Megatherium Research Articles

Was Frozen Mammoth or Giant Ground Sloth Served for Dinner at The Explorers Club?

Accounts of woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) preserved so well in ice that their meat is still edible have a long history of intriguing the public and influencing paleontological thought on Quaternary extinctions and climate, with some scientists resorting to catastrophism to explain the instantaneous freezing necessary to preserve edible meat. Famously, members of The Explorers Club purportedly dined on frozen mammoth from Alaska, USA, in 1951. This event, well received by the press and general public, became an enduring legend for the Club and popularized the notorious annual tradition of serving rare and exotic food at Club dinners that continues to this day. The Yale Peabody Museum holds a sample of meat preserved from the 1951 meal, interestingly labeled as a South American giant ground sloth (Megatherium), not mammoth. We sequenced a fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome-b gene and studied archival material to verify its identity, which if genuine, would extend the range of Megatherium over 600% and alter our views on ground sloth evolution. Our results indicate that the meat was not mammoth or Megatherium but green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas). The prehistoric dinner was likely an elaborate publicity stunt. Our study emphasizes the value of museums collecting and curating voucher specimens, particularly those used for evidence of extraordinary claims.

The Story of Oil

When I was a child, I had a book-a book that was already old, a relic- The Story Of Oil. In the book was a drawing-it must have been a drawing, although in my memory it is as vivid as a photograph: the landscape is rendered in the soothing, alien palette of Pleistocene dioramas-ocher skies and yellow grasses. In the center is a vast lake of tar in which Strange Beasts of the Past (another book-another story) are trapped, struggling against an inescapable destiny-which is to become the engine and essence of this inevitable present. A gentle giant of some sort (a mastodon? a giant sloth?) whose only crime was mistaking death for drinking water, struggles to lift her feet, her eyes filling with a deep pooling sadness as relentless as the tar itself. Riding her back is a tigerbeast, as opportunistic as pickpocket, angry and snarling, trapped by her own greed. The image is a parable, a gazing ball through which the entirety of evolution is revealed, not only pointing to but to the combustion engine. Decoded correctly, any child can see that the reason these prehistoric beings lived and died (and suffered) was to lubricate and propel the future perfect present in which live.I am stuck in this image, as surely as the animals depicted in it. I think of it often, as it is a vision of horror, like a lake in hell. This image is a Trojan horse, carrying many agents and messengers. Through this image I am initiated into many truths; encoded in the DNA of this image is evidence of the cruel suffering caused by the processes of the natural world. This idea of the Cruel Natural World preempts any discomfort one might feel at the evidence of cruel suffering caused by human intervention in the Natural Order . . . All beings live, starve, suffer, and die-we are not a disruption but simply a flavor. In fact, look at this image long enough, and swallow it deeply enough, and it is clear that our appropriation of their animal bodies is a form of redemption. These wooly mammoths, like Christ, died so that might live.But symbolic orders are unreliable and have a tendency to shift, leaving us stranded and floating. Now I am an adult, and I know do not get our oil from wooly mammoths but from phytoplankton (so much more difficult to depict microorganisms struggling in lakes of tar-I get that). I also know the bottom is really the top: Perhaps are the ones who live, whose combustible engines fire, so that the phytoplankton (who, let's face it, had dominion orders of magnitude longer than it has taken us to evolve from shrew-like peons) can purge the earth? Perhaps are only the mechanism to bring to fruition the version of the universe that became locked and trapped in these cells, slumbering like a genie in a lamp until our catalytic converters set it free?The thing about immortality is that you have to take the long view: to give up your attachment to notions of stasis/normality and accept the eternal constant of change that eternity means . . . Perhaps these ancient animals are simply time bombs, correcting for a planet that has become overrun with mammals-particular mammals: pants-wearing, gun-toting, phanstasmaphilic bipeds full of sentiment and overly sensitive to change.Seen from far enough away, one has to ask: W hy all this sentimental attachment to a blue planet? Thought of as a process of corruption, the translation of molecules in the atmosphere disturbs . . . but if you think of it as liberation, from the tyranny of chlorophyll and sunlight, what then? Is it possible to imagine an illustration in which (and by we I don't just mean humans, but polar bears, hippos, frogs, and bees) are suffering/ surrendering so that an unimaginable future can struggle into being?Immortality means there is always time for another roll of the dice- perhaps there are many ways to be consumed by the inevitable, and being stuck in a lake of tar is only one. …

