Pampean megamammals in Europe: the fossil collections from Santiago Roth

Santiago Roth was a Swiss fossil finder, naturalist, and paleontologist that emigrated to Argentina in 1866. His work largely influenced the discipline in the country at the end of the twentieth century, particularly the stratigraphy of the Pampean region. Some of his collections of Pampean fossils were sold to museums and private collectors in Europe and were accompanied by elaborated catalogues. Fossils in the Roth’s catalogues N° 2 and 3 are housed today in the Natural History Museum of Denmark, fossils from catalogues N° 4 to 6, were sold to Swiss museums, with Catalogue N° 5 currently housed at the Department of Paleontology, Universität Zürich. Here, we provide a general framework on the stratigraphy from the Roth’s Pampean fossil sites, summarize the history of the Pampean fossils in Europe originally collected by Roth, and provide historical and curatorial details of the Roth’s collection at the Department of Paleontology, Universität Zürich

Palaeoproteomics resolves sloth relationships

The living tree sloths Choloepus and Bradypus are the only remaining members of Folivora, a major xenarthran radiation that occupied a wide range of habitats in many parts of the western hemisphere during the Cenozoic, including both continents and the West Indies. Ancient DNA evidence has played only a minor role in folivoran systematics, as most sloths lived in places not conducive to genomic preservation. Here we utilize collagen sequence information, both separately and in combination with published mitochondrial DNA evidence, to assess the relationships of tree sloths and their extinct relatives. Results from phylogenetic analysis of these datasets differ substantially from morphology-based concepts: Choloepus groups with Mylodontidae, not Megalonychidae; Bradypus and Megalonyx pair together as megatherioids, while monophyletic Antillean sloths may be sister to all other folivorans. Divergence estimates are consistent with fossil evidence for mid-Cenozoic presence of sloths in the West Indies and an early Miocene radiation in South America

A unique, Late Oligocene shrew-like marsupial from western Argentina and the evolution of dental morphology

<div><p>We describe a new metatherian mammal, <i>Fieratherium sorex</i> gen. et sp. nov., found in western Argentina (Quebrada Fiera locality, southern Mendoza Province), in Late Oligocene deposits (Agua de la Piedra Formation, Deseadan age). The only known specimen is a juvenile with fragments of both dentaries, the right maxilla and a fragment of the left premaxilla with dentition. The loci and the number teeth preserved suggest a dental formula of I?3/i3, C1/c1, P3/p3, M?3/m?3. <i>Fieratherium sorex</i> has a convergent shrew-like appearance and a unique combination of features among metatherians and other South American mammals of Palaeogene age, including the well-known faunas of Patagonia. An analysis of its phylogenetic affinities suggests that <i>Fieratherium</i> is the sister-group of the Paucituberculata. As already described by other authors for several mammalian taxa, the mainly Patagonian South American Palaeogene fossil record offers little information to understanding the evolution of northern lineages. <i>Fieratherium</i> may represent a taxon belonging to a lineage that had its origin in Neotropical regions, so far unrecorded in the southern region of South America.</p><p><a href="http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:5F6D3A50-6345-4E66-BE3E-7FEF6CC66A9B" target="_blank">http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:5F6D3A50-6345-4E66-BE3E-7FEF6CC66A9B</a></p></div

<i>Australohyaena antiqua</i> (Mammalia, Metatheria, Sparassodonta), a large predator from the Late Oligocene of Patagonia

<div><p>An almost complete skull of <i>Australohyaena antiqua</i> (Ameghino), from the Late Oligocene (Deseadan SALMA) of Cabeza Blanca, Chubut Province, Argentina is described and analysed. For more than a century, this species was represented by isolated teeth. The genus <i>Australohyaena</i> gen. nov. is proposed based on a phylogenetic reconstruction that demonstrates that <i>A. antiqua</i> is a Borhyaenidae (Mammalia, Sparassodonta), grouped with <i>Arctodictis</i> and <i>Borhyaena</i>, but not with <i>Pharsophorus lacerans</i>, the genus to which <i>antiqua</i> was formerly assigned. <i>A. antiqua</i> is recognized by several features on the skull, dentary and dentition. In addition, a short snout, large canines, deep jaw, reduced protocone and talonid determine <i>A. antiqua</i> as hypercarnivorous. A vaulted skull, well-developed temporal fossa and little difference on the jaw depth at p3 and m4, are suggestive of bone-cracker specializations. <i>A. antiqua</i> is within the largest Deseadan sparassodonts with a body mass of about 70 kg. Homoplasies are detected within borhyaenoids on lower molar cusps. The metaconid is lost within Sparassodonta, although <i>Pharsophorus</i> and borhyaenids retained the metaconid on m2–m4 or m2–m3.</p><p><a href="http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:EDB0575A-C1D9-4C17-B6EB-3D761D1D7DB3" target="_blank">http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:EDB0575A-C1D9-4C17-B6EB-3D761D1D7DB3</a></p></div

