Abstract
We describe two isolated molariforms recovered from early–middle Eocene (early Lutetian) levels of northwestern Patagonia, Argentina. Comparisons with major lineages of therian and non-therian mammals lead us to refer them to a new genus and species of Gondwanatheria (Allotheria). There is a single root supporting each tooth that is very short, wide, rounded, and covered by cementum; the steep sidewalls, lack of a neck between the crown and root, and the heavily worn stage in both molariforms suggest that they were of a protohypsodont type. Both teeth are strongly worn at their centers, all along their length, with the labial edge less worn than the lingual; they show strong transverse crests that alternate with lingual grooves. The protohypsodont aspect of the teeth, as well as the strong, transverse crests, are suggestive of sudamericid affinities; on the other hand, the thin enamel layer and the occlusal pattern formed by the crests and grooves shows more similarities to molariform teeth of the Ferugliotheriidae. The new taxon adds evidence regarding the (1) extensive radiation of the Gondwanatheria throughout the Southern Hemisphere, (2) persistence of several lineages well after the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary, and (3) early evolution of hypsodont types among South American herbivorous mammals.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- AH:
-
Andesitas Huancache Formation
- EDJ:
-
enamel-dentine junction
- IBC:
-
Ignimbrita Barda Colorada Formation
- IPM:
-
interprismatic matrix
- LIEB-PV:
-
Vertebrate Paleontology Collection, Laboratorio de Investigaciones en Evolución y Biodiversidad, Esquel
- m:
-
meters
- Ma:
-
Megannum
- MACN PV RN:
-
Sección Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, Buenos Aires, Vertebrate Paleontology, Río Negro Collection
- MF:
-
upper molariform
- MLP:
-
División Paleontología Vertebrados, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo de La Plata (UNLP), La Plata
- mm:
-
millimeters
- OES:
-
outer enamel surface
- PLEX:
-
prismless outer enamel
- SALMA:
-
South American Land-Mammal Age
- SANU:
-
South American native ungulates
- TLH:
-
Tufolitas Laguna del Hunco Formation
- UNPSJB:
-
Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia “San Juan Bosco”, sede Esquel
- µm:
-
microns (micrometers)
References
Ameghino F (1897) Mammifères crétacés de l´Argentine. (Deuxième contribution à la connaissance de la faune mammalogique des couches à Pyrotherium). Bol Inst Geogr Argent 18:406–521
Antoine P-O, Marivaux L, Croft DA, Billet G, Ganerød M, Jaramillo C, Martin T, Orliac MJ, Tejada J, Altamirano AJ, Duranthon F, Fanjat G, Rousse S, Salas Gismondi R (2011) Middle Eocene rodents from Peruvian Amazonia reveal the pattern and timing of caviomorph origins and biogeography, Proc. R. Soc. B, electronic suppl. material: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2011.1732. Accessed on 12 Oct 2011
Aragón E, Mazzoni MM (1997) Geología y estratigrafía del complejo volcánico piroclástico del río Chubut medio (Eoceno), Chubut, Argentina. Rev Asoc Geol Argent 52(3):243–256
Aragón E, Romero EJ (1984) Geología, paleoambientes y paleobotánica de yacimientos terciarios del occidente de Río Negro, Neuquén y Chubut. 9 Congr Geol Argent 4:475–507
Aragón E, Mazzoni MM, Merodio J (1987) Caracterización geoquímica de la Ignimbrita Barda Colorada en el Río Chubut medio. 10 Congr Geol Argent 4:171–173
Aragón E, Goin FJ, Aguilera YE, Woodburne MO, Carlini AA, Roggiero MF (2011) Palaeogeography and palaeoenvironments of northern Patagonia from the Late Cretaceous to the Miocene: the Palaeogene Andean gap and the rise of the North Patagonian High Plateau. Biol J Linn Soc 103:305–315
Archangelsky S (1974) Sobre una edad de la flora del Hunco, Provincia de Chubut. Ameghiniana 11:413–417
Archer M, Flannery TF, Ritchie A, Molnar RE (1985) First Mesozoic mammal from Australia—an early Cretaceous monotreme. Nature 318:363–366
