El Breal de Orocual: Late/Upper Pliocene - Early/Lower Pleistocene, Venezuela

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Reptilia
Crocodylia indet. (Owen 1842)
Fortier and Rincón 2013
Dorsal osteoderms, OR-1835, OR-1836; lateral osteoderm, OR- 343; centrum of cervical vertebra, OR-1833; centrum of first caudal vertebra, OR-1394; posterior caudal vertebra (OR-348); a set of uncatalogued fragments
Caimaninae indet. Brochu 1999
Fortier and Rincón 2013
Posterior fragment of right jaw, OR-1679; anterior fragment of right jaw, OR-1683
Caiman sp. Spix 1825
Fortier and Rincón 2013
Fragment of left dentary, OR-271; fragment of right maxilla, OR- 1678
Caiman venezuelensis n. sp. Fortier and Rincón 2013
Fortier and Rincón 2013
synonym of Caiman crocodilus
OR-1677 - holotype - incomplete left premaxilla
Mammalia - Didelphimorphia
Didelphis sp. Linnaeus 1758
Rincón et al. 2009
Mammalia - Proboscidea
Proboscidea indet. (Illiger 1811)
Rincón et al. 2009
Mammalia - Notoungulata - Toxodontidae
Mixotoxodon larensis Van Frank 1957
Rincón et al. 2009
Mammalia - Perissodactyla - Equidae
Hippidion sp. Owen 1869
Rincón et al. 2009
Mammalia - Tayassuidae
Platygonus sp. Leconte 1848
Rincón et al. 2009
Tayassu sp. Fischer 1814
Rincón et al. 2009
Mammalia - Carnivora - Felidae
Smilodon sp. Lund 1841
Rincón et al. 2009
Smilodon gracilis Cope 1880
Referred Materials: Upper incisor, OR-1346; fractured left upper crown of canine, 1342; left P3, 1344; right P3, 1347; right P4, 1343; left P4 fragments, 1345
Homotheriini indet. Jiangzuo et al. 2022
Rincón et al. 2009
spelled with current rank as Homotheriina
Homotherium venezuelensis n. sp. Rincón et al. 2011
recombined as Xenosmilus venezuelensis
Holotype: OR-1352. Hypodigm: Three upper canines, OR-712, OR-1349, OR-1350; four upper canine fragments, OR-080, OR-258, OR-1219, OR-1386; right I3, OR-256; two right P4, OR- 255, OR-1390; two left dentaries, OR-259, OR-330; two dentary fragments, OR-710, OR-711; left lower canine, OR-254; two right lower canines, OR- 771, OR-1221; left m1, OR1389; left i3 and lower canine associate, OR-1166; right i1 crown, OR-081; left i1, OR-1385; right i2, OR-1381; right i3, OR-1220; left i3 crown, OR-785; two left p4, OR-257, OR-1384. (54 measurements)
Mammalia - Carnivora - Canidae
cf. Protocyon indet. Giebel 1855
Rincón et al. 2009
Mammalia - Carnivora - Ursidae
cf. Arctotherium wingei Ameghino 1902
Rincón et al. 2009
Mammalia - Rodentia - Erethizontidae
Erethizontidae indet. Bonaparte 1845
Rincón et al. 2009
Mammalia - Rodentia - Hydrochoeridae
cf. Chapalmatherium indet. Ameghino 1908
Rincón et al. 2009
synonym of Phugatherium
Mammalia - Rodentia
Proechimys sp. Allen 1899
Rincón et al. 2009
Mammalia - Primates - Cebidae
cf. Cebus sp. Erxleben 1777
Ruiz-Ramoni et al. 2017
Mammalia - Cingulata - Panochthidae
Hoplophorus sp. Lund 1838
Rincón et al. 2009
Mammalia - Cingulata - Pampatheriidae
Holmesina occidentalis (Hoffstetter 1952)
Rincón et al. 2009
Pampatherium humboldtii (Lund 1839)
Rincón et al. 2009
Mammalia - Cingulata - Glyptodontidae
Glyptodon sp. Owen 1839
Rincón et al. 2009
Mammalia - Cingulata - Pachyarmatheriidae
cf. Pachyarmatherium leiseyi Downing and White 1995
Rincón et al. 2009
Mammalia - Cingulata - Dasypodidae
Propraopus sulcatus (Lund 1838)
Rincón et al. 2009
Mammalia - Megalonychidae
Megalonychidae indet. Gervais 1855
Rincón et al. 2009
Mammalia - Megatheriidae
Eremotherium sp. Spillmann 1948
Rincón et al. 2009
Mammalia - Myrmecophagidae
cf. Myrmecophaga sp. Linnaeus 1758
Rincón et al. 2009
see common names

