Fossils on a marble extraction front? Taphonomic and paleoicnological analyzes of large mammals of the Quaternary of Espírito Santo, Brazil

Abstract

Fossils on a marble extraction front? Taphonomic and paleoicnological analyzes of large mammals of the Quaternary of Espírito Santo, Brazil. The occurrence of fossil mammals in the State of Espírito Santo is rare, with only two records, both reported to sediments localized within marble quarries in the district of Itaoca, in the municipality of Cachoeiro de Itapemirim. The first record dates from 1978, when fossils of Eremotherium and gomphotheres were collected together with other vertebrate fossils and posteriorly described. The second dates from 1983, with the description of fossils of Eremotherium in an abstract. Part of this latter finding is housed at the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES) and represents the only fossil mammals from the State that are currently available for study. It comprises15 specimens, including cranial and post-cranial material. From these, eight can be referred to Eremotherium, one to Toxodontinae, one to Notiomastodon, and the others to large-bodied mammals. Fossils of Eremotherium and of indeterminate mammals are compatible with the presence of one giant ground sloth individual. Taphonomic and paleoichnological analyses of this supposed individual show that after death carnivores scavenged the carcass and that the bones were exposed to weathering for a relatively short time until they were transported by a hydraulic flow to a crevice, thus explaining the unusual finding of fossils in this particular outcrop.