Cervidae and Tayassuidae of the Late Pleistocene from the Cuvieri Cave, Eastern Brazil

Abstract

The Pleistocene of the eastern Brazilian territory is characterized by a great diversity of extinct and living mammals. The Cuvieri Cave, part of the Lagoa Santa karst complex, presents an abundant amount of osteological material dated from the Pleistocene, resulting in an important record of changes in faunal composition and environmental settings. In this cave, Cervidae are represented by two extant species: Mazama americana and Mazama cf. gouazoubira, while the Tayassuidae family is the most abundant of Pleistocene macrovertebrates and is represented by two species. One of the species was identified as Dicotyles tajacu, showing anatomical features larger than recent specimens from the same region, but similar in size to Amazonian specimens. The most common observed species could not be identified and is much larger than the living Tayassu pecari, the largest Tayassuidae in the region and to the Pleistocene deposits of Cuvieri Cave. The Cervidae species are the same observed in the Holocene, but the differences of the Tayassuidae in relation to the living specimens suggest that paleoenvironmental changes occurred after the deposition.