Taxonomy, radiocarbon dating (14C AMS), and isotopic palaeoecology (δ13C, δ18O) of the Late Pleistocene mammals from Toca Fria cave, Bahia, Brazil

Abstract This study presents an expansion and update of the taxonomic composition of Late Pleistocene mammal fauna collected in Toca Fria Cave, located in the municipality of Iuiú, Bahia, Brazil. The studied material consists of several bones attributed to 13 taxa, distributed in the orders Carnivora ( Cerdocyon thous and Arctotherium wingei ), Folivora ( Nothrotherium maquinense , Eremotherium laurillardi , Valgipes bucklandi, Catonyx cuvieri , and Glossotherium phoenesis ), Cingulata (Pampatheridae and Glyptodontidae), Proboscidea (cf. Notiomastodon platensis ), Notoungulata ( Toxodon platensis ), and Artiodactyla (Mazama sp. and Blastocerus dichotomus ). The occurrence of B. dichotomus represents a significant historical record for the genus, which currently has a reduced and fragmented geographic distribution and is not found in the Iuiú region. We also presented radiocarbon dates for A. wingei, B. dichotomus , and G. phoenesis . These analyses suggest that A. wingei lived between 39,208 and 39,637 cal yr BP, B. dichotomus between 30,017 and 30,275 cal yr BP, and G. phoenesis between 34,845 and 35,849 cal yr BP. Isotopic analyses of the recovered materials indicated the presence of at least two habitats for the Late Pleistocene of Iuiú: a low-density forested site and a drier open savanna environment associated with the present-day Cerrado/Caatinga biomes, given that most of the animals were living in an ecotone between these environments. Within the period analyzed the mean annual temperature varied between 20.5 °C and 22.3 °C, while the average precipitation values ranged from 925 to 1180 mm per year. Graphic abstract