PALEOMASTOZOOLOGIA
A
first information on the presence of a fossil rest of mamiTero
in
our country, we owe it to the naturalist German Alexander von
Humboldt who
in
their memoirs for 1799 mentions some big femurs that were
discovered in
the
Gulch of San Hyacinth near Cumanacoa, Edo. Sucre (Humboldt, 1817).
Lúe
go
is the information in a letter of J. M. Vargas written its friend
Don Cruz
Limardo
in August of 1838 (according to appointment of A. Ernst, 1874),
where she/he mentions hue
sos
of taken out quadrupeds of Barbecues and of San Juan of the
Muzzles", both
of
possible mastodons; later on in another letter, it points out the
presence of a
tooth
of " Megaterium " among San Juan's bones. To the
parecer,es Vargas who
it
begins the first collection of fossil vertebrates in the country;
according to Von derOsten
(1947),
this collection was deposited for its study in Ciencias Na's
Museum
turales
of Caracas. Equally it was deposited in the same museum the
collection that
A.
Ernst joined in 1874 (Von der Osten, op. cit.), of the remains of
a Maí.co -
dón
of San Juan of the Muzzles and perhaps of remains of a "
Megaterium " encon
nados in Escuque for Red Arfsiides.
an
important work in paleontology was made by H. Karsien (1850
and
1886), pointing out a " Megatherium " in the skirts of
the Cerro Turimiquire, This
do
Sucre, another in the cercanfás of San Juan of The Muzzles,
Estado Guárico, asi'
as
remains of giant mammals near New Town in Paraguaná, State
Falcon,
in the Table of Carora, Estado Lara and in San José of Cúcuta,
Republic
of
Colombia. In Barbecues, Estado Lara, Karsten (1850, mentioned by
Liddie, 1927)
she/he
mentions the presence of Tox.od.on, Giyp-todon, Atoó-todon and £
(?ooó cfr. andiam.
^
Later
on a -quite doubtful appointment appears - of some prints of it
ties
18
PALEOMASTOZOOLOGIA
ma
" Auchenia ", near Trujillo for A. Jahn (1921) in rocks
miocénicas."
The
first formal descriptions of fossil mammals in the country give
of H. Stehiin (1928), for an Astrapotérido
of the Mioceno, near Chintz, Estado Guárico,
of A. Hopwood (1928)
ra a Toxodóntido
of
probable age PUoceno,de Buchiba
Falcon,
of R. Lee Collins (1934) for a Megatérido (PA.epo^^Uíün v
zii^tanum)
of age Mioceno, of Guanare, Portuguese State and of G. G. Simp
(1947) for a Glyptodóntido
) of age Mioceno,
Guere, Estado Anzoátegui.
It
is with S. Schaud's works (1935 and 1950) that have the conocir
detailed
cough of age mammals Pleisioceno of Venezuela. This car
tudiando
the material of the Museum of Basle (Switzerland) coming from the
Quebrade
Does
it dilute Alive of the totumo, does Estado Lara, describe the type
of Mego
and a Toxodon
piante.
Another
studied material comes from Hill of Moron near Valera, State
jillo,
where she/he mentions the remains of a probable megatérido and of
a
ta
town seems to be previous to the Pleistoceno).
With
the Hno. Nectario Maná of the School of The you Leave him
Barquisimeto,
that
we have the first investigation works carried out in the country.
In
this
religious publishes the work The Big Fossil Mammals of the Regió
Barquisimeío",
where it describes the locations fosihTeros of The Totumo, to the
r
you
of San Miguel and the Zanjón of it Dams it, to the north of
Barquisimeto. In the one
mo
work describes several groups of mammals like the Toxod shortly
<
Astrapoterio, Notungulados, Mylodon,
Glyptodonte, Amblirhiza, Equus and Mast
teas";
without place to doubts, some of them were identified incorrectly;
mo
the " Astrapoterio ", group that extinguished in the
Mioceno and whose remains
they
seemed in the inventory that we made of the collection of The you
Leave him in 1
Later
on, the Hno. Nectario Flows it publishes other brief notes (1940,
19 '
1944)
on the remains of Barquisimeto, describing the informal
way.
