
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bruce J. Shockey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Federico Anaya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Andrés Solórzano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ascanio D. Rincón.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1

(DOCX 81 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rincón, A.D., Shockey, B.J., Anaya, F. et al. Palaeothentid Marsupials of the Salla Beds of Bolivia (Late Oligocene): Two New Species and Insights into the Post-Eocene Radiation of Palaeothentoids. J Mammal Evol 22, 455–471 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-015-9295-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-015-9295-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation