Elsevier

Quaternary International

Volume 317, 13 December 2013, Pages 73-79
Quaternary International

A review of the time scale and potential geographic distribution of Notiomastodon platensis (Ameghino, 1888) in the late Pleistocene of South America

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.06.031Get rights and content

Abstract

The objectives of the present study were to (1) provide new dates of Notiomastodon platensis (Ameghino, 1888) fossils from the Brazilian Intertropical Region, derived from Electron Spin Resonance (ESR); (2) propose a timeline for the occurrence of N. platensis in South America based on published data (ESR, 14C, 230Th/234U) and, finally, (3) propose a geographic distribution for the species over the period between 21 ka (Last Glacial Maximum) and 120 ka (Interglacial period). The new dates presented here, together with the available estimates, indicate that the species occurred in South America between at least 530 ka and 6 ka (middle Pleistocene–early Holocene). The Paleo-Species Distribution Models created for the 21 ka and 120 ka periods overlapped with the distribution of dry forest habitats during the Last Glacial Maximum, which clearly indicates that the species was associated with this type of vegetation.

Introduction

Notiomastodon platensis (Ameghino, 1888) is an extinct South American species of proboscidean. Analyses of isotopes, dental characteristics and enamel wear indicate that, depending on the habitat and latitude occupied by the species, its diet composition may have varied from exclusively grass-based (C3 or C4) to include only C3 plant material, such as leaves and fruits (e.g. Asevedo et al., 2012, Dantas et al., 2013).

The species is generally attributed to the period between the middle Pleistocene (?) and early Holocene (Alberdi et al., 2008), based on the estimated age of the sediments where fossils have been found. This has resulted in a lack of any reliable definition of the temporal range of the species, and thus of its geographic distribution. Given this situation, the present study aimed to (1) present a new dates of the N. platensis fossils collected in the Brazilian Intertropical region based on the Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) technique, (2) propose a timeline for the occurrence of N. platensis in South America based on a review of the published data (ESR, 14C, 230Th/234U), and finally, (3) propose a geographic distribution for the species over the period between 120 ka (Interglacial period) and 21 ka (Last Glacial Maximum – LGM).

Section snippets

Electron Spin Resonance dates

Teeth of N. platensis were collected from three sites in the Brazilian Northeast – Fazenda São José (Poço Redondo, Sergipe, Brazil; 09°55′37″S, 37°45′13″W), Lajedo II (Jaguarari, Bahia, Brazil; 10°21′17″S, 40°16′19″W) and Tanque Grande (Matina, Bahia, Brazil; 13°54′21″S. 42°55′18″W). The soil attached to the specimens was also preserved for analysis. These specimens were analyzed in the Universidade de São Paulo Physics Department and the Institute for Nuclear and Energy Research, both in São

Temporal distribution

The new Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) dates of N. platensis fossils from Poço Redondo (Sergipe, Brazil), Jaguarari and Matina (Bahia, Brazil) indicates ages of 28 ± 3 ka, 114 ± 20 ka, and 100 ± 20 ka, respectively (Table 2, Table 3, Fig. 1). Taken together with the available data (Table 1), these results (considering the minimum and maximum standard error limits) indicate that the species would have probably occurred in South America between 530 ka and 6 ka (middle Pleistocene to early

Conclusions

Analyzed together with the data available in the literature, the results of the present study indicate that N. platensis was present in South America between at least 530 ka (middle Pleistocene) and 6 ka (early Holocene). The available dates allowed the development of models of the potential distribution of the species during two distinct periods (21 and 120 ka) and climates, although while the data derived from the Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) technique cover the whole Pleistocene, the 14C

Acknowledgments

To Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES) which granted a doctoral scholarship fund to MATD, and a master scholarship fund to MCTX and LMF. CNPq and FAPESP for partial financial support. To Stephen Ferrari (Universidade Federal de Sergipe) for the English review of the manuscript. To anonymous reviewers which corrections and suggestions improved the quality of this manuscript.

References (47)

  • R. Grün

    The DATA program for the calculation of ESR age estimates on tooth enamel

    Quaternary Geochronology

    (2009)
  • L. Kerber et al.

    Electron Spin Resonance dates of the southern Brazilian Pleistocene mammals from Touro Passo Formation, and remarks on the geochronology, fauna and palaeoenvironments

    Quaternary International

    (2011)
  • A. Kinoshita et al.

    ESR dates of teeth from northeastern Brazilian megafauna

    Radiation Measurements

    (2008)
  • A. Kinoshita et al.

    ESR dates at K and X band of northeastern Brazilian megafauna

    Applied Radiation and Isotopes

    (2005)
  • R.P. Lopes et al.

    ESR dates of pleistocene mammal teeth and its implications for the biostratigraphy and geological evolution of the coastal plain, Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil

    Quaternary International

    (2010)
  • R.P. Lopes et al.

    Late middle to late Pleistocene paleoecology and paleoenvironments in the coastal plain of Rio Grande do Sul state, Southern Brazil, from stable isotopes in fossils of Toxodon and Stegomastodon

    Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

    (2013)
  • B.J. MacFadden et al.

