Toca dos Ossos: Late Pleistocene, Brazil

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Mammalia - Mylodontidae
Cartelle et al. 2019
MCL 4303 - holotype; paratype: MCL 4027
Mammalia - Megatheriidae
Cartelle and Lessa 1988
Mammalia - Proboscidea - Gomphotheriidae
Stegomastodon waringi (Holland 1920)
Alberdi et al. 2002
MCL-3108, 3102, 3101, 3100, 3110, 3099, 3116, 3091, 3095, 3092, 3096, 3097, 3094, 3081, 3083, 3085, 3078, 3082, 3088, 3079, 3076, 3077, 3080, 3084, 3074, 3075, 3071-3072-3073, 3086, 3089. (8 measurements)
Mammalia - Notoungulata - Toxodontidae
Piauhytherium sp. Guérin and Faure 2013
MacPhee et al. 2021
MCL 5191, partial skull
Toxodon sp. Owen 1837
Cartelle and Lessa 1988
MCL 5192, MCL 5194, partial skulls
Mammalia - Rodentia - Echimyidae
Myocastor coypus (Molina 1782)
Cartelle and Lessa 1988
Mammalia - Rodentia - Caviidae
Gomes et al. 2019
MCL 7229, fragment of M3 right; MCL 7231 b, fragment of M3 right; MCL 7217, left dentary without cheek teeth; MCL 7219, fragment of right dentary without cheek teeth
Gomes et al. 2019
MCL 7218, fragment of left dentary with m1; MCL 7303, left humerus; MCL 7227, fragment of left dentary with p4-m1; MCL 7221, right dentary with p4-m2; MCL 7304, left humerus; MCL 7308, innominate; MCL 7309, innominate; MCL 7216, left femur; MCL 7307, left femur; MCL 7310, left tibia; MCL 7311, right tibia; MCL 7305, left calcaneus; MCL 7306, left calcaneus
Cartelle and Lessa 1988
Mammalia - Carnivora - Felidae
Puma concolor (Linnaeus 1771)
Mammalia - Carnivora - Mephitidae
Conepatus semistriatus (Boddaert 1785)
Mammalia - Carnivora - Mustelidae
Lontra longicaudis (Olfers 1818)
Mammalia - Panameriungulata - Macraucheniidae
Cartelle and Lessa 1988
MCL-2644 (holotype, with additional numbers for each of the 358 pieces of the holotype), MCL-2643 (paratype, with additional 130 numbers for each of the 130 pieces of the paratype), MCL-2645-49, MCL-3238-3899 (63 measurements)
Mammalia - Perissodactyla - Tapiridae
Cartelle and Lessa 1988
Mammalia - Perissodactyla - Equidae
Labarca et al. 2021
MCL 6092
Reptilia - Testudines - Testudinidae
Vlachos and Romano 2021 14 individuals
At least 14 different individuals are represented in the material, including animals of different sizes and ontogenetic stages of a single species. The identified neural plates show the characteristic “gibbosities” — a condition also called “pyramiding” — similar to the morphology observed in other South American giant tortoises
see common names

Geography
Country:Brazil State/province:Bahia County:Ourolandia
Coordinates: 10.9° South, 41.1° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:
Basis of coordinate:estimated from map
Altitude:560
Geographic resolution:small collection
Time
Period: Quaternary Epoch: Pleistocene
Stage: Late Pleistocene 10 m.y. bin: Cenozoic 6
Key time interval: Late Pleistocene
Age range of interval: 0.129 - 0.0117 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Stratigraphic resolution:group of beds
Stratigraphy comments: Gomes et al. 2019: The locality situates in the limestones of the Caatinga Formation, right margin of the Salitre River (Lessa et al., 1998).
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology: not reported
Environment:terrestrial indet.
Glacial or sequence phase:glacial
Geology comments: The faunal list along with earlier references suggest colder and more humid conditions, vegetation different from that of Caatingas (actual vegetation cover), but probably Cerrado.
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:field collection
Reason for describing collection:general faunal/floral analysis
Metadata
Database number:136498
Authorizer:C. Jaramillo, E. Vlachos, P. Mannion Enterer:G. Ballen, P. Mannion, G. Varnham, E. Vlachos
Modifier:G. Varnham Research group:paleobotany,vertebrate
Created:2012-11-29 01:49:18 Last modified:2025-02-22 15:12:02
Access level:the public Released:2012-11-29 01:49:18
Creative Commons license:CC0
Reference information

Primary reference:
43594. G. Lessa, C. Cartelle, H. Farias and P. R. Gonçalves. 1998. Novos achados de mamiferos carnivoros do Pleistoceno final-Holoceno em grutas calcarias do Estado da Bahia. Acta Geologica Leopoldensia 21(46/47):157-169 [C. Jaramillo/G. Ballen]

Secondary references:

45412 M. T. Alberdi, J. L. Pardo, and C. Cartelle. 2002. El registro de Stegomastodon (Mammalia, Gomphotheriidae) en el Pleistoceno superior de Brasil. Revista Española de Paleontología 17(2):217-235 [C. Jaramillo/G. Ballen]
73259 C. Cartelle, G. De Iuliis, A. Boscaini and F. Pujos. 2019. Anatomy, possible sexual dimorphism, and phylogenetic affinities of a new mylodontine sloth from the late Pleistocene of intertropical Brazil. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 17(23):1957-1988 [P. Mannion/P. Mannion]
43716 C. Cartelle and G. Lessa. 1988. Descriçao de um novo genero e especie de Macraucheniidae (Mammalia, Litopterna) do Pleistoceno do Brasil. Paula-Coutiana 3:3-26 [C. Jaramillo/G. Ballen]
73389 A. C. Gomes, G. Lessa, C. Cartelle and L. Kerber. 2019. New fossil remains of Quaternary capybaras (Rodentia: Caviomorpha: Caviidae) from the intertropical region of Brazil: morphology and taxonomy. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 91:36-46 [P. Mannion/G. Varnham]
81698 R. Labarca, F. J. Caro, N. A. Villavicencio, J. M. Capriles, E. Briones, C. Latorre, and C. M. Santoro. 2021. A Partially Complete Skeleton of Hippidion Saldiasi Roth, 1899 (Mammalia: Perissodactyla) from the Late Pleistocene of the High Andes in Northern Chile. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 40(6):e1862132 [P. Mannion/G. Varnham]
81723 R. D. E. MacPhee, S. Hernández del Pino, A. Kramarz, A. M. Forasiepi, M. Bond and R. B. Sulser. 2021. Cranial morphology and phylogenetic relationships of Trigonostylops wortmani, an Eocene South American native ungulate. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 449(1):1-183 [P. Mannion/G. Varnham]
89492 E. Vlachos and P. S. R. Romano. 2021. New fossils of giant tortoises (Testudinidae) from the Late Pleistocene of “Toca Dos Ossos” Cave (Bahia State, Brazil). Book of Abstracts of the 2nd Palaeontological Virtual Congress, May 1–15th, 2020 201-201 [E. Vlachos/E. Vlachos]