The Neogene Record of Northern South American Native Ungulates

Abstract

Emphasis upon publication as a means of "diffusing knowledge" was expressed by the first Secretary of the Smithsonian. In his formal plan for the Institution, Joseph Henry outlined a program that included the following statement: "It is proposed to publish a series of reports, giving an account of the new discoveries in science, and of the changes made from year to year in all branches of knowledge." This theme of basic research has been adhered to through the years in thousands of titles issued in series publications under the Smithsonian imprint, commencing with Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge in 1848 and continuing with the following active series: Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology Smithsonian Contributions to Botany Smithsonian Contributions to History and Technology Smithsonian Contributions to the Marine Sciences Smithsonian Contributions to Museum Conservation Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology In these series, the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press (SISP) publishes small papers and full-scale monographs that report on research and collections of the Institution's museums and research centers. The Smithsonian Contributions Series are distributed via exchange mailing lists to libraries, universities, and similar institutions throughout the world. Manuscripts intended for publication in the Contributions Series undergo substantive peer review and evaluation by SISP's Editorial Board, as well as evaluation by SISP for compliance with manuscript preparation guidelines (available at https://scholarlypress.si.edu). For fully searchable PDFs of all open access series and publications of the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, visit Open SI at http://opensi.si.edu.

The anatomy, paleobiology, and evolutionary relationships of the largest extinct side-necked turtle

“…We here describe several new shells and the first lower jaw specimens from discoveries made during regular fieldwork in the Urumaco region since 1994 (10,16) and recent finds from La Tatacoa Desert in Colombia. Together, these fossils shed new light on the biology, past distribution, and phylogenetic position of giant neotropical turtles.…”

The Allemann collection from the Santa Cruz Formation (late early Miocene), Argentina, in Zurich, Switzerland

“…Comments The dental formula of A. magnum is I0/3, C1/1, P2/1, M3/3. As in many other astrapotheriids (e.g., Johnson and Madden 1997;Croft 2016;Carrillo et al 2018), the upper canines are curved and ever-growing (Scott 1928). The lower canines share this morphology, although they are much smaller.…”

A new Megatheriinae skull (Xenarthra, Tardigrada) from the Pliocene of Northern Venezuela – implications for a giant sloth dispersal to Central and North America

“…and cf. Caviodon, Neoepiblema sp., and Marisela gregoriana, in Vucetich et al, 2010), carnivoran procyonids (Cyonasua sp., in Forasiepi et al, 2014), toxodonts (Carrillo et al, 2018) and xenarthran cingulates (Pliodasypus vergelianus, in Castro et al, 2014) have been described. Also from the same locality of Vergel Member in which we found the specimen reported here are mentioned turtles, osteoderms of a new species of the Glyptodontinae Boreostemma (B. aff.…”

“…The Urumaco sequence, together with several geological formations in northwestern Venezuela, provides an almost continuous paleontological record for the last 20 million years (Sánchez-Villagra et al, 2010;Carrillo et al, 2015). This sequence includes the San Gregorio Formation (Pliocene), which has been in recent years prospected for fossil vertebrates, with the first fossil mammals described from it including rodents, carnivorans, notoungulates and xenarthrans (Vucetich et al, 2010;Castro et al, 2014;Forasiepi et al, 2014;Carrillo et al, 2018). These findings are particularly relevant as they provide the until now rare documentation of northern neotropical fossils from the time of the first phases of the GABI or Great American Biotic Interchange (Woodburne, 2010;Forasiepi et al, 2014;Carrillo et al, 2015;Amson et al, 2016).…”