Tortugas fósiles del Pleistoceno tardío de Santiago Chazumba, Oaxaca

Abstract

The Paleoherpetological Pleistocene fauna record for Mexico is composed by 37 genera and 58 species recorded for 27 different localities; in the case of the reptiles, turtles are the most abundant group. In this paper, we report and describe the bones of Gopherus and Kinosternon aff. K. hirtipes/K. integrum from the municipality of Santiago Chazumba, Oaxaca. The finding of those taxa for the Oaxacan Pleistocene suggest xerophilous scrub environment such the one found today in the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley, but with lower rainfall and higher temperatures, conditions similar to those prevailing in northern México.