Also see https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/milewski/55189-the-empty-pampas-epitome-of-a-biogeographical-mystery-part-1# and https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/milewski/83093-predator-prey-relationship-between-the-largest-sabre-tooth-felid-smilodon-populator-and-the-largest-litoptern-meridiungulate-marauchenia-patachonica-in-south-america-in-the-late-pleistocene#
In the late Pleistocene (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Pleistocene), the following megaherbivores (with body mass exceeding one tonne) occurred in the general vicinity of what is now the port city, Buenos Aires (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires).
My reference is Cione et al., 2003 (https://web.archive.org/web/20110706084815/http://www.ege.fcen.uba.ar/materias/general/Broken_ZigZagMACN_5_1_19_.pdf).
This fossil fauna is, in palaeontological terms, called the Lujanian fauna (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lujanian#:~:text=Fauna%20include%20ground%20sloths%2C%20litopterns,and%20the%20armadillo%2Dlike%20Pachyarmatherium. and https://markgelbart.wordpress.com/2020/05/19/the-lujanian-land-mammal-age-the-south-american-equivalent-of-the-rancho-la-brean-land-mammal-age/ and https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Date-of-first-and-last-appearance-of-species-of-Lujanian-fauna-in-both-regions-a_fig5_345652149 and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24676170/).
At that time, sea level was lower than it is today, exposing a wide coastal shelf (https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Map-showing-currents-and-bathymetry-around-the-South-American-continent-Bathymetry-scale_fig2_240692517).
Therefore, the coast was far to the east.
This suggests that
It was this megafauna that Homo sapiens encountered, when our species first arrived, about ?13,000 years ago (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peopling_of_the_Americas and https://www.the-scientist.com/features/the-peopling-of-south-america-67860 and https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-humans-came-to-americas-180973739/ and https://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2017/02/032.html).
Of the taxa of megaherbivores listed and illustrated below, now extinct (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4020-8793-6_2) are
PROBOSCIDEA: GOMPHOTHERIIDAE (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379114005046):
CUVIERONIUS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuvieronius
https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Cuvieronius-hyodon
NOTIOMASTODON (=HAPLOMASTODON) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notiomastodon (including - STEGOMASTODON https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stegomastodon)
https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Notiomastodon-platensis
PILOSA: MEGATHERIIDAE:
EREMOTHERIUM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eremotherium
https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Eremotherium
MEGATHERIUM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatherium
https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Megatherium
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Megatherium_NT_small.jpg
PILOSA: MEGALONYCHIDAE:
PILOSA: MYLODONTIDAE:
GLOSSOTHERIUM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossotherium
https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Glossotherium-robustum
LESTODON https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lestodon
https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Lestodon
MYLODON https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mylodon
https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Mylodon
CINGULATA: CHLAMYPHORIDAE:
DOEDICURUS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doedicurus
https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Doedicurus
GLYPTODON https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyptodon
https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/1025444/view/glyptodon-prehistoric-armadillo-illustration
https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Glyptodon-old-version
NOTOUNGULATA: TOXODONTIDAE:
TOXODON https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxodon
https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Toxodon
MIXOTOXODON https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixotoxodon
https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Mixotoxodon
LITOPTERNA: MACRAUCHENIIDAE:
MACRAUCHENIA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrauchenia
https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Macrauchenia-patagonica
ARTIODACTYLA: CAMELIDAE:
DISCUSSION
The richest fauna of megaherbivores in modern times is that of Africa, where five genera remain sympatric (https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/megaherbivores/BAAC70497C8D70FBEAE32F462515151B and https://www.booktopia.com.au/megaherbivores-r-norman-owen-smith/book/9780521426374.html and https://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/pdf_files/136/1368291242.pdf?view).
These are
By comparison, the megaherbivores of the Lujanian fauna were surprisingly diverse, constituting
The single greatest difference is in the xenarthran (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-98449-0_6) orders Pilosa and Cingulata, containing ground sloths and glyptodonts. The ground sloths varied from mainly browsing (Megatheriidae) to mainly grazing (Mylodontidae).
These xenarthran forms, with what was presumably an extremely slow pace of life (metabolism, reproduction, and growth, https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(19)30775-4.pdf), have no counterparts in modern faunas of savannas and grasslands.
In the Holocene fauna of South and central America, no megaherbivores whatsoever remain.
The order Artiodactyla was the only one of the Lujanian orders of megaherbivores remaining as an extant herbivore at the time of European arrival in 1516, where Buenos Aires now stands.
And even in this case, the form involved (Ozotoceros bezoarticus celer, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=601879 and https://ampargentina.org/en/areas/campos-del-tuyu-eng/) has a body mass of only 30 kg - which is a mere 3% of the one-tonne criterion for megaherbivores.
This extreme and abrupt loss of large animals, from what is now the pampas of Buenos Aires province (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires_Province), remains a great puzzle of Biology.
