DSpace Repository

Predation of the giant Miocene caiman Purussaurus on a mylodontid ground sloth in the wetlands of proto-Amazonia: Purussaurus-sloth interaction

Show simple item record

dc.contributor.author Pujos, F.
dc.contributor.author Salas-Gismondi, R.
dc.date.accessioned 2020-12-14T16:10:05Z
dc.date.available 2020-12-14T16:10:05Z
dc.date.issued 2020
dc.identifier.uri https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12866/8770
dc.description.abstract Thirteen million years ago in South America, the Pebas Mega-Wetland System sheltered multi-taxon crocodylian assemblages, with the giant caiman Purussaurus as the top predator. In these Miocene swamps where reptiles and mammals coexisted, evidence of their agonistic interactions is extremely rare. Here, we report a tibia of the mylodontid sloth Pseudoprepotherium bearing 46 predation tooth marks. The combination of round and bisected, shallow pits and large punctures that collapsed extensive portions of cortical bone points to a young or sub-adult Purussaurus (approx. 4 m in total length) as the perpetrator. Other known crocodylians of the Pebas System were either too small at adulthood or had discordant feeding anatomy to be considered. The pattern of tooth marks suggests that the perpetrator attacked and captured the ground sloth from the lower hind limb, yet an attempt of dismembering cannot be ruled out. This discovery from the Peruvian Amazonia provides an unusual snapshot of the dietary preferences of Purussaurus and reveals that prior to reaching its giant size, young individuals might have fed upon terrestrial mammals of about the size of a capybara. en_US
dc.language.iso eng
dc.publisher Royal Society Publishing
dc.relation.ispartofseries Biology Letters
dc.rights info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess
dc.rights.uri https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.es
dc.subject Purussaurus en_US
dc.subject Miocene en_US
dc.subject bite marks en_US
dc.subject proto-Amazonia en_US
dc.subject ground sloth en_US
dc.title Predation of the giant Miocene caiman Purussaurus on a mylodontid ground sloth in the wetlands of proto-Amazonia: Purussaurus-sloth interaction en_US
dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.identifier.doi https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0239
dc.subject.ocde https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#1.06.00
dc.relation.issn 1744-957X


Files in this item

Files Size Format View

There are no files associated with this item.

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record

info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess

Search DSpace


Browse

My Account

Statistics