Paralonchothrix gen. nov., the first record of Echimyini (Rodentia, Octodontoidea) in the late Miocene of Southern South America

Abstract

Echimyidae is the most widely diversified family among hystricognath rodents, both in the number of species and variety of lifestyles. In the Patagonian Subregion of southern South America, extinct echimyids related to living arboreal species (Echimyini) are recorded up to the middle Miocene, whereas all the known southern fossils since the late Miocene are linked to terrestrial and fossorial lineages currently inhabiting the Chacoan open biome in eastern South America. In this work, we describe a new genus of echimyid rodent, Paralonchothrix gen. nov., from the late Miocene of northwestern Argentina and western Brazil. Its single recognised species, Paralonchothrix ponderosus comb. nov., is represented by two hemimandibles. One of them comes from a level of Loma de Las Tapias Formation, underlying a tuff dated at 7.0 ± 0.9 Ma (Huayquerian age, late Miocene); the other specimen comes from the 'Araucanense' of Valle de Santa María (type locality, Huayquerian age, late Miocene). A phylogenetic analysis linked Paralonchothrix to Lonchothrix, both being the sister group to Mesomys. Thereby, for the first time, an echimyid linked to living Amazonian arboreal clades is recognised for the late Miocene of southern South America. Paralonchothrix gen. nov. thus represents an exceptional record that raises the need to review the postulated evolutionary pattern for echimyids recorded at high latitudes since the late Miocene. The new genus provides a minimum age (ca.7 Ma) in the fossil record for the divergence between Mesomys and Lonchothrix. The palaeoenvironmental conditions inferred for the late Miocene in western and northwestern Argentina suggest savanna-type environments, with areas with more closed woodlands in peri-Andean valleys. The record of Paralonchothrix gen. nov. supports the hypothesis that this area would have maintained connections with tropical biomes of northern South America during the late Miocene.