Resumen de Consideraciones sobre el género 'Galea' Meyen, 1831 (Rodentia, Caviidae), su registro en el Pleistoceno de Uruguay y descripción de una nueva especie extingida
- español
Se realizan consideraciones sobre algunos caracteres craneanos y dentales del género Galea Meyen, 1831 y se discute el uso de los mismos para describir especies extinguidas. Se dan a conocer los primeros registros fósiles de este género para el Uruguay. Se describe una nueva especie fósil Galea ortodonta n.sp. del Pleistoceno de Uruguay y Bolivia, de tamaño similar a Galea spixii Wagler, 1831, con el rostro con insicivos ortodontes a diferencia de todas las especies del género que son opistodontes. Se comenta el significado de la presencia de Galea en los depósitos pleistocénicos de Uruguay en relación a los microambientes asociados y a su distribución actual.
- English
Some cranio-dental characters of Galea MEYEN, 1831 are analised and its usefullness to describe fossils species is discussed. Previous authors described a high cranio-dental variability in Galea musteloides Meyen, 1892 and here the same pattern is corroborated for the brazilian Galea spixii Wagler, 1831. The shape of its molar prisms and flexus/flexids is highly variable and the external flexus of the upper molars could be absent (Fig. 2). Consequently, its absence has not be use as a taxonomic character to describe new extinct species of Galea. Few cranio-dental characters are usefull to characterise Galea (Kraglievich, 1930; Quintana, 1998), beetwen them the shallow sigmoid notch is proposed here as a generic sinapomorphy. Skull fragments, mandibles, teeth and postcranial bones from three Pleistocene outcrops are reported as the first fossils of Galea from Uruguay. A new species, Galea ortodonta, from the Pleistocene of Uruguay and Bolivia is described. Its size is similar to that of Galea spixii (Fig. 4) and differs from all species of Galea in having a different rostral morphology done by orthodont incisors instead of the opisthodont condition of the remain species of Galea (Fig. 3, Lam. 1). The rostrum, palate and upper molar series are larger than Galea musteloides (Fig. 4). The present distribution of Galea exclude the uruguayan landscape and its ubiquotous species have a wide chorology (Fig. 1). It is expected the same pattern fromGalea ortodonta n.sp. which at least had a broad Pleistocene location. The variation of the distributional pattern of Galea from Pleistocene to Recent is shared by a closely caviinae Microcavia Gervais Ameghino, 1880 and suggests the influence of the Pleistocene climatic and environmental changes at mid-latitudinal areas of South America.
