Short Communication
First record of Palaeozoic vertebrates from Peru
LEONARDO ZEVALLOS-VALDIVIA
Facultad de Geología, Geofísica y Minas, Ciudad Universitaria (Área Ingenierías), Av. Independencia con calle Paucarpata s/n, 04004, Arequipa (Peru); lzevallosv@unsa.edu.pe
Corresponding author
CARLOS MARTÍNEZ-PÉREZ
School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, BS8 1TQ, Bristol (United Kingdom).
Cavanilles Institute for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, C/ Catedrátic José Beltrán Martinez, 2, 46980 Paterna, Valencia (Spain); carlos.martinez-perez@uv.es
Corresponding author
VILMA GARCIA-FLORES
Facultad de Geología, Geofísica y Minas, Ciudad Universitaria (Área Ingenierías), Av. Independencia con calle Paucarpata s/n, 04004, Arequipa (Peru); dgarciaf@unsa.edu.pe
ANTENOR CHÁVEZ- VALENCIA
Facultad de Geología, Geofísica y Minas, Ciudad Universitaria (Área Ingenierías), Av. Independencia con calle Paucarpata s/n, 04004, Arequipa (Peru); achavezv@unsa.edu.pes
HÉCTOR BOTELLA
Cavanilles Institute for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, C/ Catedrátic José Beltrán Martinez, 2, 46980 Paterna, Valencia (Spain); hector.botella@uv.es
ABSTRACT
Devonian vertebrates from South America are notably scarce compared with those of other continents. This is particularly evident in Peru, where no palaeozoic vertebrates have been formally reported so far. In this paper, we figure and describe the first Devonian vertebrates remains from Peru recovered in the Puno region. The remains belong to a very unusual group of Emsian to Eifelian stem-chondrichthyan Pucapampella and Zamponiopteron that characterise the vertebrate fauna of the so-called marine “Malvinokaffric Realm”. The remains studied here are represented by three jaw fragments assigned to Pucapampella, and three fin plates of Zamponiopteron. These records increase the palaeogeographic distribution of this assemblage in the Palaeozoic of Gondwana, but more importantly, our findings highlight the potential of the Peruvian outcrops to contribute to our knowledge of the diversity and distribution of the early vertebrate faunas in the South American continent.
Key words: Devonian, Chondrichthyans, Pucapampella-Zamponiopteron, Peru.
How to cite: Zevallos-Valdivia, L., Martínez-Pérez, C., García-Flores, V., Chávez-Valencia, A., & Botella, H. 2023. First record of Palaeozoic vertebrates from Peru. Spanish Journal of Palaeontology, 38(1), 95-100.
Received 8 December 2022, Accepted 21 December 2022, Published online 3 February 2023
https://doi.org/10.7203/sjp.25691
