Pequeños mamíferos en egagrópilas de aves rapaces en un ecotono desértico del noroeste de Patagonia, Argentina

Andrea del Pilar Tarquino-Carbonell; Paola Turienzo; José Manuel López

doi:10.56178/eh.v38i1.537

Short Communications Published 14 March 2023 https://doi.org/10.56178/eh.v38i1.537

Small mammals in pellets of birds of prey from a desert ecotone in Northwestern Patagonia, Argentina

skeletal remains rodentia strigiformes taphonomy drylands

Andrea del Pilar Tarquino-Carbonell Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas (IADIZA), Centro Científico y Tecnológico, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). Avenida Ruiz Leal s/n Parque General San Martín, Mendoza, Argentina

Paola Turienzo Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Sede Andina, Bariloche, Argentina

José Manuel López Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas (IADIZA), Centro Científico y Tecnológico, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). Avenida Ruiz Leal s/n Parque General San Martín, Mendoza, Argentina

Abstract

One of the distinctive features of the South American drylands is the presence of small mammals. This work presents the results of taphonomic and taxonomic analyses of micromammal (≤ 1 kg) bones recovered from an isolated deposit in pellets of birds of prey found in a cave located in the Neuquén province (Argentina). Taphonomic analyses revealed a low proportion of elements modified by digestion and of broken elements, as well as a relatively high abundance of post-cranial skeletal elements, a pattern suggesting that pellets were ejected by barn owls (Tyto furcata). Remains from members of five rodent genera (Calomys, Eligmodontia, Phyllotis, Oligmodontia, Ctenomys) were identified. The results of these analyses should contribute to ongoing ecological studies, especially on birds of pray, of Northwestern Patagonia.