Co-occurrence of mylodontid sloths and insights on their potential distributions during the late Pleistocene

Species distribution models (SDMs) for the last interglacial (LIG), the global last glacial maximum (LGM) and the Holocene climatic optimum (HCO) were generated for three extinct South American Pleistocene mylodontid giant sloths, Glossotherium robustum, Lestodon armatus and Mylodon darwinii. They are recorded co-occurring in some localities including Arroyo del Vizcaíno site (AdV) in Uruguay. Co-occurrence records were studied based on the overlap of their generated areas of potential distributions, and compared with the available biome reconstructions of South America during the LGM to analyze their distribution patterns, ecological requirements and possible interactions between them. Our results suggest that these sloths could have co-existed mainly in the Chaco-Paraná Basin and the plains in the Río de la Plata area. Areas of high suitability were observed for submerged parts of the continental shelf that were exposed during the LGM showing an overall increase in potential habitat compared to the LIG and HCO. This suggests that there was a drastic reduction in total available areas of preferred habitat at the end of the Pleistocene. The co-occurrence of these sloths at the AdV site suggests the presence of vegetation indicative of mainly open, cold to temperate habitats but with mixed patches typical of humid climates.

Collagen Sequence Analysis of the Extinct Giant Ground Sloths Lestodon and Megatherium.

For over 200 years, fossils of bizarre extinct creatures have been described from the Americas that have ranged from giant ground sloths to the ‘native’ South American ungulates, groups of mammals that evolved in relative isolation on South America. Ground sloths belong to the South American xenarthrans, a group with modern although morphologically and ecologically very different representatives (anteaters, armadillos and sloths), which has been proposed to be one of the four main eutherian clades. Recently, proteomics analyses of bone collagen have recently been used to yield a molecular phylogeny for a range of mammals including the unusual ‘Malagasy aardvark’ shown to be most closely related to the afrotherian tenrecs, and the south American ungulates supporting their morphological association with condylarths. However, proteomics results generate partial sequence information that could impact upon the phylogenetic placement that has not been appropriately tested. For comparison, this paper examines the phylogenetic potential of proteomics-based sequencing through the analysis of collagen extracted from two extinct giant ground sloths, Lestodon and Megatherium. The ground sloths were placed as sister taxa to extant sloths, but with a closer relationship between Lestodon and the extant sloths than the basal Megatherium. These results highlight that proteomics methods could yield plausible phylogenies that share similarities with other methods, but have the potential to be more useful in fossils beyond the limits of ancient DNA survival.

An advanced shape-fitting algorithm applied to quadrupedal mammals: improving volumetric mass estimates

Body mass is a fundamental physical property of an individual and has enormous bearing upon ecology and physiology. Generating reliable estimates for body mass is therefore a necessary step in many palaeontological studies. Whilst early reconstructions of mass in extinct species relied upon isolated skeletal elements, volumetric techniques are increasingly applied to fossils when skeletal completeness allows. We apply a new ‘alpha shapes’ (α-shapes) algorithm to volumetric mass estimation in quadrupedal mammals. α-shapes are defined by: (i) the underlying skeletal structure to which they are fitted; and (ii) the value α, determining the refinement of fit. For a given skeleton, a range of α-shapes may be fitted around the individual, spanning from very coarse to very fine. We fit α-shapes to three-dimensional models of extant mammals and calculate volumes, which are regressed against mass to generate predictive equations. Our optimal model is characterized by a high correlation coefficient and mean square error (r2=0.975, m.s.e.=0.025). When applied to the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) and giant ground sloth (Megatherium americanum), we reconstruct masses of 3635 and 3706 kg, respectively. We consider α-shapes an improvement upon previous techniques as resulting volumes are less sensitive to uncertainties in skeletal reconstructions, and do not require manual separation of body segments from skeletons.