Jointly
with the Hno. Nectario Marfa, the well-known north paleontologist
American
G. G. Simpson unites to work in the area of Barquisimeto for
several
months,
invited by the Technical Service of Geology of the Ministry of
Development.
Simpson
published two brief technical notes (1939 to and b) and the
material for him
dug
it was partially described by R. Frank they Go (1957) who
published an anger
under
of revision on the Toxodontes. The best fossil pieces in Simpson
were
rum
deposited in the American Museum Natural of History of New York,
mien -
after
that the rest of the -very fragmentary material - it rests in the
Museum of Ciencias
Natural
of Caracas.
E.
Berry (1939) studying the geology and paleontology of spineless of
the one
Lake
of Valencia, elaborates several clever faunales where she/he
mentions the presence of
a
varied quantity of mammals. These lists of Berry are of places
arqueológi
eos
and in what refers to mammals, the same ones are not very reliable
since
these
appear next to forms as a bear frontino ,
a
deer
of amazon swamp, you vacate (804), horses
[Equu ^],
dogs
(CíüU-or) and several common wild species at the present time;
Berry doesn't have
ce
any comment in this respect and she/he doesn't say where the ma is
deposited
To
conclude the decade of 1940, Von der Osten (1947) it almost
gathers roda
the
bibliographical information so far in their work Summary of the
Paleon -
Vertebrate
tología of Venezuela", without contributing new study
material. A little
later,
S. Schaub (1950) does it publish a work Estado Falcón.
Immediately, Von der Osten (1951) it describes even
you
of the megaterio of the School of The you Leave him Barquisimeto,
like a new espe
cié:
based on some remains of the area of San Miguel, Estado Lara.
The
last and more important stage of the paleontology of mammals of
our
country owes it to J. it Gnawed and Gómez, in the School of
Geology of the
Central
university of Venezuela. In their ten years of work in the country
(from
1951
up to 1961 when she/he dies) she/he stands out as professional
initiator of the area,
Jointly
with the Hno. Nectario María, the well-known north paleontologist
American
G. G. Simpson unites to work in the area of Barquisimeto for
several
months,
invited by the Technical Service of Geology of the Ministry of
Development.
Simpson
published two brief technical notes (1939 to and b) and the
material for him
dug
it was partially described by R. Frank they Go (1957) who
published a tra
under
of revision on the Toxodontes. The best fossil pieces in Simpson
were
rum
deposited in the American Museum Natural of History of New York,
mien -
after
that the rest of the -very fragmentary material - it rests in the
Museum of A hundred
Natural
Co.s of Caracas.
E.
Berry (1939) studying the geology and paleontology of spineless of
the one
Lake
of Valencia, elaborates several clever faunales where she/he
mentions the presence of
a
varied quantity of mamiTeros. These lists of Berry are of places
arqueotógi
eos
and in what refers to mamiTeros, the same ones are not very
reliable since
these
appear next to forms as a bear frontino a
deer
of amazon swamp , you vacate ,
horses and several common wild species at the present time;
Berry doesn't have
any comment in this respect and she/he doesn't say where the ma is
deposited
To
conclude the decade of 1940, Von der Osten (1947) it almost
gathers coda
the
bibliographical information so far in their work Summary of !a
Paleon -
Vertebrate
tología of Venezuela", without contributing new study
material. A little
later,
S. Schaub (1950) does it publish a work on if on adding new material of the Gulch of Ocando, cer
ca
of Choir, Estado Falcón. Immediately, Von der Osten (1951) it
describes even
you
of the megaterio of the School of The you Leave him Barquisimeto,
like a new espe
cié:
, being based on some
remains of the area of San Miguel, Estado Lara.
