Contribution to the knowledge of Hemiauchenia paradoxa (Artiodactyla, Camelidae) from the Pleistocene of southern Brazil

Abstract

A description of the dentition and anterior and posterior limbs of new specimens of Hemiauchenia paradoxa Gervais & Ameghino is presented. The materials come from Santa Vitoria do Palmar, Uruguaiana, Alegrete, Itaqui and Dom Pedrito municipalities in the Rio Grande do Sul State, southern Brazil. New characters supporting distinction between Hemiauchenia paradoxa and Palaeolama major Liais in the dental morphology and limb dimensions, are here presented: proportions of the mandible, morphology of the lingual lophs and labial lophids of molar teeth, size of protostylid and parastylid of the molars and the proportions of distal segments of limbs. Studies with material of other South American regions could contribute for the distinction between these taxa, and between the others camels of South American Pleistocene.