Isotopic insight on paleodiet of extinct Pleistocene megafaunal Xenarthrans from Argentina
- Bocherens, Hervé
- Cotte, Martin
- Bonini, Ricardo Adolfo
- Straccia, Pablo
- Scian, Daniel
- Soibelzon, Leopoldo Héctor
- Prevosti, Francisco Juan
DOIAbstract
The diet of extinct giant Xenarthrans is a debated topic, especially for ground sloths, for which herbivory, insectivory, and carnivory through scavenging or active hunting have been suggested. In this study, stable carbon isotopic composition of collagen and carbonate fraction of well-preserved fossil bones was used as a tracer of trophic level. > 200 modern mammal bones of species with a variety of diets were used as a reference dataset. The good preservation of the carbonate isotopic composition was checked using different diagenetic indicators and by using fossil carnivorous and herbivorous taxa from the same sites as test-taxa. The results on modern mammals indicate a clear distinction in the difference between the carbon isotopic comp...
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