Archer M, Jenkins FA Jr, Hand SJ, Murray P, Godthelp H (1992) Description of the skull and non-vestigial dentition of a Miocene platypus (Obdurodon dicksoni n. sp.) from Riversleigh, Australia, and the problem of monotreme origins. In: Augee ML (ed) Platypus and Echidnas. R Zool Soc NSW, pp 15–27
Bonaparte JF (1986a) Sobre Mesungulatum houssayi y nuevos mamíferos cretácicos de Patagonia, Argentina. 4 Congr Argent Paleont Bioestrat 2:48–61
Bonaparte JF (1986b) A new and unusual Late Cretaceous mammal from Patagonia. J Vertebr Paleontol 6:264–270
Bonaparte JF (1987) The late Cretaceous Fauna of Los Alamitos, Patagonia, Argentina. In: Bonaparte JF (ed), Rev Mus Argent Cs Nat, Paleontol 3, Buenos Aires, pp 103–178
Bonaparte JF (1990) New Late Cretaceous mammals from the Los Alamitos Formation, northern Patagonia. Natl Geogr Res 6:63–93
Campbell KE Jr, Frailey CD, Romero-Pittman L (2004) The Paleogene Santa Rosa local fauna of Amazonian Perú: geographic and geologic setting. In: Campbell KE Jr (ed) The Paleogene Mammalian Fauna of Santa Rosa, Amazonian Perú. Nat Hist Mus Los Angeles County, Sci Ser 40, pp. 3–14
Carlson SJ, Krause DW (1985) Enamel ultrastructure of multituberculate mammals: an investigation of variability. Contrib Mus Paleont Univ Mich 27:1–50
Davis DM (2011) Evolution of the tribosphenic molar pattern in early mammals, with comments on the “dual-origin” hypothesis. J Mamm Evol 18:227–244
Frailey CD, Campbell KE Jr (2004) Paleogene rodents from Amazonian Perú: The Santa Rosa local fauna. In: Campbell KE, Jr. (ed) The Paleogene Mammalian Fauna of Santa Rosa, Amazonian Perú. Nat Hist Mus Los Angeles County, Sci Ser 40, Los Angeles, pp. 71–130
Gelfo JN, Reguero MA, López GM, Carlini AA, Ciancio MR, Chornogubsky L, Bond M, Goin FJ, Tejedor MF (2009) Eocene mammals and continental strata from Patagonia and Antarctic Peninsula. In: Albright LB, III (ed.) Papers on Geology, Vertebrate Paleontology, and Biostratigraphy, in Honor of Michael O. Woodburne. Mus North Ariz Bul 64, Flagstaff, pp. 567–592.
Goin FJ, Vieytes EC, Vucetich MG, Carlini AA, Bond M (2004) Enigmatic mammal from the Paleogene of Perú. In: Campbell KE, Jr. (ed) The Paleogene Mammalian Fauna of Santa Rosa, Amazonian Perú. Nat Hist Mus Los Angel County Sci Ser 40, Los Angeles, pp. 145–153
Goin FJ, Reguero MA, Pascual R, Koenigswald W von, Woodburne MO, Case JA, Marenssi SA, Vieytes EC, Vizcaíno SF (2006a) First gondwanatherian mammal from Antarctica. In: Francis JE, Pirrie D, Crame JA (eds) Cretaceous-Tertiary High-Latitude Paleoenvironments, James Ross Basin, Antarctica, Spec Publ Geol Soc London, pp. 145–161
Goin FJ, Pascual R, Tejedor MF, Gelfo JN, Woodburne MO, Case JA, Reguero MA, Bond M, López GM, Cione AL, Sauthier DU, Balarino L, Scasso RA, Medina FA, Ubaldón MC (2006b) The earliest Tertiary therian mammal from South America. J Vertebr Paleontol 26(2):505–510
Gosses J, Carroll A, Aragón E, Singer E (2006) The Laguna del Hunco Formation: Lacustrine and Sub-Aerial Caldera Fill Chubut Province, Argentina. Geol Soc Amer Ann Meet 38(7):502, Abstracts
Green HLHH (1937) The development and morphology of the teeth of Ornithorhynchus. Phil Trans R Soc Lond B 228:367–420
Gurovich Y (2006) Bio-evolutionary aspects of Mesozoic mammals: description, phylogenetic relationships and evolution of the Gondwanatheria (Late Cretaceous and Paleocene of Gondwana). Dissertation, Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires
Gurovich Y (2008) Additional specimens of sudamericid (Gondwanatheria) mammals from the early Paleocene of Argentina. Palaeontol 51:1069–1089
Gurovich Y, Beck R (2009) The phylogenetic affinities of the enigmatic mammalian clade Gondwanatheria. J Mammal Evol 16:25–49
Kielan-Jaworowska Z, Cifelli RL, Luo Z-X (2004) Mammals from the age of dinosaurs: origins, evolution, and structure. Columbia Univ Press, New York
