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.

From fossil trader to paleontologist: on Swiss-born naturalist Santiago Roth and his scientific contributions

“…The stratigraphic work of Roth in the Argentinian Pampas was highly recognized until the time of Roth's death (Kraglievich, 1925). Taken from his last work on the Pampean Formation (1921), his early views got more certainty through his later research (Voglino et al, 2023).…”

“…He then started using the Spanish version of his second name, Santiago, and following the advice of his father, he took up the trade of saddler, fitting for the country. When Roth moved to Pergamino, also in the province of Buenos Aires, where he worked as a saddler, he began to collect naturalia and fossils in the Quaternary sediments of the same Province, in what became known as the Pampean Formation (Voglino et al, 2023).…”

“…A 'Toxodon' is estimated at 10′000 Swiss Francs of the time, and the carapace and tail of a glyptodont at 4′500. Details of costs of Catalogue 5 fossils sold by Roth in Zurich are provided by Voglino et al (2023).…”

“…The ones he carried out in Quaternary sediments of the Pampean Region were especially significant, because during his excavations, he developed a biostratigraphic and biochronological scheme that was advanced for his time. The scheme has been subject to multiple revisions and interpretations, important to understand the recent evolution of faunas in that region (e.g., Carrillo & Püschel, 2023;Carrillo-Briceño et al, 2023;Christen et al, 2023;Kerber, 2023;Ruiz-Ramoni et al, 2023;Voglino et al, 2023). In his collections Roth located each of the remains he found in his stratigraphic scheme, thus allowing the formation of faunal aggregates on which the prevailing past environmental conditions were interpreted.…”

“…He was also on the lookout for buyers of his collections. Two catalogues were published in Zurich; the one from 1889 comprised 284 numbers and concerns the collection still in Zurich (catalogue 5; Voglino et al, 2023), and the second one, No. 6 in his series of catalogues, comprising 136 numbers, was published in 1892 after his departure, under the care of his wife.…”