2015/09/15 by Víctor Adrián Pérez-Crespo, José Luís Prado, Marı́a Teresa Alberdi +2 · 31 citations
Environmental Science · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Isotope Analysis in Ecology #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Bat Biology and Ecology Studies #Habitat #Herbivore #Ecology #Pleistocene #Range (aeronautics) #Geography #Biology #Archaeology
paper · doi:10.5710/amgh.02.06.2015.2842
published in Ameghiniana 53(1), 39-51 (Asociación Paleontológica Argentina)
openalex publication_date 2015/09/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Diet and habitat were estimated, based on stable isotopes, for six species of proboscideans inhabiting the Americas during the Pleistocene. In North America, Mammuthus columbi (Elephantidae) was a mixed C3/C4 herbivore inhabiting open areas, while Mammut americanum (Mammutidae) fed exclusively on C3 plants and preferred closed areas. In contrast, members of the family Gomphotheriidae showed a wide range of food preference and habitats. This is the case of Cuvieronius tropicus, a mixed-diet herbivore living in open areas. In South America, another gomphothere — Cuvieronius hyodon — inhabited open areas and had a C3-plant diet similar to others from some Southern plains such as Stegomastodon platensis. On the other hand, S. waringi from tropical South America lived in open areas and had a C3/C4 mixed diet. The fact that gomphotheres had more flexible diet habits could explain why those animals were able to cross the Panamanian Isthmus, while mammoths and mastodons did not.