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The Cuvieri Cave was the subject of numerous paleoenvironmental and paleontological studies, but none of them highlighted the fossil and subfossil remains of Anura. This work reports the occurrence of bone parts of anurans from the Holocene. The recovered material consists of axial and appendicular bones of different sizes and proportions, suggesting the presence of different species. The specimens were observed in two periods, the oldest occurring in the PleistoceneHolocene boundary and the vast majority in layers with ages below 6 thousand years BP. The period of absence from the record coincides with the period known as the Archaic Gap in which there was low or no human occupation in Lagoa Santa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peatlands can be defined as a system that retains and preserves plant materials. For paleoenvironmental studies peatlands serve as databases of the climate and its states in the past, because they are formed by the accumulation of plant material in water-saturated environments, with low pH and mild temperatures, preventing or at least reducing decomposition by microorganisms. However, in Guarapuava region, studies focused on acquiring information about these environments are scarce. The aim of this study is to evaluate the distribution and patterns of the peatlands present in the topographic sheets of Guarapuava and Itapará (MI 2838-3 and 2838-4 MI, respectively) and relate them to the geomorphological features in order to find the reason for the high concentration of these environments in the region. The combination of morphostructural and morphoscultural elements acts as a strong influence on a peatland from its formation on towards its current process. In this study, the structural issue is crucial to the control of peaty environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Serra da Capivara National Park and adjacencies there is a wide range of archeological sites which provides diverse information about the first human settlements in America since it holds many characteristics from their existence in different ecosystems of the region. There are more than 1,000 registered sites (not definitive) in the park, about 657 of them have cave paintings; the others are villages, cemeteries and settlements. The cave paintings picture routine activities such as hunting, giving birth, sex, social struggle, games, relationships and rituals. These paintings have multiple functions which reveal that, in that territory, the first settlers' daily life was very dynamic and can also provide evidence that there was history, education, socialization, communication and religiousness in Brazilian history ancient times. It is possible to identify in the paintings -- from the various rock zoomorphic representations and their likely interpretations -- species absent today in the region and others completely extinct; some are so well done that it is possible to identify the gender of the printed animal through antlers and other species gender determinant characteristics. It is common to see paintings of crabs, lizards, siriemas, armadillos, pacas, cats, crocodiles, coatis, camelids, tailed deer and capybaras -- these last ones disappeared from the region due to the current extreme aridity, what leads to the hypothesis that it was a more humid area in a not very distant past. Another specie often potrayed in the paintings is the emu Rhea Americana, extinguished from the area not long ago. Based on the identification and a deep study of the fauna pictured in the cave paintings of the Serra do Capivara National Park as well as on the information gathered from the literature, the aim is to rebuild the probable environmental conditions from the period when the paintings were made, thus becoming a reliable paleoenvironmental reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ichnological study in a sandy-silt interval of Pimenteira Formation allowed the recognition of new expositions and trace fossil occurrences. The ichnogenus Protovirgularia Gumbel is for the fi rst time recorded and described to this unit and eight other ichnospecies were recognized: Bergaueria cf. B. prantli, Lockeiasiliquaria, Protopalaeodictyon spinata, Protovirgularia aff. P. rugosa, Protovirgularia dichotoma, Rusophycus biloba, Scolicia prisca and Skolithos linearis. The trace fossil assemblage fi ts the Cruziana and Zoophycosichnofacies and allows inferring a marine paleoenvironment ranging from shallow continental shelf waters to tidal flats with low energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]