New records of Tapirus from the late Pleistocene of southwestern Amazonia, Brazil

Abstract

The genus Tapirus has four living species and a disjunct distribution (America and Asia). Its fossil record extends back to the Oligocene in Europe and middle Miocene in North America, with more than 20 nominal species. We describe here three specimens from the Pleistocene of Rondônia and Acre states, southwestern Amazonia. Morphometric analysis indicates the presence of two morphotypes for the genus, which are different from the recent ones: a robust form, represented by Acre specimens, and a more gracile form represent by the specimens from Rondônia.