Epiphyseal closure stages in limb bones of mammals

Epiphyseal closure stages in limb bones of mammal

Heterochrony, dental ontogenetic diversity, and the circumvention of constraints in marsupial mammals and extinct relatives

In marsupial mammals and their extinct relatives-collectively, metatherians-only the last premolar is replaced, but the timing of dental eruption is variable within the group. Our knowledge of fossils metatherians is limited, but is critical to understanding several aspects of the evolution and morphological diversification of this clade. We analyzed the sequence of eruption of 76 specimens of metatherians, including Sparassodonta, an extinct clade of specialized carnivores from South America. In Sparassodonta (1) the P3/p3 erupt simultaneously, in common with some didelphids (in other didelphids, p3 erupts before P3, whereas in the remaining didelphids, some peramelids, one caenolestid, and Pucadelphys this order is reversed); (2) the upper and lower molars at the same locus erupt more in synchrony than in other carnivorous metatherians in which the lower molars clearly precede the upper equivalents; (3) the upper canine in thylacosmilids and proborhyaenids is hypselodont; (4) species with similar molar morphologies have different morphologies of the deciduous premolars, suggesting diverse diets among the juveniles of different taxa; (5) deciduous teeth are functional for a long period of time, with thylacosmilids even retaining a functional DP3 in the permanent dentition. The retention of the DP3 and the hypertrophied and hypselodont upper canine of thylacosmilids represent clear heterochronic shifts. Specializations in the timing of dental eruption and in the deciduous tooth shape of sparassodonts are evolutionary mechanisms that circumvent constraints imposed by the metatherian replacement pattern and increase morphological disparity during ontogeny.Fil: Forasiepi, Analia Marta. Universitat Zurich. Instituto Palaontologisches Institut And Museum; Suiza. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: Sánchez Villagra, Marcelo Ricardo. Universitat Zurich. Instituto Palaontologisches Institut And Museum; Suiz

Pampean megamammals in Europe: the fossil collections from Santiago Roth

Abstract Santiago Roth was a Swiss fossil finder, naturalist, and paleontologist that emigrated to Argentina in 1866. His work largely influenced the discipline in the country at the end of the twentieth century, particularly the stratigraphy of the Pampean region. Some of his collections of Pampean fossils were sold to museums and private collectors in Europe and were accompanied by elaborated catalogues. Fossils in the Roth’s catalogues N° 2 and 3 are housed today in the Natural History Museum of Denmark, fossils from catalogues N° 4 to 6, were sold to Swiss museums, with Catalogue N° 5 currently housed at the Department of Paleontology, Universität Zürich. Here, we provide a general framework on the stratigraphy from the Roth’s Pampean fossil sites, summarize the history of the Pampean fossils in Europe originally collected by Roth, and provide historical and curatorial details of the Roth’s collection at the Department of Paleontology, Universität Zürich

Generalized pattern of histological long bone features among major clades of placental mammals.

<p>Feature descriptions for Euarchontoglires, Laurasiatheria and Afrotheria were adapted from <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0069275#pone.0069275-Enlow3" target="_blank">[5]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0069275#pone.0069275-Singh1" target="_blank">[22]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0069275#pone.0069275-Sander1" target="_blank">[24]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0069275#pone.0069275-Khler1" target="_blank">[25]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0069275#pone.0069275-ChinsamyTuran1" target="_blank">[72]</a>–<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0069275#pone.0069275-Klevezal2" target="_blank">[78]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0069275#pone.0069275-Geiger1" target="_blank">[99]</a>.</p