Journal
ANAIS DA ACADEMIA BRASILEIRA DE CIENCIAS
Volume 87, Issue 1, Pages 193-208Publisher
ACAD BRASILEIRA DE CIENCIAS
DOI: 10.1590/0001-3765201520140229
Keywords
mammals; Didelphidae; marsupials; Northern Brazil; Quaternary; Late Pleistocene
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Funding
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) [401812/2010-3]
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) (Edital MCT/CNPq - Fortalecimento da Paleontologia Nacional/Edital - Faixa B) [32/2010, 552975/2011]
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) (Apoio a Projetos de Pesquisa/Chamada MCTI/CNPq - Apoio Tecnico para Fortalecimento da Paleontologia Nacional) [23/2011]
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The present study acknowledges the diversity of fossil marsupials from the Gruta dos Moura cave, as well as environmental and climatic aspects during the Quaternary. The results show that this is the largest diversity of Pleistocene marsupials recorded in a single cave: Didelphis albiventris, D. aurita, Gracilinanus agilis, G. microtarsus, Marmosa murina, Monodelphis brevicaudata, M. domestica and Sairadelphys tocantinensis. Furthermore, the described specimens are also part of the only fossil assemblage unequivocally referable to the late Pleistocene. Paleontological studies suggest an intimate association with dry and open environments with high abundance of water sources. Since most of the identified taxa are characteristic of open forests and gallery forests, this could represent the actual environment around the Gruta dos Moura cave. Recent studies identified sympatric occurrences between species from open and dry environments and species from humid forests that were identified among our material and are characteristic of humid regions. Therefore, these species could inhabit gallery forests and capons, or even ecotones, inside a dry and open environment. Moreover, the extinction of Sairadelphys could also indicate that the climatic and environmental conditions changed or that the past environment was more heterogeneous than the current environment of the region.
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