Kielan-Jaworowska Z, Ortiz-Jaureguizar E, Vieytes MC, Pascual R, Goin FJ (2007) First ?cimolodontan multituberculate mammal from South America. Acta Palaeontol Pol 52(2):257–262
Krause DW, Bonaparte JF (1990) The Gondwanatheria, a new suborder of Multitubercualta from South America. J Vertebr Paleontol 10:13A
Krause DW, Bonaparte JF (1993) Superfamily Gondwanatherioidea: a previously unrecognized radiation of multituberculate mammals in South America. Proc Natl Acad Sci 90:9379–9383
Krause DW, Carlson SJ (1987) Prismatic enamel in multituberculate mammals: tests of homology and polarity. J Mammal 68:755–765
Krause DW, Kielan-Jaworowska Z, Bonaparte JF (1992) Ferugliotherium Bonaparte, the first known multituberculate from South America. J Vertebr Paleont 12:351–376
Krause DW, Prasad GVR, Koenigswald W, Sahni A, Grine FE (1997) Cosmopolitanism among Gondwanan Late Cretaceous mammals. Nature 390:504–507
Krause DW, Gottfried MD, O’Connor PM, Roberts EM (2003) A Cretaceous mammal from Tanzania. Acta Palaeontol Pol 48:321–330
Lage J (1982) Descripción geológica de la Hoja 43c, Gualjaina. Provincia del Chubut. Serv Geol Nac Bol 189:1–72
Linnaeus C (1758). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae: secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (10th ed.). Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
MacPhee RDE, Flemming C (2003) A possible Heptaxodontine and other caviidan rodents from the Quaternary of Jamaica. Amer Mus Novit 3422:1–42
Marsh OC (1880) Notice of new Jurassic mammals representing two new orders. Am J Sci Arts ser 3:235–239
Mazzoni MM, Aragón E (1985) El complejo volcánico piroclástico de la Formación Huitrera (Paleoceno-Eoceno), en el área del Río Chubut medio, República Argentina. 4 Congr Geol Chil 3:275–300
Mazzoni MM, Aragón E, Merodio J (1989) La Ignimbrita Barda Colorada del Complejo Volcánico Piroclástico del Río Chubut medio. Rev Asoc Geol Argent 44:246–258
Mazzoni MM, Kawashita K, Harrison S, Aragón E (1991) Edades radimétricas eocenas en el borde occidental del Macizo Norpatagónico. Rev Asoc Geol Argent 46:150–158
Mones A (1987) Gondwanatheria, un nuevo orden de mamíferos sudamericanos (Mammalia: Edentata: ?Xenarthra). Comun Paleontol Museo Hist Nat Montevideo 1:237–240
Pascual R, Carlini AA (1987) A new superfamily in the extensive radiation of South American Paleogene marsupials. Fieldiana Zool n ser 39:99–110
Pascual R, Ortiz-Jaureguizar E (2007) The Gondwanan and South American episodes: two major and unrelated moments in the history of the South American mammals. J Mamm Evol 14:75–137
Pascual R, Archer M, Ortiz-Jaureguizar E, Prado JL, Godthelp H, Hand SH (1992) First discovery of monotremes in South America. Nature 356:704–705
Pascual R, Goin FJ, Krause DW, Ortiz-Jaureguizar E, Carlini AA (1999) The first gnathic remains of Sudamerica: implications for gondwanathere relationships. J Vertebr Paleontol 19:375–384
Petersen CS (1946) Estudios geológicos en la región del río Chubut medio. Dir Gen Minas y Geol (Buenos Aires) 59:1–137
Prasad GVR, Verma O, Sahni A, Krause DW, Khosla A, Parmar V (2007) A new Late Cretaceous gondwanatherian mammal from central India. Proc Indian Natl Sci Acad 73:17–24
Rapela C, Spalletti L, Merodio J, Aragón E (1984) El vulcanismo Paleoceno-Eoceno de la provincia volcánica Andino-Patagónica. 9 Congr Geol Argent 1:189–213
Rensberger JM (1973) An occlusion model for mastication and dental wear in herbivorous mammals. J Paleontol 47:515–528
Rougier GW, Chornogubsky L, Casadío S, Paéz Arango N, Giallombardo A (2009) Mammals from the Allen Formation, Late Cretaceous, Argentina. Cretaceous Res 30:223–238
Ruiz LE (2006) Estudio Sedimetológico y Estratigráfico de las Formaciones Paso del Sapo y Lefipán en el Valle Medio del Río Chubut. Dissertation, Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires
Sallam HM, Seiffert ER, Simons EL (2011) Craniodental Morphology and Systematics of a New Family of Hystricognathous Rodents (Gaudeamuridae) from the Late Eocene and Early Oligocene of Egypt. PLoS One 6. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0016525
