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Ameghiniana

On-line version ISSN 1851-8044

Abstract

SANCHEZ, Begoña; PRADO, José Luis  and  ALBERDI, María Teresa. Ancient feeding, ecology and extinction of Pleistocene horses from the Pampean Region, Argentina. Ameghiniana [online]. 2006, vol.43, n.2, pp.427-436. ISSN 1851-8044.

To reconstruct the diet and habitat preference of fossil horses, we measured the carbon and oxygen isotope composition of 35 bone and tooth samples of Equus (Amerhippus) neogeus Lund, Hippidion principale (Lund), and Hippidion devillei (Gervais) from 10 different Pleistocene localities in the Pampean region (Argentina). To compare the three species by stratigraphic age, we divided the samples into three groups: lower Pleistocene, middle-late Pleistocene and latest Pleistocene. Samples of Hippidion devillei from the lower Pleistocene were more homogeneous, with δ13C values ranging between -11.73 to -9.79‰. These data indicate a diet exclusively dominated by C3 plants. In contrast, Hippidion principale and Equus (Amerhippus) neogeus from middle-late Pleistocene showed a wide range of feeding adaptations (with a range of δ13C values between -12.05 to -8.08 ‰ in Hippidion and δ 13C values between -11.46 to -7.21 ‰ in Equus (Amerhippus)). These data seem to indicate a mixed C3 - C4 diet, while data from the latest Pleistocene suggest a tendency toward an exclusively C3 diet for both species. Furthermore, the results of δ18O indicate an increase of approximately 4°C from the early to latest Pleistocene in this area. Several nutritional hypotheses explaining latest Pleistocene extinctions are based on the assumption that extinct taxa had specialized diets. The resource partitioning preference of these species from latest Pleistocene in the Pampean region supports these hypotheses.

Keywords : Equus (Amerhippus); Hippidion; Paleodiet; Ecology; Extinction; Pleistocene; Papean region; South America.

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