Exceptional Late Pliocene microvertebrate diversity in northwestern Argentina reveals a marked small mammal turnover

Abstract

Despite a century of paleontological work in Neogene sequences of northwestern Argentina there is still much to learn about the biotic diversity in this area during Pliocene times. We report a rich microvertebrate assemblage recovered from Late Pliocene deposits of Uquía Formation, Jujuy Province, northernmost Argentina. Taxa represented in the studied sample include members of Bufonidae (Amphibia: Anura), Iguanoidea (Reptilia: Squamata), Passeriformes (Aves), Argyrolagidae, Didelphidae, Caviidae, Ctenomyidae, Octodontidae, and Cricetidae (Mammalia). Taphonomic attributes indicate that the bone concentration was produced by owls. The remains were disposed highly concentrated suggesting that the assemblage would have been generated in a short lapse, indicating a low time-averaging, retaining the main ecological signals of the past living community. The studied assemblage is noteworthy because it encompasses at least five new genera of cricetid rodents, illustrating the oldest record in northwestern Argentina for this diverse family of mammals. In spite of clear taxonomic differences at specific and generic levels, the structure of the assemblage is ecologically comparable to modern small mammal communities in terms of body mass distribution, trophic structure and abundance, with a dominance of cricetids over marsupials and caviomorph rodents. Striking differences in taxonomic composition between the Uquian assemblage and the coeval record from central Argentina indicate biogeographical distinctions since the Late Pliocene. The new Uquian cricetids show that the early divergence times for phyllotine genera proposed by several authors cannot be supported. The dominance of phyllotines in the assemblage as well as the record of Microcavia and an octodontid allow inferring arid or semiarid paleoenvironment conditions, in a more or less open habitat. The studied assemblage reflects a noteworthy faunal turnover, which implies the establishment of cricetid rodents as the dominant group in the small mammal communities. This faunal change can be associated to increasing aridity during Late Pliocene worldwide.