Cyonasua zettii sp. nov. (Procyonidae, Mammalia) from the Late Miocene of Central Argentina and a review of the fossil record of Cerro Azul Formation

ABSTRACT

A detailed taxonomic study of all known fossil specimens assigned to Procyonidae from sediments of Cerro Azul Formation (early Huayquerian Stage/Age, Late Miocene) outcroping at La Pampa and Buenos Aires provinces (Argentina) is presented here. Our study led us to propose a new species, Cyonasua zettii sp. nov. coming from La Pampa Province. In addition another six specimens studied, coming from La Pampa and Buenos Aires provinces, are assigned to Cyonasua longirostris and four specimens are assigned to Cyonasua sp. because its fragmentary nature prevents a determination at species level. The specimens described here are among the oldest records for the Order Carnivora (Mammalia) in South America.

KEYWORDS:

• Cyonasua group
• early Huayquerian
• Late Miocene
• La Pampa
• Buenos Aires

Acknowledgments

We gratefully thank the teams of paleontological collections from the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ʽBernardino Rivadaviaʼ, from the Museo Histórico de Guaminí, from Instituto de Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Paleontológicas del Cuaternario Pampeano for their help in the field trip, to L. Cruz, D. Block and the team for the geological observation from Carhué, and from the Vertebrate Paleontology Division of the Museo de La Plata for letting us the fossil remains studied in the present work. D. H. thanks the grant ʽBeca Interna Postdoctoral 2020ʼ of the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). This work was supported by the Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, UNLPam, under G21 project; by the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, UNLP, under Programa de Incentivos a la Investigación N841, and by the Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, UNCPBA, under Proyectos de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica PICT 2019-03412.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, Argentina; Programa de Incentivos a la Investigación, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina; and Proyectos de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina.