Panthera onca (Carnivora, Felidae) in the late Pleistocene-early Holocene of northern Argentina

Abstract

The most northern fossil record of Panthera onca (LINNAEUS, 1758) from Argentina is here reported. The specimen, PVE-F 130, represented by an articulated and well preserved cranium and mandible, atlas and a fragment of left humerus, was exhumed from levels assigned to the Río Bermejo Formation (late Pleistocene-early Holocene; ca. 12.0-9.7 ka), near Villa Escolar, Formosa Province. The associated paleofauna, comprised mostly of large and megafaunal mammals, has a clear taxonomic similarity to that of the Pampean region of Argentina, and suggests open arid to semiarid environments. Indeed, previous analyses of plant remains associated with these vertebrates support the predominance of mega/mesothermal grasslands characterized by C3/C4 grass species.