Scher HD, Martin EE (2006) Timing and climatic consequences of the opening of Drake Passage. Science 312:428–430
Scillato-Yané G, Pascual R (1985) Un peculiar Xenarthra del Paleoceno Medio de Patagonia (Argentina). Su importancia en la sistemática de los Paratheria. Ameghiniana 21:173–176
Sigogneau-Russell D, Bonaparte JF, Robert RM, Escribano V (1991) Ultrastructure of dental tissues of Gondwanatherium and Sudamerica (Mammalia, Gondwanatheria). Lethaia 24:27–38
Simpson GG (1970) The Argyrolagidae, extinct South American Marsupials. Bull Mus Comp Zool 139:1–86
Tejedor MF, Goin FJ, Gelfo JN, López GM, Bond M, Carlini AA, Scillato-Yané GJ, Woodburne MO, Chornogubsky L, Aragón E, Reguero MA, Czaplewski NJ, Vincon S, Martin GM, Ciancio MR (2009) New Early Eocene mammalian fauna from western Patagonia, Argentina. Amer Mus Novit 3638:1–43
Thenius E (1989) Zähne und Gebiß der Säugetiere. Handbook of zoology, volume VIII, part 56. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin
Volkheimer W, Lage L (1981) Descripción geológica de la Hoja 42 c, Cerro Mirador, provincia del Chubut. Bol Serv Geol Nac 181:1–71
von Koenigswald W (2011) Diversity of hypsodont teeth in mammalian dentitions—construction and classification. Palaeontographica Abt A294:63–94
von Koenigswald W, Sander PM (1997) Glossary of terms used for enamel microstructures. In: von Koenigswald W, Sander PM (eds) Tooth enamel microstructure. AA Balkema, Rotterdam, pp 267–280
von Koenigswald W, Goin FJ, Pascual R (1999) Hypsodonty and enamel microstructure in the Paleocene gondwanatherian mammal Sudamerica ameghinoi. Acta Palaeontol Pol 44:263–300
Wilf P, Cúneo NR, Johnson KR, Hicks JF, Wing SL, Obradovich JD (2003) High plant diversity in Eocene South America: evidence from Patagonia. Science 300:122–125
Wilf P, Johnson KR, Cúneo NR, Smith ME, Singer BS, Gandolfo MA (2005) Eocene plant diversity at Laguna del Hunco and Río Pichileufú, Patagonia, Argentina. Amer Nat 165:634–650
Wilf P, Little SA, Iglesias A, Zamaloa MC, Gandolfo MA, Cúneo R, Johnson KR (2009) Papuacedrus (Cupressaceae) in Eocene Patagonia: a new fossil link to Australasian rainforests. Amer J Bot 96(11):2031–2047
Wilson GP, Das Sarma DC, Anantharaman S (2007) Late Cretaceous sudamericid gondwanatherians from India with paleobiogeographic considerations of Gondwanan mammals. J Vertebr Paleontol 27:521–531
Woodburne MO (2003) Monotremes as pretribosphenic mammals. J Mamm Evol 10:195–248
Acknowledgments
We thank Gabriel M. Martin, Leonardo Avilla, Ariel Humai, Constanza Koefoed, María Luisa Pemberton, and Érika Abrantes for their assistance in the fieldwork at La Barda and in the laboratory; Marcela Tomeo for the figures that illustrate this work; Carolina Vieytes and Rafael Urréjola for the scanning electron micrographs; discussions with Carolina were also very helpful while considering the enamel microstructure of Greniodon. To Alejandro Kramarz for facilitating the MACN (Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, Buenos Aires) gondwanatherian collections for their study; Juan J. Molly for making casts of the new specimens. Editors of Naturwissenschaften, Dr. David Krause, and two anonymous reviewers provided numerous, useful comments to the original manuscript. FJG, MFT, and LC thank CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina, PIP 5621 and PIP 0361) for its financial support in the lab and in the field. FJG thanks the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by: Robert Asher
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Goin, F.J., Tejedor, M.F., Chornogubsky, L. et al. Persistence of a Mesozoic, non-therian mammalian lineage (Gondwanatheria) in the mid-Paleogene of Patagonia. Naturwissenschaften 99, 449–463 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-012-0919-z
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-012-0919-z