The palaeobiogeography of South American gomphotheres

Abstract

Gomphotheriid proboscideans reached South America as Late Cenozoic immigrants from North America. However, disagreements over alpha taxonomy, age dating and phylogenetic relationships have produced three competing hypotheses about this immigration: (1) a single gomphothere immigration took place soon after the ~3 Ma closure of the Panamanian isthmus; (2) two separate gomphothere immigrations took place after closure of the isthmus; or (3) an earlier, Late Miocene (before 9 Ma) immigration brought gomphotheres into South America. A critical re-evaluation of the alpha taxonomy, age dating and phylogenetic relationships of Neotropical gomphotheres identifies two valid genera of South American gomphotheres, Cuvieronius and Notiomastodon (= “Haplomastodon”, = “Stegomastodon” from South America) and recognizes “Amahuacatherium” as an invalid genus likely based on a specimen of Notiomastodon. The oldest well-dated South American gomphothere fossil is Marplatan, ~2.5 Ma, from Argentina. The case for an age of “Amahuacatherium” older than 9 Ma is refuted by mammalian biostratigraphy and a re-evaluation of the relevant magnetostratigraphy. North American Rhynchotherium descended from Gomphotherium during the Late Hemphillian (~5–6 Ma) and gave rise to Cuvieronius in North America by the end of the Blancan (~2 Ma) time. Notiomastodon evolved from Cuvieronius in South America during the Pleistocene. The case for a close relationship between the Neotropical gomphotheres and Sinomastodon from China is rejected. Central America was not a center of endemic gomphothere evolution and merely acted as a pathway for the immigration of gomphotheres from north to south: Gomphotherium into Central America during the Miocene, Cuvieronius to Central America by Early Pleistocene time and on to South America. After closure of the Panamanian isthmus, Cuvieronius immigrated to South America, where it gave rise to Notiomastodon by Middle Pleistocene time. The South American history of gomphotheres was thus a modest evolutionary diversification from a single Plio-Pleistocene immigration.

Keywords

• gomphothere
• South America
• Cuvieronius
• Notiomastodon
• Haplomastodon
• Stegomastodon
• Amahuacatherium