Geography
Country:Venezuela State/province:Monagas
Coordinates: 9.8° North, 63.3° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:9.8° North, 63.0° West
Basis of coordinate:stated in text
Geographic resolution:local area
Time
10 m.y. bin:Cenozoic 6
Key time interval:Late/Upper Pliocene - Early/Lower Pleistocene
Age range of interval:3.60000 - 0.77400 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Formation:Mesa
Stratigraphic resolution:group of beds
Stratigraphy comments: The Mesa Formation is early to middle Pleistocene age, based on thermoluminescence dates of 0.5 to 1.0 Ma (Carbón et al., 1992).
Ruiz-Ramoni et al. 2017: El Breal de Orocual locality ORS-16 pit has been dated biochronologically to the Late Pliocene e Early Pleistocene based on the taxa Chapalmatherium sp., Pachyarmatherium leiseyi, and Smilodon gracilis (Rincon et al., 2009, 2011).
Rincón et al. 2009: The deposit appears to be emplaced within the Mesa Formation, the age of which is assumed to be Pleistocene based on its stratigraphic position with respect to the Pliocene Las Piedras Formation (González de Juana, et al., 1980:713).
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology: tar
Secondary lithology: tar
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: This deposit has been interpreted as a tar seep deposit lying in the Mesa Formation (Hackley et al., 2006), a unit that consists of fluvio-deltaic strata. Rincón et al. 2009: The bones and sediments were clearly impregnated with asphalt at some time in the past, but no fluid asphalt is present in the deposit today. Solidified asphalt blocks are exposed in cross section in the wall of the trench in several places. These blocks are surrounded by a weathered corona of badly degraded wood, and appear to represent hollow cavities within logs or branches that were filled with asphalt that could not escape when the rest of the deposit was drained.
Environment:terrestrial indet.
Geology comments: The faunal assemblage suggests that the El Breal de Orocual paleoenvironment was similar to that of the Venezuelan llanos today: an extensive savanna with rivers and patches of gallery forest (Rincón,et al., 2007, 2009).
Ruiz-Ramoni et al. 2017: The fauna from ORS-16 consists of 25 mammal taxa including birds, testudines, and a crocodilian, as well as Cebus. All of these taxa indicate that the region was an extensive savanna with water bodies, and patches of gallery forest (Rincon et al., 2007, 2009, 2011; Fortier and Rincon, 2013). The presence of a capuchin monkey, very probably arboreal, supports this paleoecological reconstruction.
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils,mesofossils
Collection methods and comments
Collection excludes:all macrofossils
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Collection method comments: Museum repositories: OR (El Breal de Orocual collection, hosted in Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cient ́ıficas, Caracas, Venezuela)
Metadata
Database number:144977
Authorizer:C. Jaramillo, P. Mannion Enterer:C. Suarez-Gomez, P. Mannion, G. Varnham
Modifier:P. Mannion Research group:vertebrate
Created:2013-05-24 12:41:46 Last modified:2021-04-26 05:39:53
Access level:group members Released:2015-05-24 12:41:46
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:
46869. A. D. Rincón, F. J. Prevosti, and G. E. Parra. 2011. New saber-toothed cat records (Felidae: Machairodontinae) for the Pleistocene of Venezuela, and the Great American Biotic Interchange. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31(2):468-478 [C. Jaramillo/C. Suarez-Gomez]

Secondary references:

52022 D. C. Fortier and A. D. Rincón. 2013. Pleistocene crocodylians from Venezuela, and the description of a new species of Caiman. Quaternary International 305:141-148 [P. Mannion/P. Mannion]
69333 A. D. Rincón, G. E. Parra, F. J. Prevosti, M. T. Alberdi, and C. J. Bell. 2009. A preliminary assessment of the mammalian fauna from the Pliocene-Pleistocene El Breal de Orocual locality, Monagas state, Venezuela . Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 64:593-620 [P. Mannion/G. Varnham]
69185 D. Ruiz-Ramoni, A. D. Rincón, A. Solórzano and S. Moyà-Solà. 2017. The first fossil Platyrrhini (Primates: Anthropoidea) from Venezuela: A capuchin monkey from the Plio-Pleistocene of El Breal de Orocual. Journal of Human Evolution 105:127-131 [P. Mannion/G. Varnham/P. Mannion]