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Functional Anatomy of the Forelimb of Plesiotypotherium achirense (Mammalia, Notoungulata, Mesotheriidae) and Evolutionary Insights at the Family Level

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Abstract

In the present work, we provide muscular reconstruction and we infer functional properties of the forelimb of Plesiotypotherium achirense, a fossil mesotheriid notoungulate from the late Miocene of Achiri (Bolivia). This locality has yielded the widest sample ever available for the forelimb of a mesotheriid. In addition, we propose a qualitative comparison of the forelimb (osteology and myology) at the family level, including the Miocene–Pleistocene mesotheriines Mesotherium cristatum, Plesiotypotherium achirense, Caraguatypotherium munozi, Plesiotypotherium casirense, and Pseudotypotherium sp, and the late Oligocene trachytheriine Trachytherus alloxus. Functional properties are consistent with a digging ability and a “scratch-digger” lifestyle for Mesotheriidae. In general, there are only slight differences among the comparison sample, except for Mesotherium cristatum, which reflect significant osteological modifications, likely to help increasing the moment arm while scratch-digging. These features are mainly observable on scapulae (distal border caudally displaced) and humeri (deltoid crest distally oriented and crista supracondylaris lateralis laterally projected).

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Acknowledgments

We thank A. Kramarz and S. Alvarez (MACN, Buenos Aires, Argentina), C. de Muizon, C. Argot, and G. Billet (MNHN, Paris, France), and D. Rubilar (SGOPV, Santiago, Chile) who kindly gave access to the specimens under their care. We are grateful to R. C. Hulbert. Jr (FLMNH, Gainesville, USA) for sending and allowing us to reproduce images of Trachytherus alloxus (UF 91933) and to D. A. Croft for providing measurements of this specimen.

We thank all the team members (M. A. Abello, S. Adnet, G. Billet, L. Marivaux, M. B. Prámparo, P. Münch, and R. Andrade Flores) who participated in the collecting of the specimens from Achiri in 2010–2015). We are grateful to N. Toledo for helpful discussions on an earlier version of the manuscript. Finally, we thank MEDICENTRO clinic of La Paz (Bolivia) for providing us access to their computed tomography facility.

We warmly thank people from Achiri for facilitating our fieldwork (2010–2015). This work was partially funded by ECOS-FonCyT (A14U01). This project was made possible thanks to the cooperation agreement between the MNHN-Bol (Bolivia), the ISEM (France), and the CONICET (Argentina, CONICET Cooperation agreement N°864/2014).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales (IANIGLA), CCT–CONICET–Mendoza, Avda. Ruiz Leal s/n, Parque Gral, San Martín, 5500, Mendoza, Argentina

    Marcos Fernández-Monescillo & François Pujos

  2. Departamento de Paleontología, Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Calle 26 s/n, Cota Cota, La Paz, Estado Plurinacional de, Bolivia

    Bernardino Mamani Quispe

  3. Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, cc64, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, F-34095, Montpellier, France

    Pierre-Olivier Antoine

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  1. Marcos Fernández-Monescillo
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  2. Bernardino Mamani Quispe
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  3. François Pujos
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  4. Pierre-Olivier Antoine
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Correspondence to Marcos Fernández-Monescillo.

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Fernández-Monescillo, M., Quispe, B.M., Pujos, F. et al. Functional Anatomy of the Forelimb of Plesiotypotherium achirense (Mammalia, Notoungulata, Mesotheriidae) and Evolutionary Insights at the Family Level. J Mammal Evol 25, 197–211 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-016-9372-7

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