PDF

References

Andrews P (1990) Small Mammal Taphonomy. Pp. 487-494 in: Lindsay EH, Fahlbusch V y Mein P, (eds) European Neogene Mammal Chronology. NATO Science Series A: (NSSA, volume 180), Springer, New York
Arana MD, Natale E, Ferretti N, Romano G, Oggero A, Martínez G, Posadas P and Morrone JJ (2021) Esquema biogeográfico de la República Argentina. Opera lilloana 56, Fundación Miguel Lillo, Tucumán
Barredo S, Gabriele N, Garrido A and Redonte G (2012) Los principales sistemas de cavernas cársticas de la provincia del Neuquén. Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina 69:556-569
Brown A and Pacheco S (2006) Propuesta de actualización del mapa ecorregional de la Argentina. Pp. 25-31 in: Brown AU, Martínez Ortiz MAC, Pacheco J, editors. La Situación Ambiental Argentina 2005. Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina, Buenos Aires
Cabrera AL (1971) Fitogeografía de la república Argentina. Boletín de la Sociedad Argentina de Botánica. 14:1-42
Fernández FJ, Ballejo F, Moreira GJ, Tonni EP and de Santis LJM (2011) Roedores cricétidos de la Provincia de Mendoza: Guía cráneo-dentaria orientada para su aplicación en estudios zooarqueológicos, Universitas, Córdoba
Fernández F, Del Papa LM, Mange E, Teta P, Crivelli Montero E, Pardiñas UFJ (2016a) Human subsistence and environmental stability during the last 2200 years in Epullán Chica cave (northwestern Patagonia, Argentina): A perspective from the zooarchaeological record. Quaternary International 391: 38-50
Fernández FJ, Montalvo CI, Fernández Jalvo Y, Andrews P and López JM (2017) A re-evaluation of the taphonomic methodology for the study of small mammal fossil assemblages of South America. Quaternary Science Reviews 155:37-49
Fernández FJ and Pardiñas UFJ (2018) Small mammals taphonomy and environmental evolution during Late Pleistocene-Holocene in Monte Desert: The evidence of Gruta del Indio (central west Argentina). Journal of South American Earth Sciences 84:266-275
Fernández FJ, Teta P and Barberena R (2012) Small mammal remains from Cueva Huemul, northern Patagonia, Argentina: Quaternary International 278:22-31
Fernández FJ, Teta P, Mange E, Venanzi LG and Pardiñas UFJ (2016b) Micromamíferos del sitio arqueológico Cueva Galpón (Río Negro, Argentina): Aspectos tafonómicos y reconstrucción paleoambiental para el Holoceno Tardío en Norpatagonia oriental. Arqueologia 5159:105-124
Jayat P, Teta P, Ojeda AA, Steppan SJ, Osland JM, Ortiz PE, Novillo A, Lanzone C and Ojeda RA (2021) The Phyllotis xanthopygus complex (Rodentia, Cricetidae) in central Andes, systematics and description of a new species. Zoologica Scripta 50:689-706
Jayat P, Teta P, Ojeda AA, Steppan SJ, Osland JM, Ortiz PE, Novillo A, Lanzone C and Ojeda RA (2022) Establishing the availability of the recently erected binomen Phyllotis pehuenche (Rodentia, Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae). Therya notes 3:110-114
López JM (2020) Actualistic taphonomy of barn owl pellet-derived small mammal bone accumulations in arid environments of South America. Journal of Quaternary Science 35:1057-1069
López JM and Chiavazza H (2019) Small mammal bone remains recovered in open-air archaeological sites from the Monte Desert in Central Western Argentina: taphonomic and palaeoenvironmental implications. Anthropological, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 11:5149-5169
López JM, Aguilar JP and Fernández FJ (2021a) Egagrópilas actuales de aves rapaces como herramientas para la generación de modelos paleoambientales en la provincia de Mendoza, Argentina. Mastozoología Neotropical 28:1-29
López JM, Quintana MF, Mignino J and Pereyra-Lobos R (2021b) Tafonomía de restos óseos y dentarios de micromamíferos recuperados en egagrópilas actuales generadas por la Lechucita de las Vizcacheras (Athene cunicularia): una discusión sobre las tierras bajas áridas del Centro Occidente Argentino. Intersecciones en Antropología 22:55-67
Lyman R (2008) Quantitative paleozoology. Cambridge University Press, New York
Mares MA (1992) Neotropical mammals and the myth of Amazonian biodiversity. Science 255:976–979
Mares MA and Ojeda RA (1982) Patterns of diversity and adaptation in South American hystricognath rodents in: Mares MA, Genoways HH, editors. Mammalian Biology in South America. Special Publication Series No. 6, Pymatuning Lab. Ecology: Linnesville (USA), p. 393-432
Martinez GN (2018) Nueva campaña GAEMN-GEMA en la Caverna del León, Neuquén. EspeleoAr 18:3-4
Mignino J, Izeta A, García JM, Cattáneo R and Pedetti OB (2021). Neo-tafonomía de restos de pequeños mamíferos acumulados por la Lechuza del Campanario (Tyto alba) en el Gran Chaco Sudamericano (Argentina): Un marco de referencia para sitios de percha y anidamiento. El Hornero 36:51-60
Montalvo CI and Fernández FJ (2019) Review of the actualistic taphonomy of small mammals ingested by South American predators: its importance in the interpretation of the fossil record. Publicación Electrónica de la Asociación Paleontológica Argentina 19:18-46
Montalvo CI, Fernández FJ and Tallade PO (2016) The role of Bubo virginianus magellanicus as rodent bone accumulator in Archaeological Sites: A Case Study for the Atuel River (Mendoza, Argentina). International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 26:974-986
Morello J (1958) La provincia fitogeográfica del Monte. Opera Lilloana II 2:5-155
Murrie M and Murrie S (2010) The First Book of Seconds: 220 of the Most Random, Remarkable, Respectable, Regrettable Runners-Up and Their Almost Claim to Fame. Simon and Schust. Avon (USA), 240 p
Ojeda RA, Blendinger PG and Brandl R (2000) Mammals in South American drylands: Faunal similarity and trophic structure. Global Ecology and Biogeography 9:115-123
Ojeda RA and Tabeni S (2009) The mammals of the Monte Desert revisited. Journal of Arid Environments. 73:173-181
Pardiñas UFJ (1999) Tafonomía de microvertebrados en yacimientos arqueológicos de Patagonia. Arqueología 9:265-340
Pardiñas UFJ, Udrizar-Sauthier DE and Teta P (2012) Micromammal diversity loss in central-eastern Patagonia over the last 400 years. Journal of Arid Environments 85:71–75
Paruelo JM, Beltrán A, Jobbágy E, Sala OE and Golluscio RA (1998) The climate of Patagonia: general patterns and controls on biotic processes. Ecología Austral 8:85–101
Patton JL, Pardiñas UFJ and D’Elía G (2015) Mammals of South America, Volume 2: Rodents. London (UK): University of Chicago Press
R Development Core Team (2020) R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing Vienna Austria
Saavedra B and Simonetti JA (1998) Small Mammal Taphonomy: Intraspecific Bone Assemblage Comparison between South and North American Barn Owl, Tyto alba, Populations. Journal of Archaeological Science 25:165-170
Tarquino-Carbonell AP and Turienzo P| (2019) Presencia de Histiotus montanus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) en la Caverna del León (Neuquén, Argentina). Gota a Gota 17:44-49

