Zorros: Fossil Foxes of the Andean Altiplano A Paleontological Descriptive Study

Abstract

The National Geographic Society sponsored a paleontological expedition in the Peruvian altiplano, near the city of Huancayo, Peru in late May 2007. Field work conducted yielded a large quantity and diversity of late Pleistocene fossils (14C 23,340 years BP). Material collected includes a variety of well preserved canine specimens. A National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) grant has facilitated further study of these canine fossils. The primary focus of this research was determining the alpha taxonomy of the specimens recovered. Work was conducted at the Museo de la Historia Natural de la Universidad de San Marcos in Lima, Peru, and the American Museum of Natural History of New York City. Based on comparative analysis of morphological features, the canids of Cueva Rosello appear to be distinctive from Pseudalopex culpaeus, the extant species of the region, and from the fossil species Pseudalopexperuanus, which was previously discovered and described from the Peruvian altiplano.