Early Miocene alligatoroids (Crocodylia) from the ...

Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments; https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-018-0332-5

Electronic Supplementary Materials for

Early Miocene alligatoroids (Crocodylia) from the Castillo Formation, northwestern of Venezuela Andrés Solórzano*,a,b, Ascanio D. Rincóna, Giovanne M. Cidadec, Mónica Núñez–Floresa,d Leonardo Sáncheza a

Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Laboratorio de Paleontología,

Centro de Ecología, Km 11 Carretera Panamericana, Caracas, Venezuela b

Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Geológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas,

Universidad de Concepción, Barrio Universitario s/n, Casilla 160–C, Concepción, Chile c

Departamento de Biologia, FFCLRP, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São

Paulo, Brazil d

Programa Doctorado de Sistemática y Biodiversidad, Departamento de Zoología, Facultad

de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográficas, Universidad de Concepción, Barrio Universitario s/n, Casilla 160–C, Concepción, Chile * Corresponding author: email: [email protected]

Contents: ESM_1) Stratigraphy provenance and vertebrate diversity in the Castillo Formation. ESM_2) Body size calculations.

ESM_1) Stratigraphy provenance and vertebrate diversity in the Castillo Formation The materials revised here were recovered from Castillo Formation beds along the southern portion of the La Baragua Sierra, located to the north of the town of Carora, Lara State, northwestern Venezuela (Figure 1). Most of the materials described here come from two localities: Cerro La Cruz and Cerro Zamuro, though additional remains were also recovered from small outcrops at Quebrada Agua Viva, around 5 km to the west of Cerro La Cruz (Fig 1). From a locality informally named “Cerro Pedreguyoso” gavialoid remains were also recovered, but these are still under study. The landscape of the outcrops at the Cerro La Cruz and Cerro Zamuro localities is provided in Figure S1. In Table S1 the detailed stratigraphic provenance of the crocodylian material described in the present contribution was summarized, as well as the not-yet described specimens belonging to Siquisiquesuchus venezuelensis (Brochu and Rincón 2004).

Figure S1. Landscape of the Castillo Formation (Sierra de La Baragua, Lara State, Venezuela), at the sampled localities, Cerro La Cruz (left) and Cerro Zamuro (right).

Table S1. Geographic and stratigraphic provenance of the Caimaninae specimens described here. The provenance of additional specimens belonging to Siquisiquesuchus (still in study or review) and Gryposuchus sp. are also provided (Brochu and Rincon 2004; Solórzano et al. in press). Geographic/ Stratigraphic Provenance Cerro La Cruz/ Cast-38

Taxa

Catalog number

Description

Purussaurus sp.

IVIC-P-668

Purussaurus sp.

IVIC-P-2216

Fragment of right mandible, and left associate jugal Isolated teeth

Purussaurus sp.

IVIC-P-2215

Isolated teeth

Cerro La Cruz/ Cast-40

Purussaurus sp.

IVIC-P-2089

Isolated fragment of maxilla

Purussaurus sp.

IVIC-P-2112

Isolated ilium

Cerro La Cruz/ Cast 47 Cerro La Cruz/ Cast-47

Purussaurus sp.

IVIC-P-3520

Posterior fragment of mandible


Purussaurus sp.

IVIC-P- 3585

Isolated teeth

Quebrada Agua Viva

Purussaurus sp.

IVIC-P- 3586

Isolated teeth

Quebrada Agua Viva

Alligatoroidae gen. et sp. indet. Alligatoroidae gen. et sp. indet. Caiman sp. (resembles C. brevirostris) Caimaninae gen. et sp. indet.

IVIC-P-2667

Isolated teeth


IVIC-P-2916

Isolated teeth


IVIC-P-2932


IVIC-P-2921

Fragment of left mandible, a surangular and one vertebra Fragment of skull table

Gryposuchus sp.

IVIC-P-2918

Fragment of dentary

Cerro Zamuro

cf. Siquisiquesuchus

IVIC-P-2933

Fragment of lacrimal

Cerro Zamuro


IVIC-P-2933

Fragment of skull table

Cerro Zamuro


IVIC-P-2934

Partial skull

Cerro Zamuro


IVIC-P-2935

Partial skull

Cerro Pedreguyoso


IVIC-P-2936

Partial skull table

Cerro Pedreguyoso


IVIC-P-2930

Fragment of anterior skull


Caimaninae indet. cf. Siquisiquesuchus

IVIC-P-2923 MBLUZ P-4685

Isolated yugal Fragment of skull table

Cerro La Cruz/ Cast-40 Cast-40


Cerro Zamuro

Since the year 2000, ongoing fieldwork in the Castillo Formation at the surroundings of the Cerro La Cruz locality resulted in the recognition of a diverse assemblage of vertebrates (Rincon et al. 2014). This assemblage is relevant as early Miocene localities are particularly poor sampled in Neotropics (Antoine et al. 2013). Rincon et al. (2014) provide a faunal list of the Castillo Formation. However, new discoveries have increased the number of recognized taxa. The recorded fauna from the

Castillo Formation now includes at least 65 vertebrates (see references in the Table S2). An update vertebrate list of the Castillo Formation is presented in Table S2. This illustrates the broad range of potential prey for the crocodylians of the Castillo Formation.