How to cite

Andrea del Pilar Tarquino-Carbonell, Paola Turienzo, José Manuel López (2023). Small mammals in pellets of birds of prey from a desert ecotone in Northwestern Patagonia, Argentina. El Hornero, Vol. 38 No. 1 (2023), 87-93. https://doi.org/10.56178/eh.v38i1.537

Downloads

1123Full-text views

1Formats

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

[1] Andrews P (1990) Small Mammal Taphonomy. Pp. 487-494 in: Lindsay EH, Fahlbusch V y Mein P, (eds) European Neogene Mammal Chronology. NATO Science Series A: (NSSA, volume 180), Springer, New York

[2] Arana MD, Natale E, Ferretti N, Romano G, Oggero A, Martínez G, Posadas P and Morrone JJ (2021) Esquema biogeográfico de la República Argentina. Opera lilloana 56, Fundación Miguel Lillo, Tucumán

[3] Barredo S, Gabriele N, Garrido A and Redonte G (2012) Los principales sistemas de cavernas cársticas de la provincia del Neuquén. Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina 69:556-569

[4] Brown A and Pacheco S (2006) Propuesta de actualización del mapa ecorregional de la Argentina. Pp. 25-31 in: Brown AU, Martínez Ortiz MAC, Pacheco J, editors. La Situación Ambiental Argentina 2005. Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina, Buenos Aires

[5] Cabrera AL (1971) Fitogeografía de la república Argentina. Boletín de la Sociedad Argentina de Botánica. 14:1-42

[6] Fernández FJ, Ballejo F, Moreira GJ, Tonni EP and de Santis LJM (2011) Roedores cricétidos de la Provincia de Mendoza: Guía cráneo-dentaria orientada para su aplicación en estudios zooarqueológicos, Universitas, Córdoba

[7] Fernández F, Del Papa LM, Mange E, Teta P, Crivelli Montero E, Pardiñas UFJ (2016a) Human subsistence and environmental stability during the last 2200 years in Epullán Chica cave (northwestern Patagonia, Argentina): A perspective from the zooarchaeological record. Quaternary International 391: 38-50

[8] Fernández FJ, Montalvo CI, Fernández Jalvo Y, Andrews P and López JM (2017) A re-evaluation of the taphonomic methodology for the study of small mammal fossil assemblages of South America. Quaternary Science Reviews 155:37-49

[9] Fernández FJ and Pardiñas UFJ (2018) Small mammals taphonomy and environmental evolution during Late Pleistocene-Holocene in Monte Desert: The evidence of Gruta del Indio (central west Argentina). Journal of South American Earth Sciences 84:266-275

[10] Fernández FJ, Teta P and Barberena R (2012) Small mammal remains from Cueva Huemul, northern Patagonia, Argentina: Quaternary International 278:22-31

[11] Fernández FJ, Teta P, Mange E, Venanzi LG and Pardiñas UFJ (2016b) Micromamíferos del sitio arqueológico Cueva Galpón (Río Negro, Argentina): Aspectos tafonómicos y reconstrucción paleoambiental para el Holoceno Tardío en Norpatagonia oriental. Arqueologia 5159:105-124

[12] Jayat P, Teta P, Ojeda AA, Steppan SJ, Osland JM, Ortiz PE, Novillo A, Lanzone C and Ojeda RA (2021) The Phyllotis xanthopygus complex (Rodentia, Cricetidae) in central Andes, systematics and description of a new species. Zoologica Scripta 50:689-706

[13] Jayat P, Teta P, Ojeda AA, Steppan SJ, Osland JM, Ortiz PE, Novillo A, Lanzone C and Ojeda RA (2022) Establishing the availability of the recently erected binomen Phyllotis pehuenche (Rodentia, Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae). Therya notes 3:110-114