Comentarios
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2400736
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Stegomastodon_and_Notiomastodon_skeletals.png
HEMIAUCHENIA
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jqs.3426
https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=5621588
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/paleobiology/article/abs/stable-isotopes-hypsodonty-and-the-paleodiet-of-hemiauchenia-mammalia-camelidae-a-morphological-specialization-creating-ecological-generalization/5D9461E1DDB39CF43D43F03F470A439F
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/bulletin-Meachenlowres.pdf
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jqs.3426
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Carolina-Scherer-2/publication/237133558_Contribution_to_the_knowledge_of_Hemiauchenia_paradoxa_Artiodactyla_Camelidae_from_the_Pleistocene_of_southern_Brazil/links/00b49531715111bb4b000000/Contribution-to-the-knowledge-of-Hemiauchenia-paradoxa-Artiodactyla-Camelidae-from-the-Pleistocene-of-southern-Brazil.pdf
https://bioone.org/journals/acta-palaeontologica-polonica/volume-57/issue-3/app.2011.0005/A-Small-Camelid-Hemiauchenia-from-the-Late-Pleistocene-of-Hidalgo/10.4202/app.2011.0005.full
https://sjpp.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13358-023-00273-7?fbclid=IwAR1E3UGbyv5S-F6JfghNpaZneTO8RgV2bIBt-89p1eXV7Ic15faew4dX4OA
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jqs.3502
PROBOSCIDEA
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1040618216302993
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1040618211005052
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10914-012-9192-3
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1040618211002916
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/paleobiology/article/abs/feeding-ecology-dispersal-and-extinction-of-south-american-pleistocene-gomphotheres-gomphotheriidae-proboscidea/86EDB76FEF553ECACC4EB1B31836A30A
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1040618204000746
https://natuurtijdschriften.nl/pub/538690
https://www.scielo.br/j/aabc/a/xJfRRZ8K5LN54QLxWp9yvVq/
TOXODON
https://www.flickr.com/photos/langleyo/10264094285
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Toxodon_skeleton_in_BA.JPG
https://collections.rom.on.ca/objects/961802/fossil-toxodont-skeleton
https://ojs.uv.es/index.php/sjpalaeontology/article/view/20483
http://www.scielo.org.ar/scielo.php?pid=S0004-48222011000300014&script=sci_abstract&tlng=pt
https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=8102224
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00222938109487478?journalCode=tnah11
https://www.britannica.com/animal/Toxodon
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/darwins-strangest-beast-finds-place-on-tree
GROUND SLOTHS
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florida-vertebrate-fossils/species/eremotherium-eomigrans/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S003101821930447X
https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-2992768/v1
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-67863-0
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/earth-and-environmental-science-transactions-of-royal-society-of-edinburgh/article/evolution-of-body-size-in-anteaters-and-sloths-xenarthra-pilosa-phylogeny-metabolism-diet-and-substrate-preferences/421A0CE4BDBEDA50117FC0AE9EED878C
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2018.1020
https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/etd/r/1501/10?clear=10&p10_accession_num=ysu1651835399349345
https://bioone.org/journals/edentata/volume-15/issue-2014/020.015.0111/Loss-of-Ancient-Diversity-of-Xenarthrans-and-the-Value-of/10.5537/020.015.0111.full
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379114001590
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1040618221003505
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018216000912
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2408643
SMILODONhttps://phys.org/news/2014-10-theory-saber-toothed-cats-downed-prey.htmlhttps://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0107456#:~:text=fatalis%20suggest%20an%20alternative%20bite,adductors%20in%20closing%20the%20jaws.https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1096/fasebj.2021.35.S1.02525https://scitechdaily.com/fang-tastic-findings-study-unveils-the-science-behind-the-bite-of-saber-toothed-carnivores/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4182664/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25272032/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266381645_Jaw_Function_in_Smilodon_fatalis_A_Reevaluation_of_the_Canine_Shear-Bite_and_a_Proposal_for_a_New_Forelimb-Powered_Class_1_Lever_Modelhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1631068319300612https://www.academia.edu/44424194/An_Engineering_Experiment_Testing_the_Canine_Shear_Bite_Model_for_Smilodon
https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ar.21190
https://mindmatters.ai/2022/05/did-small-brains-doom-the-mammoth-and-the-giant-armadillo/
https://www.jpost.com/science/article-706806
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220509112041.htm
https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2022-03-31/ty-article/israeli-italian-paleontologists-find-link-between-brain-size-and-extinction/00000180-5bbd-d718-afd9-dfbd01c20000
https://blog.everythingdinosaur.com/blog/_archives/2022/03/31/large-mammals-with-small-brains-prone-to-extinction.html
https://allaboutsloths.com/sloth-brain-lets-take-a-look-at-whats-inside/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/12/sloth-jewelry-human-arrive-americas
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/the-anatomy-of-sloths/
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