Giant fauna killed by heat, not humans

Humans weren't to blame for the extinction of prehistoric giant mammals after all--global warming was the real culprit, according to new evidence. Ever since a giant sloth was uncovered more than 200 years ago, hinting at the existence of an ancient menagerie of megafauna, humans' ancestors have been on trial for their extinction. Researcher Alan Cooper's team has produced a timeline of changes in megafauna populations around Eurasia and North America over the last 56,000 years, and matched it up with ancient climate records. According to Cooper's evidence, megafauna extinctions were relatively common whether humans were around or not

Recent archaeo-palaeontological findings from Barranca del Muerto site, Santiago Chazumba, Oaxaca, México

Abstract This article presents the first results of an archaeo-palaeontological study which began in 2007 at the sites of Chazumba I and II in the Barranca del Muerto, located in the Sierra Madre del Sur (Santiago Chazumba, Oaxaca, Mexico). The excavation work is part of a larger international cooperation project titled “Biodiversity and Quaternary hunter–gatherer societies from Mexico”, led by the Institut de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolucio Social (IPHES, Tarragona, Spain) and the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia of Mexico. The main objective of the project is to study hunter–gatherer groups and their relationships with Pleistocene fauna and rock art. To date, five excavation campaigns have been carried out (2007, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014), which have primarily yielded faunal remains from the Late Pleistocene and from within a still undetermined period during the Rancholabrean Age (NALMA). The fauna is represented by megaherbivores (giant sloth, glyptodont and gomphothere, among others) and mesoherbivores (deer, prong-horns, horses and even small mammals, reptiles and amphibians). Some lithic materials have been recovered in association with these remains and several fossils have been examined to determine the presence of cut marks. There is an AMS 14C date of 27,720–27,500 cal BP obtained from a charcoal sample from sediments on top of the bone layers. Further sample assays are warranted in order to confirm the antiquity of the archaeological assemblage.

Xenarthran dental microstructure and dental microwear analyses, with new data forMegatherium americanum(Megatheriidae)

Xenarthran teeth are rootless and continuously growing. They lack an outer enamel layer and consist instead of a combination of 2 generally different varieties of dentine with or without an outer collar of cementum. This dental make-up is unique among mammals. In the last decade, xenarthran teeth have been subject to a number of studies regarding microscopic features, including analyses of microstructure and microwear patterns. Here, we present a review of the present knowledge in these 2 fields together with new results on feeding adaptations in the giant ground sloth, Megatherium americanum. Microwear patterns suggest that M. americanum fed mainly on plants with low to moderate intrinsic toughness, although we observe a trend that microwear patterns in extinct sloths may reflect habitat (i.e., feeding in open habitats with higher amounts of grit versus closed habitats with lower amounts of grit) as much as, if not more than, the texture of ingested food.

Description of the stylohyal bone of a giant sloth (Lestodon armatus)

The hyoid apparatus in fossil Xenarthrans is rarely preserved. Its largest bone, the stylohyal, is the most frequently found as an isolated element. It is known for some species of Pleistocene ground sloths (Megalonyx jeffersonii, Megatherium americanum, Paramylodon harlani, Nothrotheriops shastensis, Glossotherium robustum and Scelidotherium leptocephalum) but not for the largest mylodontid Lestodon armatus. Here we describe a right stylohyal found in the late Pleistocene megafaunal bonebed of the Arroyo del Vizcaino site, Uruguay, as two perfectly matched pieces that were within a few centimeters of each other. A small notch, possibly a conchoidal flaked perimortem fracture, is observed in the lateral face. The specimen, whose general form is a sinusoid cylinder with the proximal end expanded and compressed, must have belonged to a juvenile individual, since it lacks both the distal and proximal surfaces that articulate with the skull and the epihyal, respectively. Instead, both ends show an irregular surface as those seen in the contact with the growth cartilage. Additionally, its maximum length is 105 mm, larger than the equivalent part of the stylohyal of adult Glossotherium. At the expanded proximal end that articulates with the skull the large fossa found in Glossotherium and Scelidotherium cannot be observed, which could be due to a taxonomic difference, to the stage of growth or both of them. The bone shows marks, several interpreted as caused by trampling and at least one with features as those left by human tools. P. Sebastian Tambusso. Seccion Paleontologia, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Republica, Igua 4225, 11400 Montevideo, Uruguay pasebita@gmail.com H. Gregory McDonald. Museum Management Program, National Park Service, 1201 Oakridge Drive, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521 USA greg_mcdonald@nps.gov Richard A. Farina. Seccion Paleontologia, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Republica, Igua 4225, 11400 Montevideo, Uruguay dogor@netgate.com.uy

