Abstract
The geographic distribution of 27 species of the South American megafauna of herbivore mammals during the Late Pleistocene was analyzed in order to identify their distributional patterns. The distribution of the species was studied using the panbiogeographical method of track analysis. Six generalized tracks (GTs) and two biogeographic nodes were obtained. The GTs did not completely superpose with the areas of open savanna present in Pleistocene, nor with the biotic tracks of some arthropods typical of arid climate, indicating that these animals avoided arid environment. Overall, the GTs coincided with some biogeographic provinces defined on the basis of living taxa, indicating that certain current distributional patterns already existed in Pleistocene. The biogeographic nodes coincided with the borders between the main vegetal formations of the Pleistocene, showing that the type of vegetation had great influence in the distribution of the mammalian megafauna. The node 1 confirmed the existence of contact zones between paleobiogeographic regions near Argentina-Uruguay border. The node 2 connects the Brazilian Intertropical regions.
Highlights
During the Pleistocene, South America was inhabited by numerous large mammals that became extinct in the Pleistocene-Holocene transition
According to the traditional view, the native South American Pleistocene megafauna was affected by the dispersion of North American species during the biogeographic event known as Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI)
Comparing the generalized tracks (GTs) map with the one of distributional pattern of vegetation in South America during the Pleistocene (Fig. 23), we concluded that herbivore megamammals avoided the two great areas of open savanna present in the Late Pleistocene
Summary
During the Pleistocene, South America was inhabited by numerous large mammals that became extinct in the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. The causes of the extinction are still debatable, but the most acceptable are the drastic change in the vegetation after the end of the last maximum glacial, direct and indirect human impacts, and the introduction of diseases by According to the traditional view, the native South American Pleistocene megafauna was affected by the dispersion of North American species during the biogeographic event known as Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI). In this event, several taxa ( mammals) expanded their distribution to both continents. Four genera of South American mammals (i.e., Didelphis, Dasypus, Erethizon, and Trichechus) survived in the North America (Webb 2006)
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