In one of the
"richest paleontological cemeteries in South America",
the ravine located between Mar del Plata and Miramar, as paleontologists from the Municipal Museum of Natural Sciences of Mar del Plata usually describe the area, the find was made on the beach, and
hand in hand with a 9-year-old girl: he
found two
glyptodonts that are almost three million years old.
Emilia Delfino
detected that in the sand, meters from the surf at the Cruz del Sur resort, in Chapadmalal,
there were small white pebbles.
She told her family, they took photos of them and sent them to the Lorenzo Scaglia Museum, which confirmed that
they are remains of almost 3 million years old.
The museum said that the discovery was in charge of a family group made up of Emilia and Felipe Delfino, Florencia Lalonardi and Milo and Juan Mirabetto.
Later, Fernando Scaglia, Victoria Sarasa and Matias Taglioretti, from the Paleontology laboratory of the prestigious Mar del Plata museum, participated in the rescue, which, as is customary
, involved the entire family in the rescue.
"In the first place, we only had a discovery of some remains of a glyptodon (giant terrestrial armadillo) on the agenda, which are animals related to the current mulitas, peludos and tatús," explained paleontologist Matías Taglioretti.
"But
there are differences between glyptodons and living armadillos
, including the size and architecture of their
shells."
Emilia, 9 years old, found the remains of two glyptodons almost 3 million years old in Chapadmalal.
He maintained that "the plates that form part of the shell of glyptodonts are to a greater extent very fused, forming
a true rigid shell
, turning them into true
prehistoric war tanks."
The finding came as a surprise not only for the family.
“On the other hand, the largest forms reach 4 meters in length, 1.5 meters in height and a weight of up to 2 tons.
We went for 1 glyptodon and it quickly became 2
, plus a large number of
rodent remains scattered around the site
, which are very good indicators of the age of the deposits and the environments that existed in the past," the researcher reported.
Mar del Plata and the area have
the most representative paleontological sites of the upper Cenozoic in all of South America
.
Although glyptodon remains are very frequent for more modern moments in time, those recovered from the cliffs in the south of Mar del Plata are unique because they show glyptodons from the Pliocene (
5.33 to 2.58 million years ago)
which are very rare. in other deposits.
Emilia, 9 years old, found the remains of two glyptodons almost 3 million years old in Chapadmalal.
The animals, the peleontologists revealed, were recovered from geological levels dating between 3 and 2.5 million years ago.
At the moment the genera would be
Eosclerocalyptus and Eleutherocercus
, so there would be a small-scale glyptodon (body mass of approximately 450 kg) and
another of gigantic size (1500 kg).
“The
action and the patrimonial sense that this family from Mar del Plata
had towards the paleontological discovery is important, from which the entire community will benefit.
For them and many others who assisted in the rescue tasks carried out by the professionals of the Scaglia Museum, the ravine ceased to be a simple lump of earth, to become
a true open book,
which tells us the natural history of the Pampas region. , a benchmark for all of South America”, concluded Taglioretti.
Emilia, 9 years old, found the remains of two glyptodons almost 3 million years old in Chapadmalal.
Silver Sea.
Correspondent
SC
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