Mark T. Clementz

Late Miocene capybara in the Atacama Desert reveals a wetter climate and a transcontinental dispersal pathway

Abstract We report the oldest record of a capybara (Caviidae: Hydrochoerinae) in Chile, dated at ca. 8.8 Ma, which along with paleobotanical proxy records, indicates a markedly wetter late Miocene Atacama Desert. Today hyperarid, the Atacama contrasts sharply with the semiaquatic...