Eremotherium laurillardi (Lund, 1842) (Xenarthra, Megatheriinae) is the only valid megatheriine sloth species in the Pleistocene of intertropical Brazil: A response to Faure et al., 2014

Recent reports (Faure et al., 2014; Guérin and Faure, 2000, 2008) describe the existence, in intertropical Brazil, of a small (“dwarf”) megatheriine sloth, Eremotherium laurillardi (Lund, 1842), and a giant-sized megatheriine, Eremotherium rusconii (Schaub, 1935). This view is in marked contrast to that advanced by Cartelle and De Iuliis (1995, 2006), who demonstrated the presence of a single Late Pleistocene giant Eremotherium species, for which the valid name is Eremotherium laurillardi (Lund, 1842), in intertropical Brazil and elsewhere in America. These authors dubbed this species the Panamerican giant ground sloth. The present contribution reviews the material discussed by Faure et al. (2014) and demonstrates that it belongs to a juvenile (as did the material from Guérin and Faure, 2000) of the Panamerican giant ground sloth (i.e., E. laurillardi sensu Cartelle and De Iuliis, 1995, 2006) and that there is no evidence of a dwarf megatheriine in the Late Pleistocene of intertropical Brazil.

Tanque Loma, a new late-Pleistocene megafaunal tar seep locality from southwest Ecuador

Fossil deposits in the petroleum-rich sediments of the Santa Elena Peninsula in southwestern Ecuador contain some of the largest and best-preserved assemblages of Pleistocene megafaunal remains known from the neotropics, and thus represent an opportunity to greatly expand our knowledge of Pleistocene paleoecology and the extinction of Quaternary megafauna in this region. This paper reports data from excavations at Tanque Loma, a late-Pleistocene locality on the Santa Elena Peninsula that preserves a dense assemblage of megafaunal remains in hydrocarbon-saturated sediments along with microfaunal and paleobotanical material. The megafauna bones are concentrated in and just above a ∼0.5 m thick asphaltic layer, but occur sparsely and with poorer preservation up to 1 m above this deposit. Several meters of presumed-Holocene sediments overlying the megafauna-bearing strata are rich in bones of microvertebrates including birds, squamates, and rodents. These are interpreted as raptor assemblages. While over 1000 megafaunal bones have been identified from the Pleistocene strata at Tanque Loma, more than 85% of these remains pertain to a single species, the giant ground sloth Eremotherium laurillardi. Only five other megafauna taxa have been identified from this site, including Glossotherium cf. tropicorum, Holmesina occidentalis, cf. Notiomastodon platensis, Equus (Amerhippus) c.f. santaeelenae, and a cervid tentatively assigned to cf. Odocoileus salinae based on body size and geography. No carnivores have yet been identified from Tanque Loma, and microvertebrate remains are extremely rare in the Pleistocene deposits, although terrestrial snail shells and fragmented remains of marine invertebrates are occasionally encountered. Accelerator Mass Spectrometry radiocarbon dates on Eremotherium and cf. Notiomaston bones from within and just above the asphaltic layer yielded dates of ∼17,000 – 23,500 radiocarbon years BP.Taken together, the taxonomic composition, taphonomy, geologic context, and sedimentology of Tanque Loma suggest that this site represents a bone bed assemblage in a heavily vegetated, low-energy riparian environment with secondary infiltration of asphalt that helped to preserve the bones. The predominance of Eremotherium fossils at this site indicate that it may have been an area where these animals congregated, suggesting possible gregarious behavior in this taxon. The radiocarbon dates so far obtained on extinct taxa at Tanque Loma are consistent with a model positing earlier extinctions of megafauna in tropical South America than of related taxa further south on the continent, although this pattern may be an artifact of low sampling in the region.

