A new species of Sparassodonta (Mammalia, Metatheria), Lycopsis padillai, sp. nov., is described on the basis of a partial left maxilla with M1-M4 and fragments of lacrimal and jugal. The material comes from the early to early middle Miocene Castilletes Formation, La Guajira Peninsula, Colombia. This specimen represents the northernmost record of a fossil metatherian in South America and integrates a highly diverse vertebrate association, recently discovered in the north of Colombia. The La Guajira specimen is referred to the genus Lycopsis, as supported by the results of our phylogenetic analysis. This analysis also demonstrates that species of Lycopsis (L. torresi, L. longirostrus, L. viverensis, and L. padillai) constitute a monophyletic group and are placed as the basal taxon of Borhyaenoidea. Lycopsis padillai is a large-sized sparassodont with a body mass of about 22 kg. The presence of Lycopsis from La Guajira extends the geographical distribution of the genus to the entire South America, representing the sparassodont with the widest latitudinal distribution. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B3127EDAB4BB-4972-81B9-4447CC44EE79

We report two fossil procyonids, Cyonasua sp. and Chapalmalania sp., from the late Pliocene of Venezuela (Vergel Member, San Gregorio Formation) and Colombia (Ware Formation), respectively. The occurrence of these preHolocene procyonids outside Argentina and in the north of South America provides further information about the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI). The new specimens are recognized in the same monophyletic group as procyonids found in the southern part of the continent, the "Cyonasua group," formed by species of Cyonasua and Chapalmalania. The phylogenetic analysis that includes the two new findings support the view that procyonids dispersed from North America in two separate events (initially, previous to the first major migration wave-GABI 1-and then within the last major migration wave-GABI 4-). This involved reciprocal lineage migrations from North to South America, and included the evolution of South American endemic forms.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract