Juan D. Carrillo

Université de Fribourg · Department Biology

Madagascar's biota is hyperdiverse and includes exceptional levels of endemicity. We review the current state of knowledge on Madagascar's past and current terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity by compiling and presenting comprehensive data on species diversity, endemism, and rates of species description and human uses, in addition to presenting...

Madagascar's unique biota is heavily affected by human activity and is under intense threat. Here, we review the current state of knowledge on the conservation status of Madagascar's terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity by presenting data and analyses on documented and predicted species-level conservation statuses, the most prevalent and relevan...

The giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) has a wide geographical distribution in Central and South America. Three subspecies are tentatively recognized for populations in Central America and west of the northern Andes (M. tridactyla centralis Lyon, 1906), northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela (M. tridactyla artata Osgood, 1912), and the...

This Report provides a comprehensive, objective, open, transparent, systematic, and rigorous scientific assessment of the state of the Amazon’s ecosystems, current trends, and their implications for the long-term well-being of the region, as well as opportunities and policy relevant options for conservation and sustainable development.

This Report provides a comprehensive, objective, open, transparent, systematic, and rigorous scientific assessment of the state of the Amazon’s ecosystems, current trends, and their implications for the long-term well-being of the region, as well as opportunities and policy relevant options for conservation and sustainable development.

The Pliocene–Pleistocene transition in the Neotropics is poorly understood despite the major climatic changes that occurred at the onset of the Quaternary. The San Gregorio Formation, the younger unit of the Urumaco Sequence, preserves a fauna that documents this critical transition. We report stingrays, freshwater bony fishes, amphibians, crocodil...

Significance The biological interchange between North and South America associated with the formation of the Isthmus of Panama is key to defining current gradients of species diversity. A major gap in our understanding of the interchange is its asymmetry, where mammals of North American origin attained higher diversity in South America than vice ve...

Covering ancient geomorphological landscapes, and surrounded by some of the most diverse forests on Earth, the Neotropical savannas were once perceived by naturalists as ancient environments. However, current evidence suggests that tropical forests have existed in the Neotropics since the Paleocene, whereas most plant lineages present in South Amer...

One of the best-known faunal assemblages that characterizes the past ecosystems from South America comes from the Santa Cruz Formation in Argentina. This assemblage is formed by an endemic fauna, which included ground sloths, glyptodonts, native ungulates, terror birds (phorusrhacids), among others. The Santacrucian South American Land Mammal Age i...

South America was isolated during most of the Cenozoic, and it was home to an endemic fauna. The South American Native Ungulates (SANUs) exhibited high taxonomical, morphological, and ecological diversity and were widely distributed on the continent. However, most SANU fossil records come from high latitudes. This sampling bias challenges the study...

We present the first comprehensive review of the present and past shark and ray diversity in marine waters of Tropical America, examining the patterns of distribution in the Eastern Central Pacific (EP) and Western Central Atlantic (WA) realms. We identified the major regions of diversity and of endemism, and explored the relations to physical vari...

Revised and taxonomically expanded shark and ray assemblages from Tropical America. Collection: OA & JDCB, taxonomic determinations: JDCB. Paleontological collection: Natural History Museum of Basel (NMB S.A.), Switzerland; Palaeontological Institute and Museum at the University of Zurich Switzerland (PIMUZ); Paleontological collection of the Alcal...

Geographic range and regional endemic shark and ray species from the marine provinces of Tropical America. Data based on FishBase website (Froese & Pauly, 2017), Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS: http://www.iobis.org/), and Table S2. Abbreviations: Eastern Atlantic (EA), Eastern Pacific (EP), Galapagos (Gal), Northwestern Atlantic (TNWA...

Marine provinces of Tropical America and their geographic indicators. Total area, coastal line, and the area of bathymetry are taken from Sullivan Sealey & Bustamante, 1999.

New shark and ray assemblages from Tropical America. Collection: OA & JDCB, taxonomic determinations: JDCB. Paleontological collection: Museo Angel Segundo Lopez, Tara-Tara, Venezuela (MTT-V); Mapuka Museum of Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia (MUN-STRI), Natural History Museum of Basel (NMB S.A.), Switzerland; Palaeontological Institut...

Similarity coefficient values using the modified Forbes distance (Alroy, 2015) for the fossil assemblages.

Extant shark and ray diversity of Tropical America by marine provinces. Presence “1,” absence “0.” Data based on FishBase website (Froese & Pauly, 2017), Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS: http://www.iobis.org/), and literature referred in Data S1. Abbreviations: Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP), Galapagos (Gal), Warm Temperate Southeaster...

The fossil record of sharks and rays (genera) from Tropical America, tabulated by country. The compilation was based on new and published data. For published data see references in Data S2, for new data in Table S6. Abbreviations: early (E), middle (M), late (L), Miocene (Mi), Pliocene (P), and Pleistocene (Pl). Extinct taxa are referred by †. New...

References list of extant shark and rays from Tropical America used in Table S2.

References list of fossil shark and rays from Tropical America used in Table S3.

The shark and ray paleodiversity (genera) of Tropical America. Presence “1,” absence “0”. The (*) is referred for genera that are inferred to exist but have no fossil record in a determined interval. Data based on Table S3. Abbreviations: Eastern Central Pacific (EP), Western Central Atlantic (WA), early Miocene (Emi), middle Miocene (MMi), late Mi...

Similarity coefficient values using the modified Forbes distance (Alroy, 2015).

South America was isolated from other continents during most of the Cenozoic and it was home of an endemic mammalian fauna. Among the most characteristic faunal elements are the South American native ungulates (SANUs), a group of ungulate-grade mammals that were widespread and highly diverse in the continent. Despite of significant advances, the ph...

We describe one of the oldest notoungulate skeletons with associated craniodental and postcranial elements: Thomashuxleya externa (Isotemnidae) from Cañadón Vaca in Patagonia, Argentina (Vacan subage of the Casamayoran SALMA, middle Eocene). We provide body mass estimates given by different elements of the skeleton, describe the bone histology, and...

One of the most striking components of the modern assemblage of South American mammals is the semiaquatic capybara (Caviidae, Hydrochoerinae), the biggest rodent in the world. The large hydrochoerines are recorded from the middle Miocene to the present, mainly in high latitudes of South America. Although less known, they are also recorded in low la...

INTRODUCTION : We here present the surface models of two specimens of sloths(Mammalia, Tardigrada) coming from the Late Pliocene WareFormation (Cocinetas Basin, La Guajira, Colombia, see Table 1). Along with three additional sloth taxa found in the same Formation, these specimens document the great diversity of this Neotropical locality. Furthermor...

This taxon/character matrix was built with Mesquite (3.04). It was used to perform a phylogenetic analysis aiming at resolving the position of the specimen MUN STRI 36643, an edentulous partial horizontal ramus of dentary coming from the Ware Formation (Cocinetas Basin, La Guajira peninsula, Colombia). The characters are from Gaudin [2004, Phylogen...

We describe sloth assemblages from the Cocinetas Basin (La Guajira peninsula, Colombia), found in the Neogene Castilletes and Ware formations, located in northernmost South America, documenting otherwise poorly known biotas. The tentative referral of a specimen to a small megatherioid sloth, Hyperleptus?, from the early-middle Miocene Castilletes F...

We report on intraspecific and interspecific morphological variation in the cranium, mandible and teeth along the ontogenetic trajectories of the two species of the largest living rodent, the capybara. A three dimensional geometric morphometrics approach was used to compare 171 H. hydrochaeris and 44 H. isthmius specimens ranging from newborn to ad...

Caviomorphs constitute a large evolutionary radiation of South America rodents, exhibiting a wide range of body size and ecomorphological disparity. The geological history of caviomorphs has been recorded mainly from high latitudes, besides isolated discoveries from the Neotropics. The late Miocene fauna from Urumaco, Venezuela, is noteworthy for i...

The Cocinetas Basin of Colombia provides a valuable window into the geological and paleontological history of northern South America during the Neogene. Two major findings provide new insights into the Neogene history of this Cocinetas Basin: (1) a formal re-description of the Jimol and Castilletes formations, including a revised contact; and (2) t...

Astrapotheria is an order of extinct South American herbivores recorded throughout the continent, from the late Paleocene to middle Miocene. Here we describe Hilarcotherium castanedaii, gen. et sp. nov., an Uruguaytheriinae astrapothere from sediments of La Victoria Formation (middle Miocene) in the Tolima Department, Upper Magdalena Valley, Colomb...

The vast mammal diversity of the Neotropics is the result of a long evolutionary history. During most of the Cenozoic, South America was an island continent with an endemic mammalian fauna. This isolation ceased during the late Neogene after the formation of the Isthmus of Panama, resulting in an event known as the Great American Biotic Interchange...

In order to get a full understanding of the evolutionary role of the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI - land mammal exchange between North and South America following the closure of the Central American Seaway), we need to characterize the Neotropical community composition throughout GABI’s migrational intervals (i.e., pre-migration, migrati...

In 2010 and 2011 we undertook an initial exploratory survey of the late Miocene-early Pliocene Castilletes Formation (Eastern Guajira Peninsula, Colombia). The Castilletes is composed of deltaic and shallow marine deposits, with an abundant continental fauna in some intervals. These new findings will contribute to a better understanding of the neot...

Una campaña de Ingeominas en el año 2001 colectó un ejemplar fósil de astrapoterio en la quebrada Malnombre, vereda Hilarco, municipio de Purificación, departamento del Tolima, Colombia. El ejemplar está depositado en la colección del Museo Geológico Nacional José Royo y Gómez (JACR28112001-1). Los restos incluyen un cráneo parcial sin los huesos d...