Table S2. Updated vertebrate faunal list from the Castillo Formation, including the new Caimaninae taxa here described. Noted that almost all recognized taxa in the Formation were recovered from Cerro La Cruz and its surroundings. Data summarized from Rincon et al. (2014) and references herein, and also from Rincón et al. (2016), Solórzano and Rincón (2015), Ferreira et al. (2016), Núñez–Flores et al. (2017) and Solórzano et al. (in press). Class Actinopterygii

Order Characiformes

Family Serrasalmidae

Siluriformes

Ariidae

Perciformes

Sphyraenidae Scombridae Hemiramphidae Batrachoididae Centropomidae Clupeidae

Genera Colossoma Mylossoma Bagre Cantarius Sphyraena Achanthocybium Hyporhamphus Batrachoides Porichthys Centropomus Pellona Ophistonema

Gobiidae Congridae Haemulidae Heterenchelyidae Lactariidae Lutjanidae Polymixiidae Sciaenidae

Conger Ariosoma Orthopristis Haemulon Pythonichthys Lactarius Pristipomoides Polymixia Equetulus Pareques Plagioscion Protosciaena Polycirrhus

Chondrichthyes

Lamniformes Orectolobiformes Carcharhiniformes

Serranidae Otodontidae Ginglymostomatidae Hemigaleidae Carcharhinidae

Frizzellithus Aplodinotus Protolarimus Ctenosciaena Diplectrum Carcharocles Nebrius Hemipristis Carcharhinus

Specie C. macropomum Mylossoma sp. B. protocaribeanus Cantarius nolfi Sphyraena sp. Achanthocybium sp. H. aff. unifasciatus Batrachoides sp. Porichthys sp. C. aff. undecimalis Pellona sp. Opisthonema sp. gen. et sp. indet. A gen. et sp. indet. B Conger sp. Ariosoma sp. O. aff. ruber Haemulon sp. P. pirabensis Lactarius sp. Pristipomoides sp. Polymixia sp. E. davidandrewi P. laraensis P. jungi P. marinus P. neritica P. schwarzhansi P. jaramilloi F. longecaudatus A. hoffmani P. henrici C. angusticaudata Diplectrum sp. C. Megalodon N. delfortriei H. serra cf. C. obscurus cf. C perezi

Myliobatidae Mammalia

Cetartiodactyla

Notoungulata

Squalodontidae Squalodelphinidae Iniidae Platanistidae Sirenia Mylodontoidea Pampatheriidae Astrapotheriidae

Litopterna Crocodylia

Litopterna Gavialoidea

Sirenia Xenarthra

Eusuchia

Alligatoroidea

Testudines

Aves

Trionychidae Podocnemidae Chelidae Pelagornithidae

Myliobatis Rhinoptera Prosqualodon Notocetus Iniidae, Platanistoidea, Baraguatherium Scirrotherium Astrapotheriinae Astrapotheriinae Siquisiquesuchus Gryposuchus Caiman Purussaurus Caimaninae

Bairdemys Chelus cf. Pelagornis

C. falciformis C. plumbeus Myliobatis sp. Rhinoptera sp. aff. P.australis aff. N. vanbenedini gen. et sp. indet. gen. et sp. indet. gen. et sp. indet. B. takumara Scirrotherium sp. gen. et sp. indet. A gen. et sp. indet. B gen. et sp. indet. S. venezuelensis Gryposuchus sp. C. cf. C. brevirostres Purussaurus sp. gen. et sp. indet. gen. et sp. indet. gen. et sp. indet. Bairdemys sp. C. colombiana cf. Pelagornis sp.

ESM_2) Body size calculations Here we provided details about the body size estimations for the fauna reported from the Castillo Formation and other Miocene crocodylians from South America. For the calculations, we employed the following equations: 

Total length (TL); Log10TL = Log10DCL * 0.970 + 0.954 (Hurlburt et al. 2003).



Body mass (BM); Log10BM = -5.1240 + 2.9221 * Log10TTL (Aureliano et al. 2015).

To obtain a broad estimation of the dorsal cranial length (DCL) of the skull table belonging to Caimaninae gen. et sp. indet (IVIC–P–2921), we explored the relationships between the width (at the middle of the supratemporal fenestrae; STw) and the anteroposterior length of the skull table (STapl) relative to the DCL in modern Caimaninae. Twenty-three skulls of modern caimanines were measured with a caliper, with emphasis in the variables previously mentioned (Table S3).

Table S3. Measurements (in mm) of ST w, STapl and DCL of modern Caimaninae skulls. The specimens measured are housed in the Laboratório de Paleontologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo (LPRP; campus de Ribeirão Preto, Brazil) and the Museu Nacional, Universidde Federal do Rio de Janeiro (MNRJ; Coleções de Répteis e Anfíbios; Brazil). Taxa

Collection

STw

STapl

DCL

Caiman yacare

Ribeirão Preto (no-number)

51.7

35.4

147.8

Caiman latirostris

Ribeirão Preto (no-number)

51.8

36

149.3

Paleosuchus sp.

