Revised age of the Salla beds, Bolivia, and its bearing on the age of the Deseadan South American Land Mammal “Age”

ABSTRACT

The Salla beds of Bolivia contain a mammalian faunal assemblage assigned to the Deseadan South American Land Mammal “Age” (SALMA), known elsewhere principally in Patagonia. The earliest platyrrhine monkey Branisella comes from a single stratigraphie level in these beds. The age of the Salla beds is debated; new radiometrie dates constrain the age of the Deseadan SALMA in Bolivia and clarify the timing of the first record of platyrrhines in South America. The oldest vertebrate fossils from the Salla beds are contained within the magnetic polarity interval ClOr, between 28.8 and 29.4 Ma. The youngest fossils occur above the 275 m ash in Chron C7Ar, between 25.65 to 25.82 Ma. The best known faunas, including those of the Branisella level, come from several localities within Chron C8 (25.82 to 27.02 Ma).

If the recent suggestion by Flynn and S wisher (1995) that redating indicates that the Deseadan in Patagonia spans only about 27 to 29 Ma, then the bulk of the Salla fauna is younger than that of Patagonia.