[14] López JM (2020) Actualistic taphonomy of barn owl pellet-derived small mammal bone accumulations in arid environments of South America. Journal of Quaternary Science 35:1057-1069

[15] López JM and Chiavazza H (2019) Small mammal bone remains recovered in open-air archaeological sites from the Monte Desert in Central Western Argentina: taphonomic and palaeoenvironmental implications. Anthropological, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 11:5149-5169

[16] López JM, Aguilar JP and Fernández FJ (2021a) Egagrópilas actuales de aves rapaces como herramientas para la generación de modelos paleoambientales en la provincia de Mendoza, Argentina. Mastozoología Neotropical 28:1-29

[17] López JM, Quintana MF, Mignino J and Pereyra-Lobos R (2021b) Tafonomía de restos óseos y dentarios de micromamíferos recuperados en egagrópilas actuales generadas por la Lechucita de las Vizcacheras (Athene cunicularia): una discusión sobre las tierras bajas áridas del Centro Occidente Argentino. Intersecciones en Antropología 22:55-67

[18] Lyman R (2008) Quantitative paleozoology. Cambridge University Press, New York

[19] Mares MA (1992) Neotropical mammals and the myth of Amazonian biodiversity. Science 255:976–979

[20] Mares MA and Ojeda RA (1982) Patterns of diversity and adaptation in South American hystricognath rodents in: Mares MA, Genoways HH, editors. Mammalian Biology in South America. Special Publication Series No. 6, Pymatuning Lab. Ecology: Linnesville (USA), p. 393-432

[21] Martinez GN (2018) Nueva campaña GAEMN-GEMA en la Caverna del León, Neuquén. EspeleoAr 18:3-4

[22] Mignino J, Izeta A, García JM, Cattáneo R and Pedetti OB (2021). Neo-tafonomía de restos de pequeños mamíferos acumulados por la Lechuza del Campanario (Tyto alba) en el Gran Chaco Sudamericano (Argentina): Un marco de referencia para sitios de percha y anidamiento. El Hornero 36:51-60

[23] Montalvo CI and Fernández FJ (2019) Review of the actualistic taphonomy of small mammals ingested by South American predators: its importance in the interpretation of the fossil record. Publicación Electrónica de la Asociación Paleontológica Argentina 19:18-46

[24] Montalvo CI, Fernández FJ and Tallade PO (2016) The role of Bubo virginianus magellanicus as rodent bone accumulator in Archaeological Sites: A Case Study for the Atuel River (Mendoza, Argentina). International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 26:974-986

[25] Morello J (1958) La provincia fitogeográfica del Monte. Opera Lilloana II 2:5-155

[26] Murrie M and Murrie S (2010) The First Book of Seconds: 220 of the Most Random, Remarkable, Respectable, Regrettable Runners-Up and Their Almost Claim to Fame. Simon and Schust. Avon (USA), 240 p

[27] Ojeda RA, Blendinger PG and Brandl R (2000) Mammals in South American drylands: Faunal similarity and trophic structure. Global Ecology and Biogeography 9:115-123

[28] Ojeda RA and Tabeni S (2009) The mammals of the Monte Desert revisited. Journal of Arid Environments. 73:173-181

[29] Pardiñas UFJ (1999) Tafonomía de microvertebrados en yacimientos arqueológicos de Patagonia. Arqueología 9:265-340

[30] Pardiñas UFJ, Udrizar-Sauthier DE and Teta P (2012) Micromammal diversity loss in central-eastern Patagonia over the last 400 years. Journal of Arid Environments 85:71–75

[31] Paruelo JM, Beltrán A, Jobbágy E, Sala OE and Golluscio RA (1998) The climate of Patagonia: general patterns and controls on biotic processes. Ecología Austral 8:85–101

[32] Patton JL, Pardiñas UFJ and D’Elía G (2015) Mammals of South America, Volume 2: Rodents. London (UK): University of Chicago Press

[33] R Development Core Team (2020) R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing Vienna Austria

[34] Saavedra B and Simonetti JA (1998) Small Mammal Taphonomy: Intraspecific Bone Assemblage Comparison between South and North American Barn Owl, Tyto alba, Populations. Journal of Archaeological Science 25:165-170

[35] Tarquino-Carbonell AP and Turienzo P| (2019) Presencia de Histiotus montanus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) en la Caverna del León (Neuquén, Argentina). Gota a Gota 17:44-49