The Dasypodidae (Mammalia, Xenarthra) from the Urso Fóssil Cave (Quaternary), Parque Nacional de Ubajara, State of Ceará, Brazil: paleoecological and taxonomic aspects

Abstract

This paper deals with xenarthrans osteoderms assigned to Dasypus aff. D. novemcinctus, Euphractus sexcinctus and Cabassous sp. The material was collected in subsurface, from 0.10 to 0.60 m in the Urso Fóssil Cave, Parque Nacional de Ubajara, State of Ceará, northeastern Brazil. The ages of sediment samples from levels 4 and 5 (depths of 0.40 and 0.50 m) were determined by thermoluminescence technique, and indicated ages of 8,000 and 8,200 years BP for each layer respectively. The presence in these layers of early Holocene xenarthrans taxa can contribute to the understanding of the biotic evolution of the northwest region of Ceará during the last 10,000 years. Two of the three identified taxa still occur in the region: Dasypus novemcinctus and Euphractus sexcinctus. The Dasypodidae fauna here reported includes animals with generalist feeding habits and current wide geographical distribution. It is suggested, therefore, that the climatic and environmental conditions in the early Holocene were very similar the actual ones, and that the absence of Cabassous may be conditioned to other factors, such as anthropogenic action and loss of habitat by fragmentation of the vegetation.

The cingulates (Mammalia: Xenarthra) from the late Quaternary of northern Brazil: Fossil records, paleoclimates and displacements in America

“…For this reason, the biochron of the genus is considered from Late Pleistocene to Recent. It is recorded in the Late Pleistocene of Brazil in the Cavernas de Ossadas, vale do Rio das Velhas, Minas Gerais State (Paula-Couto, 1979), and Toca dos Ossos, Ourolândia, Bahia State (Cartelle, 1992), as well as in the early Holocene of Caverna do Urso F ossil, Cear a State (Oliveira et al, 2014) (Fig. 2) and northeastern Argentina (Corrientes Province; Francia, 2014).…”

Tayassuidae, Cervidae e Tapiridae da Gruta do Urso Fóssil, Holoceno, Parque Nacional de Ubajara, Ceará, Brasil

“…Os espécimes coletados pertencem às coleções científi cas do Museu de Pré-História de Itapipoca (MUPHI), em Itapipoca, CE, e do Laboratório de Paleontologia do Museu Dom José, da Universidade Estadual Vale do Acaraú (LABOPALEO/MDJ-UVA), em Sobral, CE, ambos sob os acrômios MUPHI e MDJ, respectivamente. Parte do material aqui estudado foi coletada na Sala da Entrada da Gruta do Urso Fóssil, juntamente com inúmeros fragmentos de ossos e dentes, de lagartos e serpentes (Hsiou et al, 2012), mamíferos (Oliveira et al, 2013;Oliveira et al, 2014), além de moluscos gastrópodes reportados por Oliveira et al (2011b) e sementes, em camadas oriundas de 0,40 e 0,50 m, em subsuperfície (Figura 2), datadas pelo método de termoluminescência com idade de 8.000 e 8.200 anos AP (Holoceno inicial), respectivamente. A outra parte do material corresponde a fragmentos ósseos de maior tamanho, encontrados em distintos salões da gruta, porém em superfície.…”

Diversity and preservation of Pleistocene tetrapods from caves of southwestern Bahia, Brazil

“…Winge, 1915;Oliveira et al, 2014;Soibelzon et al, 2015). There are Pleistocene records of this taxon in the states of Acre, Bahia, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Piauí, Rio Grande do Sul and São Paulo (Cartelle, 1999;Oliveira et al, 2014).…”