Complex body size trends in the evolution of sloths (Xenarthra: Pilosa).

BackgroundExtant sloths present an evolutionary conundrum in that the two living genera are superficially similar (small-bodied, folivorous, arboreal) but diverged from one another approximately 30 million years ago and are phylogenetically separated by a radiation of medium to massive, mainly ground-dwelling, taxa. Indeed, the species in the two living genera are among the smallest, and perhaps most unusual, of the 50+ known sloth species, and must have independently and convergently evolved small size and arboreality. In order to accurately reconstruct sloth evolution, it is critical to incorporate their extinct diversity in analyses. Here, we used a dataset of 57 species of living and fossil sloths to examine changes in body mass mean and variance through their evolution, employing a general time-variable model that allows for analysis of evolutionary trends in continuous characters within clades lacking fully-resolved phylogenies, such as sloths.ResultsOur analyses supported eight models, all of which partition sloths into multiple subgroups, suggesting distinct modes of body size evolution among the major sloth lineages. Model-averaged parameter values supported trended walks in most clades, with estimated rates of body mass change ranging as high as 126 kg/million years for the giant ground sloth clades Megatheriidae and Nothrotheriidae. Inclusion of living sloth species in the analyses weakened reconstructed rates for their respective groups, with estimated rates for Megalonychidae (large to giant ground sloths and the extant two-toed sloth) were four times higher when the extant genus Choloepus was excluded.ConclusionsAnalyses based on extant taxa alone have the potential to oversimplify or misidentify macroevolutionary patterns. This study demonstrates the impact that integration of data from the fossil record can have on reconstructions of character evolution and establishes that body size evolution in sloths was complex, but dominated by trended walks towards the enormous sizes exhibited in some recently extinct forms.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-014-0184-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Chronology and ancient feeding ecology of two upper Pleistocene megamammals from the Brazilian Intertropical Region

In Brazilian Intertropical Region (BIR) fossil remains of the giant ground sloth Eremotherium laurillardi (Lund, 1842) and of the proboscidean Notiomastodon platensis (Ameghino, 1888) are the most abundant among megaherbivores. However, the paleoecology of both species needs to be better understood to enlighten why these species disappear in the end of the Pleistocene, an issue that is still debated. During the last decades, the carbon and oxygen stable isotopes have been increasingly being used to obtain paleoecological information about extinct animals, although this information is in most cases dissociated from chronological data. Thus, the main objective of this study is to contribute to the knowledge about feeding ecology and chronology of E. laurillardi and N. platensis within BIR. For each fossil sample we performed stable isotopes analyses (δ13C/δ18O) and radiocarbon dating (14C with AMS). The results showed that N. platensis occurred between 12,125 and 19,594 cal yr BP and exhibited a grazer diet (δ13C = −1.1‰–1.3‰), while E. laurillardi lived between 11,084 and 27,690 cal yr BP, with a mixed feeder diet (C3/C4 plants; values ratio δ13C = −7.7‰ to −3.3‰). The δ18O values of N. platensis ranged between 2.20‰ and 3.60‰, while the values of E. laurillardi ranged between −3.10‰ and −1.10‰. Neither species did exhibit differences in its diet through time, which suggests that the vegetational composition of this locality did not vary in the late Pleistocene. Both species were living in an open environment, rich in herbaceous plants (C4 plants) and with tree and shrub with disjoint distribution, maybe similar to some parts of recent Caatinga, where they have partitioned the spatial and feeding niches.

