Novos materiais de Propraopus Ameghino, 1881 (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Cingulata) do Pleistoceno final, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil

Abstract

FOSSIL MATERIAL OF PROPRAOPUS AMEGHINO, 1881 (MAMMALIA, XENARTHRA, CINGULATA) OF THE LATE PLEISTOCENE, RIO GRANDE DO SUL, BRAZIL Propraopus Ameghino, 1881 is a genus of Dasypodidae that was widely distributed during the Pleistocene times in South America. In Brazil it was recorded in many localities and distinct latitudes, between the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. This work discuss new materials of this taxon from the Late Pleistocene of the Rio Grande do Sul State, where they are recorded in places located since areas from the Atlantic Coast until those in the west, at the border with Argentina and Uruguay. The fossil material is composed of isolated osteoderms from both moveable and immoveable portions of carapace and their morphology resemble Propraopus grandis Ameghino, 1881, a typical species of the Pampean Region from Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. The record of P. grandis during all the Pleistocene in Pampean region, and its maintenance until the end of Pleistocene in southern Brazil, support the plasticity and the ecological and climatic tolerance of the species. The environmental conditions of the southern Brazil during the Late Pleistocene were more similar to that from the medium and high latitudes of South America than those existing in the tropical belts.