Vertebrate Paleontology in the

Neotropics
The Miocene Fauna of
La Venta, Colombia
Edited by Richard F.Kay,
Richard H. Madden, Richard L. Gifelli,
and John J. Flynn

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS

Washington and London

Contents

Editors' Note

Part Four. Reptiles, Amphibians,

and Birds 93

Acknowledgments vii
List of Contributors
List of Abbreviations

ix

6. Limbless Tetrapods 95
Max K. Hecht and Thomas C. LaDuke

xiii

Part One. Introduction 1

1. A History of Vertebrate Paleontology in the
Magdalena Valley 3
Richard H. Madden, Donald E. Savage, and
Robert W. Fields

Part Two. Geology and Geochronology 13

2. Stratigraphy, Sedimentary Environments,
and the Miocene Uplift of the Colombian
Andes 15
Javier Guerrero
3. Geochronology of the Honda Group 44
JohnJ. Flynn, Javier Guerrero, and Carl C.
Swisher III

7. A Reassessment of the Fossil

Tupinambinae 100
Robert M. Sullivan and Richard Estes
8. Crocodilians, Gryposuchus, and the South
American Gavials 113
Wann Langston, Jr., and Zulma Gasparini
9. Turtles 155
Roger Conant Wood
10. Birds 171
D. Tab Rasmussen

Part Five. Nonprimate Mammals 185

Part Three. Invertebrates and Fishes 61

4. Trichodactylid Crabs
Gilberto Rodriguez

63

5. Freshwater Fishes and Their Paleobiotic

Implications 67
John G. Lundberg

11. New Clues for Understanding Neogene

Marsupial Radiations 187
Francisco J. Goin
12. New Caenolestoid Marsupials 207
Elizabeth R. Dumont and Thomas M. Bown

Ix

CONTENTS

13. Armored Xenarthrans: A Unique Taxonomic

and Ecologic Assemblage 213
Alfredo A. Carlini, Sergio F. Vizcaino, and
Gustavo J. Scillato-Yane
14. A New Giant Pampatheriid Armadillo
Gordon Edmund and Jessica Theodor
15. Xenarthrans: Pilosans
H. Gregory McDonald

25. Chiroptera 410

Nicholas J. Czaplewski

227

233

Part Six. Primates 433

26. A New Small Platyrrhine and the Phyletic
Position of Callitrichinae 435
Richard F. Kay and D. Jeffrey Meldrum

16. Locomotor Adaptations in Miocene

Xenarthrans 246
Jennifer L. White

27. Postcranial Skeleton of Laventan

Platyrrhines 459
D. Jeffrey Meldrum and Richard F. Kay

17. Paleobiology and Affinities of

Megadolodus

24. Rodents 392

Anne H. Walton

265

Richard L. Cifelli and Carlos Villarroel

28. Fossil New World Monkeys 473

John G, Fleagle, Richard F. Kay, and Mark R. L.
Anthony

18. Litopterns 289

Richard L. Cifelli and Javier Guerrero
19. A New Leontiniid Notoungulate 303
Carlos Villarroel and Jane Colwell Danis

Part Seven. Summary 497

20. Enamel Microstructure in

Noto ungulates 319
Mary C. Maas
21. A New Toxodontid Notoungulate
Richard H. Madden

335

22. Uruguaytheriine Astrapotheres of Tropical

South America 355
Steven C. Johnson and Richard H. Madden
23. Sirenia 383
Daryl P. Domning

29. The Laventan Stage and Age 499

Richard H. Madden, Javier Guerrero, Richard F.
Kay, John J. Flynn, Carl C. Swisher III, and
Anne H. Walton
30. Paleogeography and Paleoecology 520
Richard F. Kay and Richard H. Madden
Literature Cited
Taxonomic Index

551
585