The largest known bear, Arctotherium angustidens, from the early Pleistocene pampeam region of Argentina: with a discussion of size and diet trends in bears

Autores
Schubert, Blaine W.; Soibelzon, Leopoldo Héctor
Año de publicación
2011
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
The South American giant short-faced bear (Arctotherium angustidens Gervais and Ameghino, 1880) is one of five described Arctotherium species endemic to South America and it is known for being the earliest, largest, and most carnivorous member of the genus. Here we report an extraordinarily large A. angustidens individual exhumed from Ensenadan sediments (early to middle Pleistocene) at Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Based on overall size, degree of epiphyseal fusion, and pathologies, this bear was an old-aged male that sustained serious injuries during life. Body mass of the bear is estimated and compared to other ursid species based on a series of allometric equations. To our knowledge, this specimen now represents the largest bear ever recorded. In light of this discovery, we discuss the evolution of body size in Arctotherium (from large-to-small) and compare this to bears that exhibited different evolutionary trajectories. We suggest that the larger size and more carnivorous nature of A. angustidens, compared to later members of the genus, may reflect the relative lack of other large carnivores and abundance of herbivores in South America just after the Great American Biotic Interchange
Museo de La Plata
Materia
Paleontología
Ciencias Naturales
oso
Ensenada, Argentina
Tamaño Corporal
early Pleistocene
Carnívoros
Arctotherium angustidens
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
Repositorio
SEDICI (UNLP)
Institución
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
OAI Identificador
oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/5360

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network_name_str SEDICI (UNLP)
spelling The largest known bear, Arctotherium angustidens, from the early Pleistocene pampeam region of Argentina: with a discussion of size and diet trends in bearsSchubert, Blaine W.Soibelzon, Leopoldo HéctorPaleontologíaCiencias NaturalesosoEnsenada, ArgentinaTamaño Corporalearly PleistoceneCarnívorosArctotherium angustidensThe South American giant short-faced bear (Arctotherium angustidens Gervais and Ameghino, 1880) is one of five described Arctotherium species endemic to South America and it is known for being the earliest, largest, and most carnivorous member of the genus. Here we report an extraordinarily large A. angustidens individual exhumed from Ensenadan sediments (early to middle Pleistocene) at Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Based on overall size, degree of epiphyseal fusion, and pathologies, this bear was an old-aged male that sustained serious injuries during life. Body mass of the bear is estimated and compared to other ursid species based on a series of allometric equations. To our knowledge, this specimen now represents the largest bear ever recorded. In light of this discovery, we discuss the evolution of body size in Arctotherium (from large-to-small) and compare this to bears that exhibited different evolutionary trajectories. We suggest that the larger size and more carnivorous nature of A. angustidens, compared to later members of the genus, may reflect the relative lack of other large carnivores and abundance of herbivores in South America just after the Great American Biotic InterchangeMuseo de La Plata2011info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionArticulohttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdf69-75http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/5360enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0)reponame:SEDICI (UNLP)instname:Universidad Nacional de La Platainstacron:UNLP2025-09-03T10:22:26Zoai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/5360Institucionalhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/Universidad públicaNo correspondehttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/oai/snrdalira@sedici.unlp.edu.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:13292025-09-03 10:22:27.267SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Platafalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv The largest known bear, Arctotherium angustidens, from the early Pleistocene pampeam region of Argentina: with a discussion of size and diet trends in bears
title The largest known bear, Arctotherium angustidens, from the early Pleistocene pampeam region of Argentina: with a discussion of size and diet trends in bears
spellingShingle The largest known bear, Arctotherium angustidens, from the early Pleistocene pampeam region of Argentina: with a discussion of size and diet trends in bears
Schubert, Blaine W.
Paleontología
Ciencias Naturales
oso
Ensenada, Argentina
Tamaño Corporal
early Pleistocene
Carnívoros
Arctotherium angustidens
title_short The largest known bear, Arctotherium angustidens, from the early Pleistocene pampeam region of Argentina: with a discussion of size and diet trends in bears
title_full The largest known bear, Arctotherium angustidens, from the early Pleistocene pampeam region of Argentina: with a discussion of size and diet trends in bears
title_fullStr The largest known bear, Arctotherium angustidens, from the early Pleistocene pampeam region of Argentina: with a discussion of size and diet trends in bears
title_full_unstemmed The largest known bear, Arctotherium angustidens, from the early Pleistocene pampeam region of Argentina: with a discussion of size and diet trends in bears
title_sort The largest known bear, Arctotherium angustidens, from the early Pleistocene pampeam region of Argentina: with a discussion of size and diet trends in bears
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Schubert, Blaine W.
Soibelzon, Leopoldo Héctor
author Schubert, Blaine W.
author_facet Schubert, Blaine W.
Soibelzon, Leopoldo Héctor
author_role author
author2 Soibelzon, Leopoldo Héctor
author2_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Paleontología
Ciencias Naturales
oso
Ensenada, Argentina
Tamaño Corporal
early Pleistocene
Carnívoros
Arctotherium angustidens
topic Paleontología
Ciencias Naturales
oso
Ensenada, Argentina
Tamaño Corporal
early Pleistocene
Carnívoros
Arctotherium angustidens
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv The South American giant short-faced bear (Arctotherium angustidens Gervais and Ameghino, 1880) is one of five described Arctotherium species endemic to South America and it is known for being the earliest, largest, and most carnivorous member of the genus. Here we report an extraordinarily large A. angustidens individual exhumed from Ensenadan sediments (early to middle Pleistocene) at Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Based on overall size, degree of epiphyseal fusion, and pathologies, this bear was an old-aged male that sustained serious injuries during life. Body mass of the bear is estimated and compared to other ursid species based on a series of allometric equations. To our knowledge, this specimen now represents the largest bear ever recorded. In light of this discovery, we discuss the evolution of body size in Arctotherium (from large-to-small) and compare this to bears that exhibited different evolutionary trajectories. We suggest that the larger size and more carnivorous nature of A. angustidens, compared to later members of the genus, may reflect the relative lack of other large carnivores and abundance of herbivores in South America just after the Great American Biotic Interchange
Museo de La Plata
description The South American giant short-faced bear (Arctotherium angustidens Gervais and Ameghino, 1880) is one of five described Arctotherium species endemic to South America and it is known for being the earliest, largest, and most carnivorous member of the genus. Here we report an extraordinarily large A. angustidens individual exhumed from Ensenadan sediments (early to middle Pleistocene) at Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Based on overall size, degree of epiphyseal fusion, and pathologies, this bear was an old-aged male that sustained serious injuries during life. Body mass of the bear is estimated and compared to other ursid species based on a series of allometric equations. To our knowledge, this specimen now represents the largest bear ever recorded. In light of this discovery, we discuss the evolution of body size in Arctotherium (from large-to-small) and compare this to bears that exhibited different evolutionary trajectories. We suggest that the larger size and more carnivorous nature of A. angustidens, compared to later members of the genus, may reflect the relative lack of other large carnivores and abundance of herbivores in South America just after the Great American Biotic Interchange
publishDate 2011
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2011
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Articulo
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/5360
url http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/5360
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0)
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0)
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
69-75
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:SEDICI (UNLP)
instname:Universidad Nacional de La Plata
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reponame_str SEDICI (UNLP)
collection SEDICI (UNLP)
instname_str Universidad Nacional de La Plata
instacron_str UNLP
institution UNLP
repository.name.fl_str_mv SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Plata
repository.mail.fl_str_mv alira@sedici.unlp.edu.ar
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