The erethizontid fossil from the Uquía formation of Argentina should not be referred to the genus Erethizon |
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| Authors: | David R Sussman |
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| Institution: | 1. State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Changping, Beijing, China;2. Groupe de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses du Porc, Faculté de médecine vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada;1. Center for Conservation Genomics, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, 3001 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008, USA;2. Walde Research and Environmental Consulting, 8000 San Gregorio Road, Atascadero, CA 93422, USA;3. Conservation Science Research and Consultation, 522 Ledgeview Place, Spring Valley, CA 91977, USA;4. Kiva Biological Consulting, P.O. Box 1210, Inyokern, CA 93527, USA;5. Behavioral and Molecular Ecology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3209 N. Maryland Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA |
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| Abstract: | In 2007, Reguero et al. described a 2.5 Ma erethizontid dentary from the Uquía Formation in Argentina (MACN5376) and referred it to the genus Erethizon, a genus found at present only in North America. They based their generic identification on the presence in the fossil of a markedly inflected angular process. I argue in this commentary that this single trait (the angular process) in a single incomplete fossil is insufficient evidence for the Erethizon attribution, for the following reasons: 1. The trait (the inflected angular process) is variable in modern South and North American porcupines and observer bias and/or allometry may be responsible for observed differences; 2. Among fossil South American porcupines, the inflected angular process is not unique to the Uquían fossil; 3. The fossil possesses other traits (including one trait newly described in this paper) associated with modern South American (Coendou) porcupines and not modern Erethizon; and 4. The traits by which we recognize modern Erethizon, primarily related to the genus’s ability to survive severe winters, are most readily explained by evolution driven by the South American porcupine immigrants’ exposure in North America to that severe weather. The Uquían fossil is not Erethizon and should be attributed for the present to the genus Coendou. |
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