Evidence of the earliest humans in the Southern Deseado Massif (Patagonia, Argentina), Mylodontidae, and changes in water availability

Mylodontidae bones from La Gruta 3 rockshelter, which date to 11,077–10,571 cal BP (9560 ± 30–9470 ± 30 14C BP) and 9539–9466 cal BP (8540 ± 30 14C BP), indicate that the extinct giant ground sloth was in the area after it was first occupied by humans during the late Pleistocene at 12,799–12,049 cal BP (10,845 ± 61–10,477 ± 56 14C BP). Sediment characteristics at La Gruta 1 and 3 rockshelters (LG1 and LG3) suggest that conditions were wetter during major periods of human occupation and this is supported by pollen data. Lacustrine silts and clays in La Barda, and La Gruta Lagoons 1 and 3, provide evidence of an arid interval prior to about 6500 cal BP (5690 ± 35 14C BP) followed by wetter conditions. This may explain why there is no evidence of humans between ca. 7760 and 5583 cal BP (7500 ± 250 and 4770 ± 25 14C BP) either at La Gruta or at La Martita and Viuda Quenzana, which are ca. 25 km away. There is considerable evidence for occupation at Viuda Quenzana after 5581 cal BP and scanty evidence for occupation at La Gruta around 3800 cal BP with more abundant evidence after 1880 cal BP. In the last 1500 years, six radiocarbon ages show that humans occupied LG1 and LG3 before (1372–1271 cal BP) and after (539–156 cal BP), but not during, the Medieval Climate Anomaly, which may have been a time of increased aridity in the area. The findings at La Gruta show that Mylodontidae was probably present in the southern Deseado Massif after the first humans arrived but data from southern Patagonia show that it became extinct soon afterwards.

Registro Faunístico y Paleoambientes del Cuaternario Tardío, Provincia de la Pampa, Argentina

Fil: Montalvo, Claudia Ines. Universidad Nacional de La Pampa. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina

Implication of the presence of Megathericulus (Xenarthra: Tardigrada: Megatheriidae) in the Laventan of Peruvian Amazonia

Middle Miocene remains of giant megatheriine ground sloths (Tardigrada: Megatherioidea) are scarce and generally located in southern South America. The discovery of a well-preserved edentulous dentary of Megathericulus sp. from the Middle Miocene (Laventan South American Land Mammal Age - SALMA; 13.5–11.8 Ma) of the Amazonian Peru increases our knowledge of this genus, which had previously been recognized in Argentina. A preliminary revision of the earliest Megatheriinae allowed clustering the four middle Miocene species within the genus Megathericulus Ameghino: M. patagonicus Ameghino, M. primaevus Cabrera, M. andinum (Kraglievich), and M. cabrerai (Kraglievich). This small-sized genus is mainly characterized by a lateral depression that borders m1, a posterior external opening of the mandibular canal anterior to the base of the ascending ramus that opens anteriorly or anterodorsally, the base of the symphysis located anteriorly to the m1, important anteroposterior compression of the teeth, elongation of the region of the maxilla anterior to the M1, humerus elongated and gracile, patellar trochlea of femur contiguous with medial and lateral articular facets for tibia, strongly developed odontoid tuberosity, and astragalus with prominent odontoid process. The genus Eomegatherium Kraglievich is therefore restricted to the Huayquerian SALMA of Argentina and represented by a single species, E. nanum Burmeister. Megatheriinae constitute the first clade of Tardigrada in which the caniniform tooth has been secondarily modified into a molariform tooth. Three molariform patterns can be observed during megatheriine evolution in relation to tooth compression and loph or lophid orientation. Middle Miocene Megatheriinae occur only in the westernmost part of South America. These giant ground sloths might have dispersed latitudinally from Colombia/Patagonian Argentina before colonizing eastern areas of Andean South America (Bolivia, Venezuela, north, and east of Argentina) during the late Miocene and early Pliocene.

The inner ear ofMegatheriumand the evolution of the vestibular system in sloths

Extant tree sloths are uniquely slow mammals with a very specialized suspensory behavior. To improve our understanding of their peculiar evolution, we investigated the inner ear morphology of one of the largest and most popular fossil ground sloths, Megatherium americanum. We first address the predicted agility of this animal from the scaling of its semicircular canals (SC) relative to body mass, based on recent work that provided evidence that the size of the SC in mammals correlates with body mass and levels of agility. Our analyses predict intermediate levels of agility for Megatherium, contrasting with the extreme slowness of extant sloths. Secondly, we focus on the morphology of the SC at the inner ear scale and investigate the shape and proportions of these structures in Megatherium and in a large diversity of extant xenarthrans represented in our database. Our morphometric analyses demonstrate that the giant ground sloth clearly departs from the SC morphology of both extant sloth genera (Choloepus, Bradypus) and is in some aspects closer to that of armadillos and anteaters. Given the close phylogenetic relationships of Megatherium with the extant genus Choloepus, these results are evidence of substantial homoplasy of the SC anatomy in sloths. This homoplasy most likely corresponds to an outstanding convergent evolution between extant suspensory sloth genera.