82.4

52.4

257.6

Paleosuchus trigonatus

Ribeirao preto (LPRP/USPN0008A) MNRJ65

51.6

40.8

175.9


MNRJ2491

49

37

151.3


MNRJ9757

41.7

32.1

126.7

Paleosuchus palpebrosusu

MNRJ317

80.2

51.3

213.9

Caiman crocodilus

MNRJ25461

73.6

53.4

270.6

Caiman yacare

MNRJ 25435

83.6

59

299.7

Caiman yacare

MNRJ 12127

46.3

36.4

134.2

Caiman yacare

MNRJ68

85.2

66.3

320.7

Caiman yacare

MNRJ25437

62.9

46.8

217.7

Caiman yacare

MNRJ9755

66.5

44.7

211.5

Caiman latirostris

MNRJ9756

92

62.5

276

Caiman latirostris

MNRJ1257

67.9

44

218.6

Caiman latirostris

MNRJ2395

64.5

46

220.8

Caiman latirostris

MNRJ1252

47

31

141.5

Caiman latirostris

MNRJ2340

47.1

35.3

145.5

Melanosuchus niger

MNRJ081

121.9

98.5

485

Melanosuchus niger

MNRJ63

65

49

243

Melanosuchus niger

MNRJ3174

138

104

550

Melanosuchus niger

MNRJ082

101.3

80

430

Melanosuchus niger

MNRJ1034

108.4

82.4

450

To estimate the relationships among variables, a simple regression analysis (Ordinary Least Squares Regression) was performed using the software Past 3.06 (Hammer et al. 2001). The results are showed in Figure S2 and in Table S4. Both variables STw and STapl show a significant linear correlation with the DCL (Table S4), making it possible a trustworthy estimation of DCL in extinct specimens in which only a skull table is available.

A straight-line y=ax+b is fitted to the data. Therefore, values of DCL could be estimated with the coefficients showed in Table S4 for both STw and STapl. In the case of the Caimaninae gen. et sp. indet. from the Castillo Formation (IVIC–P–2921), its STw is 87.3 mm and the STapl is 67.7 mm; therefore, we are able to infer a DCL of approximately 328 mm (Table S4).

Figure S2. Graph of the antero-posterior length vs DCL (a) of skull tables, and the skull table width vs DCL (b) in extant Caimaninae (Based in Table S3). The two lineal regressions indicate the positive relation between the variables and the DCL.

Table S4. Statistical results from the regression analysis based on the data of the Table S3.

Var

Slope a

Intercept b

95% bootstrapped confidence intervals (N=1999)

STapl

5.7867

-54.232

Slope a (5.2602; 6.2022)

STw

4.5295

-76.976

(4.1645; 5.1305)

r

r2

P

Intercept b (-73.81, -30.385)

0.990

0.981

0.0001

(-111.45; -55.597)

0.9732

0.947

0.0001

After DCL was obtained (either indirectly estimated, directly measured over the specimen, or obtained from the literature), we employed the equations of Hurlburt et al.

(2003) and Aureliano et al. (2015) to estimate the body size of the crocodylians from the Castillo Formation (Table S5). Additional taxa were also included in order to compare and illustrate the broad range of size variation observed in the Neogene crocodylians of South America (e.g. Scheyer et al. 2013).

Table S5. Estimated dorsal cranial length (DCL, in mm), total length (TTL, in mm) and body mass (BM, in kg) for the crocodylians of the Castillo Formation, as well as other Miocene Caimaninae. TTL is based in Hurlburt et al. (2003); BM is based in Aureliano et al. (2015). The taxa from the Castillo Formation are in bold. Taxa

DCL (mm)

TTL (mm)

BM (kg)

Siquisiquesuchus venezuelensis (MBLUZ-P-5050)

1.030

7.524

1.596

Gryposuchus croazati (MCN-2002-77)

1.120

8.161

2.024

Purussaurus sp. (IVIC-P-668)

783

5.767

734

P. neivensis (UCMP- 39704)

800

5.888

780

P. mirandai (UNEFM-CIAAP-1369)

1.260

9.149

2.825

P. brasiliense (UFAC 1403)

1.400

10.133

3.809

Melanosuchus fisheri (MCNC-243)

240

1.831

26

Caimaninae gen. et sp. indet. (IVIC-P-2921)

328

2.480

62

Caiman cf. brevirostres (IVIC-P-2932)

190

1.460

13

Caiman brevirostres (UFAC 196)

235

1.794

24

Caiman brevirostres (MCNC-1829)

255

1.942

31

Gnatusuchus pebasensis (MUSM 990)

220

1.683

20

Kuttanacaiman iquitosensis (MUSM 1490)

253

1.928

30

Caiman wannlangstoni (MUSM 2377)

296

2.245

47

Globidentosuchus brachyrostris ( AMU-CURS-222)

290

2.201

44

DCL from Aguilera et al. (2006), Medina (1976), Fortier et al. (2014), Salas-Gismondi et al. (2015) and Scheyer et al. (2013).

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