Uma nova espécie de camelidae (Artiodactyla: Mammalia) fóssil da região Intertropical brasileira

Abstract

South American camelids and its fossil relatives are included in the Lamini tribe. This group, of North American origin, migrated south and diversified at the late Pliocene. Some of those fossils are found in Brazil, where they went extinct at the end of the Pleistocene. They are generally included in the genus Palaeolama and are generally larger than modern lamoids. Some authors, however, have considered smaller specimens as belonging to the genus Lama, in part due to the size difference between Lama and Palaeolama. Here the material found at the Museu de Ciências Naturais PUC-MG, Belo Horizonte, is compared to fossils of Palaeolama and extant Lama. It is considered that the material attributed to Lama guanicoe would be better placed in a previously undescribed, small-sized species of the genus Palaeolama.