    South American fóssil mammals and carbon isotopes: a 25 million-year sequence from the Bolivian Andes

    Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

    (1994)
  • D. Mothé et al.

    Taxonomic revision of the Quaternary gomphotheres (Mammalia: Proboscidea: Gomphotheriidae) from the South American lowlands

    Quaternary International

    (2012)
  • S.J. Phillips et al.

    Maximum entropy modeling of species geographic distributions

    Ecological Modelling

    (2006)
  • J.R. Prescott et al.

    Cosmic ray contributions to dose rates for luminescence and ESR dates: large depths and long-term time variations

    Radiation Measurements

    (1994)
  • M.A. Reguero et al.

    Biochronology and biostratigraphy of the Uquía Formation (Pliocene–early Pleistocene, NW Argentina) and its significance in the Great American Biotic Interchange

    Journal of South American Earth Sciences

    (2007)
  • R.C. Ribeiro et al.

    Electron spin resonance dates of the Late Quaternary megafauna fossils from Baixa Grande, Bahia, Brazil

    Quaternary International

    (2013)
  • S. Varela et al.

    Using species distribution models in paleobiogeography: a matter of data, predictors and concepts

    Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

    (2011)
  • Cited by (25)

    • Isotopic paleoecology (δ<sup>13</sup>C, δ<sup>18</sup>O) of late Quaternary herbivorous mammal assemblages from southwestern Amazon

      2021, Quaternary Science Reviews
      Citation Excerpt :

      Diet followed habitat phytophysiognomy, and it consisted predominantly of herbaceous plants, foliar and floral branches, fruits and woody parts (Asevedo et al., 2012, 2020; Mothé et al., 2017). According to the carbon isotopes data, this proboscidean could have been a specialist C3 browser in forest habitats of southwestern Amazon (μδ13C= –15.39 ± 1.63‰; median= 15.61; IQR= 2.21; Fig. 4B), but was a browser or mixed feeder in C3 woodlands/grasslands from Pampean regions of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil (μδ13C= –8.2 ± 2.1‰; median= 8.26; IQR= 1.4; Fig. 4B; Sánchez et al., 2004; Gutiérrez et al., 2005; Domingo et al., 2012; Lopes et al., 2013), a dominant grazing diet in C4 grasslands in the Brazilian Intertropical Region (BIR; μδ13C= –1.08 ± 2.66‰; median= 0.20; IQR= 1.78; Fig. 4B; Sánchez et al., 2004; Viana et al., 2011; Dantas et al., 2013; França et al., 2014; Dantas et al., 2017; Pansani et al., 2019), and a mixed feeding diet in C3-C4 woodland/grassland landscapes in Andean regions of Ecuador and Peru (μδ13C= –4.7 ± 3.11‰; median= 5.72; IQR= 6.45; Fig. 4B; Sánchez et al., 2004; Domingo et al., 2012), and also in Argentinean Chaco (μδ13C= –4.8 ± 3.27‰; median= 4.63; IQR= 5.58; Fig. 4B; Alberdi et al., 2008; Domingo et al., 2012). With a Pan-American distribution covering the southeastern North America to southern Brazil, the ground sloth E. laurillardi has also been estimated as a generalist species (Dantas et al., 2017).

    • Palynological analysis of dental calculus from Pleistocene proboscideans of southern Brazil: A new approach for paleodiet and paleoenvironmental reconstructions

      2020, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
      Citation Excerpt :

      This proboscidean could reach around six tons as an adult (Dantas et al., 2017), wherefore it was a remarkable integrant of herbivorous megamammals fauna during the Pleistocene (Simpson and Paula Couto, 1957; Mothé et al., 2017). This Holarctic immigrant probably reached South America in the early Pleistocene (Ensenadan South American Land Mammal Age [SALMA]; Mothé et al., 2017, 2019) through the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI 2; Woodburne, 2010) and went extinct in the late Pleistocene - early Holocene transition, after about 11 ka BP (Dantas et al., 2013). This is also the period when the largest mammals (~79.6% of animals weighing >44 kg) went extinct in South America (Barnosky et al., 2004).

    • Isotopic paleoecology (δ<sup>13</sup>C, δ<sup>18</sup>O) of Late Quaternary megafauna from Mato Grosso do Sul and Bahia States, Brazil

      2019, Quaternary Science Reviews
      Citation Excerpt :

      Our results showed a generalist diet with a preference for C4 grasses for this species, suggesting their occurrence in open areas and contradicting the premises that this species did not feed on C4 grasses (Chaves, 2000; Marcolino et al., 2012). N. platensis occurred in South America between at least 530 ka and 6 ka (Dantas et al., 2013b) and had lived, at least, between 120 ka to 12 ka in the BIR (Dantas et al., 2017). It is usually considered a generalist species, with diets composed of a mixture of C4 and C3 plants (Sánchez et al., 2004; Asevedo et al., 2012; Dantas and Cozzuol, 2016; Dantas et al., 2017), with apparent altitudinal and latitudinal gradient of C3/C4 grasses (Prado et al., 2001; Asevedo et al., 2012).

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text