AMEGHINIANA - 2013 - Tomo 50 (2): 193 – 216 ISSN 0002-7014 SKULL GEOMETRIC MORPHOMETRICS AND PALEOECOLOGY OF SANTACRUCIAN (LATE EARLY MIOCENE; PATAGONIA) NATIVE UNGULATES (ASTRAPOTHERIA, LITOPTERNA, AND NOTOUNGULATA) GUILLERMO H. CASSINI1,2 1División Mastozoología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia” Av. Ángel Gallardo 470, C1405DJR, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina. CONICET. 2Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Nacional de Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina
[email protected] Abstract. Three orders of South American extinct native ungulates are recorded from the Santa Cruz Formation along the Atlantic coast of Patagonia: Notoungulata (Adinotherium Ameghino, Nesodon Owen, Interatherium Ameghino, Protypotherium Ameghino, Hegetotherium Ameghino, and Pachyrukhos Ameghino), Litopterna (Theosodon Ameghino, Anisolophus Burmeister, Tetramerorhinus Ameghino, Diadiapho- rus Ameghino, and Thoatherium Ameghino), and Astrapotheria (Astrapotherium Burmeister). An ecomorphological study based on geometric morphometrics of the masticatory apparatus was performed. The reference sample included 618 extant specimens of the orders Artiodactyla, Perissodactyla, Hyracoidea, and Diprotodontia. Thirty six cranial and 27 mandibular three-dimensional landmarks were digitized. Allomet- ric scaling, principal component analyses, and phylogenetic generalized estimating equations on the cranium and mandible were preformed. Analyses of cranial shape show strong phylogenetic constraints, whereas the mandibular analyses show