The Pleistocene mammals of Costa Rica

ABSTRACT

Fossil mammals are known from 41 localities of Pleistocene age in Costa Rica. Most of these mammals are proboscideans referable to the gomphothere Cuvieronius hyodon. One occurrence of Haplomastodon waringi is known, and Mammuthus columbi from Costa Rica is the southernmost record of Mammuthus in Central America. Less well documented are occurrences of megatheriid and mylodontid ground sloths and glyptodonts. Equus is poorly known from several localities, and the toxodont Mixotoxodon larensis is well known from a single locality. Canis latrans and Tapirus sp., cf. T. terrestris are new records for the Pleistocene of Costa Rica. None of the Costa Rican Pleistocene mammals is directly associated with human artifacts or remains. No endemic taxa of mammals are known from Costa Rica; most are of North American origin. The Costa Rican Pleistocene record is from numerous localities, but consists of one or a few taxa of large mammals and no small mammals at each site, indicating a probable bias towards preservation in high energy fluvial deposits, alluvia, ignimbrites, and lahars, and a collecting and/or preservational bias toward fossils of large size.