It
finishes it and I care more stage of the paleontology of mammals
of
our
country owes it to J. it Gnawed and Gómez, in the School of
Geology of the
Central
university of Venezuela. In their ten years of work in the pai's
(from
1951
up to 1961 when she/he dies) she/he stands out as professional
initiator of the area,
20
PALEOMASTOZOOLOGIA
organizing
the collection of fossil vertebrates and contributing with several
n
jos
for the area of The Muaco (late Pleistoceno), in the Estado Falcón
(195
and
1960b).
It
is also necessary to point out F. Takacs's work and their it
collaborates <
who
worked from the decade of 1960 in the gathering of mammals
them
in the riverbanks of the Lake of Valencia. They have pointed out
informalment
presence
of mastodons, megaterios, glyptodomes, cérvidos, toxodóntidos]
crauquenias,
in the Bulletin of the Institute of Anthropology and History of
the This
without date and 3-4, among 1968-1971).
I
care another work of J. it Gnawed and Gómez was the material for
him c <
do
in Urumaco (it nawed and Gómez, 1960a), where the mamiteros
remains you
traron
associated to those of several groups of reptiles and until fish.
The local one
Urumaco
in Falcon norcemral, it has been usually assigned to the age-ma
continental
Huayqueriense, originally considered as of the Plioceno and
as
Mioceno Superior. Of the material collected for it Gnawed and Gómez,
the one gives
Argentinean
paleontologist Rosendo Pascual describes a great rodent Dinomyidc
ñero
Euffie-gomí/A in company of M. L. Di'az of Camero (Pascual and Díaz
of
ro,
1969); this fossil rodent is the one that has been good to make
the first one to]
ción
to the age Huayqueriense. Of the same material O. Linares (1985,
in prep
it
describes a new form of Toxodonte, related to well-known forms or
gemina.
It
is of pointing out here" that the first expedition
paleontological extrai
Venezuela
was carried out during 1972 under the direction of the outstanding
palí
North
American go B. Patterson, with personal of the University of
Harvai
quality
studied during one month was Urumaco exactly, where you detec
rivers
even payees of vertebrates. Of the material collected by the exti
tterson,
A. Mones (1980) a new rodent Neoepiblémido describes, and several works appear it has more than enough
descriptions of you repolish: Ce
and
Quelonios.
It
is exactly B.Patterson (1977) who describes the mammal well-known
of Venezuela, the Pyroterio PA.,
of age posible
you
Eoceno, of an isolated town to the northwest of Carora, in the
Estado Lara.
From
the death of it Gnawed and Gómez until the end of the decade of
1970 and
I
begin of the current one, the paleontological activities didn't
exist in Venezuela,
at
least for the mammals. It is in 1979, with the formation of the
laboratory of Pji
leobiologiá
and the restructuring of the Course of Paleontology of Vertebrates
in the
School
of Geology of the Central University of Venezuela, for pane of O.
J. Li
nares
that the investigations are reactivated in the area. The same
Linares (1983) there is
ce
a revision divulgativa of the Fossil Mammals of Venezuela during
the you Tweet
toceno,
like part of a project that it directs in the country. Also, with
their it is -
tudiantes
of the Course of Human Evolution in the University Simón Bolivar
ae has
cen
several exploration campaigns and excavation to the field mostly
of the Pleis -
late
toceno, publica'hdose a summary (Linares, 1984) of those that it
is a work
more
extensive on the presence of a new registration of the smallest
megaterio, , for the region of I will Heal in the Estado
Lara. Twice as much I link
between
the colleagues geologist-paleontologists and biologists of the
Universidades Simón Bolivar
and Central of Venezuela, it has allowed the formation of a group
mul now -
tidisciplinario
and the development of investigation projects for the study of
those
fossil
vertebrates and in particular, the mammals.
National
Parks
Natural
Monuments
Nature
Calendar