Pengaruh Pupuk Kandang terhadap P-Tersedia Pupuk Fosfat Alam yang Diinokulasi Bakteri Pelarut Fosfat

Title : The Effect of Manure on Available-P of Phosphate Rock Fertilizer Inoculated with P-solubilizer Bacteria. Experiment conducted at Soil Biology Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture UNS Surakarta. This experiment aimed to study the effect of manure on solubilising capacity of P-solubilizer bacteria on phosphate rock fertilizer. The experiment arranged in completely randomized design with two factors i.e. dosages of manure added and inoculums rates of P-solubilizer bacteria (PSB) (Bacillus megatherium var phosphaticum). The manure added were 0 g (K0), 250 g (K1), and 500 g (K2) per 5 kg phosphate rock fertilizer. While the PSB inoculums rates were 0 cell/g (B0), 5.105 cell/g (B1) and 10.105 cell/g of phosphate rock fertilizer. The variables analysed at 2, 4 and 6 weeks after incubation for available-P, pH, organic matter content and total PSB. Data analysed with F test and DMRT at 95 % level of significant. The result indicated that available-P of phosphate rock fertilizer was significantly affected by PSB inoculation rates, doses of manure and incubation time. Available-P increase coincided with increasing of PSB inoculums and manure rates as well as incubation time. Treatment combination of PSB at 10.105 cell/g and manure of 500 g/ 5 kg increase available-P up to 80.59 ppm (151.5 % of the control treatment) at the end incubation time. Keywords: Manure, Phosphate Rock Fertilizer, P-solubilizer Bacteria

Record of the giant sloth Valgipes bucklandi (Lund, 1839) (Tardigrada, Scelidotheriinae) in Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazil, with notes on taphonomy and paleoecology

This paper presents the first record of the species Valgipes bucklandi in Rio Grande do Norte state, in the Brazilian Intertropical Region (BIR). This occurrence extends the distribution of this taxon in the BIR. Taphonomic information recovered from this finding indicated that the carcass was probably exposed in a hot and dry environment, whereas carbon isotope data revealed that V. bucklandi had a browser diet (δ13C = −10.17‰), living in more closed environments.

New Late Pleistocene megafaunal assemblage with well-supported chronology from the Pampas of southern South America

Late Pleistocene outcrops exposed in Buenos Aires province, Argentina, represent one of the most informative sources about the paleoecology of South American megafauna. However, there are no records of an accurately dated carnivore–herbivore taphocenosis. This paper presents preliminary results of a recent excavation at the margins of the Salado River, on sediments attributed to the Luján Formation (Late Pleistocene–Early Holocene). The fossiliferous strata consist of greenish brown sandy-clays deposited in a small paleopond environment that was filled by fluvial sediments, exhibiting abundant organic matter, gypsum and carbonate concretions. Fieldwork yielded an association of extinct large-sized mammals that include the horse Hippidion principale, the saber-tooth cat Smilodon populator (at least one adult and one juvenile associated specimen), a giant ground sloth Megatherium americanum, and the glyptodont Doedicurus clavicaudatus. Four 14C dates were performed on organic matter (12,100 ± 100 14C BP), a femur of S. populator (13,400 ± 200 14C BP), and a cervical vertebra of Hippidion principale (12,860 ± 120 14C BP), and a pelvis of D. clavicaudatus (12,380 ± 190 14C BP) situating the site within 12,500 and 13,500 years, approximately. Remarkably, some of the recovered specimens exhibit conspicuous bone modifications (furrows, pits, punctures, striations and crenulated margins) attributed to the activity of a medium-large carnivore. The association between bones of herbivore mammals with conspicuous modifications produced by a large carnivore, and the presence of cub and adult remains of Smilodon, link this felid with at least part of the excavated association.