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Over the last decades, rocks from the East Pisco Basin (EPB), on the Central Peruvian coast (13°-16°S), have yielded an abundant and diverse collection of coastal-marine fossils, which are key for characterizing the onset and evolution of the modern Humboldt Current. Despite its paleontological richness, and after almost 40 years of study, the spatio-temporal context of the deposits of the southern part of the EPB (Sacaco area) remains only broadly constrained, being mostly tailored to particular vertebrate-rich levels occurring throughout the area. Here we build a composite stratigraphic section for the Sacaco area including three lithostratigraphic units (Pisco, Caracoles, and Pongo formations), which documents several discontinuities and intraformational unconformities. We infer depositional ages based on new radiometric (U–Pb), isotopic (Sr) and biostratigraphic data, synthesize previous litho-, chemo-, and bio-stratigraphic studies, and present a comprehensive chronostratigraphic review of the Mio-Pleistocene record for the Sacaco sub-basin that allows us to identify various local and basinal events. Our results indicate that, in the Sacaco area, the Pisco Formation ranges from ∼9.6 to 4.5 Ma, the overlying Caracoles Formation from 2.7 to ∼1.9 Ma, and the Pongo Formation accumulated from ∼1.9 up to at least 1.4 Ma. These sedimentary successions accumulated in a continually subsiding setting and show a shallowing-upwards trend. Zircon U–Pb provenance analysis mainly record Neoproterozoic, Cretaceous, and Mio-Pleistocene populations, revealing discrete up-section changes in source areas. Mio-Pleistocene and Cretaceous sources are continuously present, while older recycled-orogen sources vary through time in presence and abundance, indicating either paleogeographic changes or source exhaustion. • A chronostratigraphic framework for the Mio-Pleistocene record from Sacaco is presented. • Insights on Mio-Pleistocene sediment sources are defined by provenance data. • Discrete provenance changes occur up-section, especially at 6 Ma. • Combined subsidence and tectonic uplift controlled the sediment accumulation in Sacaco. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A new middle Miocene vertebrate fauna from Peruvian Amazonia is described. It yields the marsupials Sipalocyon sp. (Hathliacynidae) and Marmosa (Micoureus) cf. laventica (Didelphidae), as well as an unidentified glyptodontine xenarthran and the rodents Guiomys sp. (Caviidae), “Scleromys” sp., cf. quadrangulatus-schurmanni-colombianus (Dinomyidae), an unidentified acaremyid, and cf. Microsteiromys sp. (Erethizontidae). Apatite Fission Track provides a detrital age (17.1 ± 2.4 Ma) for the locality, slightly older than its inferred biochronological age (Colloncuran-early Laventan South American Land Mammal Ages: ∼15.6–13.0 Ma). Put together, both the mammalian assemblage and lithology of the fossil-bearing level point to a mixture of tropical rainforest environment and more open habitats under a monsoonal-like tropical climate. The fully fluvial origin of the concerned sedimentary sequence suggests that the Amazonian Madre de Dios Subandean Zone was not part of the Pebas mega-wetland System by middle Miocene times. This new assemblage seems to reveal a previously undocumented “spatiotemporal transition” between the late early Miocene assemblages from high latitudes (Patagonia and Southern Chile) and the late middle Miocene faunas of low latitudes (Colombia, Perú, Venezuela, and ?Brazil). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Tertiary insects and arachnids have been virtually unknown from the vast western Amazonian basin. We report here the discovery of amber from this region containing a diverse fossil arthropod fauna (13 hexapod families and 3 arachnid species) and abundant microfossil inclusions (pollen, spores, algae, and cyanophyceae). This unique fossil assemblage, recovered from middle Miocene deposits of northeastern Peru, greatly increases the known diversity of Cenozoic tropical-equatorial arthropods and microorganisms and provides insights into the biogeography and evolutionary history of modern Neotropical biota. It also strengthens evidence for the presence of more modern, high-diversity tropical rainforest ecosystems during the middle Miocene in western Amazonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lack of constraint on spatial and long-term temporal variability of the El Niño southern Oscillation (ENSO) and its sensitivity to external forcing limit our ability to evaluate climate models and ENSO future projections. Current knowledge of Holocene ENSO variability derived from paleoclimate reconstructions does not separate the role of insolation forcing from internal climate variability. Using an updated synthesis of coral and bivalve monthly resolved records, we build composite records of seasonality and interannual variability in four regions of the tropical Pacific: Eastern Pacific (EP), Central Pacific (CP), Western Pacific (WP) and South West Pacific (SWP). An analysis of the uncertainties due to the sampling of chaotic multidecadal to centennial variability by short records allows for an objective comparison with transient simulations (mid-Holocene to present) performed using four different Earth System models. Sea surface temperature and pseudo-δ18O are used in model-data comparisons to assess the potential influence of hydroclimate change on records. We confirm the significance of the Holocene ENSO minimum (HEM) 3-6ka compared to low frequency unforced modulation of ENSO, with a reduction of ENSO variance of ∼50 % in EP and ∼80 % in CP. The approach suggests that the increasing trend of ENSO since 6ka can be attributed to insolation, while models underestimate ENSO sensitivity to orbital forcing by a factor of 4.7 compared to data, even when accounting for the large multidecadal variability. Precession-induced change in seasonal temperature range is positively linked to ENSO variance in EP and to a lesser extent in other regions, in both models and observations. Our regional approach yields insights into the past spatial expression of ENSO across the tropical Pacific. In the SWP, today under the influence of the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ), interannual variability was increased by ∼200 % during the HEM, indicating that SPCZ variability is independent from ENSO on millennial time scales. • Composite paleo-ENSO records compared to transient simulations in 4 Pacific regions. • Holocene ENSO minimum (HEM) 3-6ka is significant compared to centennial variability. • Trend in ENSO since 6ka is robustly attributed to insolation forcing. • Seasonal range and ENSO are positively linked in both models and observations. • The interannual variability in the SPCZ was strongly increased during the HEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Body size is of fundamental importance to our understanding of extinct organisms. Physiology, ecology and life history are all strongly influenced by body size and shape, which ultimately determine how a species interacts with its environment. Reconstruction of body size and form in extinct animals provides insight into the dynamics underlying community composition and faunal turnover in past ecosystems and broad macroevolutionary trends. Many extinct animals are known only from incomplete remains, necessitating the use of anatomical proxies to reconstruct body size and form. Numerous limitations affecting the appropriateness of these proxies are often overlooked, leading to controversy and downstream inaccuracies in studies for which reconstructions represent key input data. In this perspective, we discuss four prominent case studies ( Dunkleosteus , Helicoprion , Megalodon and Perucetus ) in which proxy taxa have been used to estimate body size and shape from fragmentary remains. We synthesise the results of these and other studies to discuss nuances affecting the validity of taxon selection when reconstructing extinct organisms, as well as mitigation measures that can ensure the selection of the most appropriate proxy. We argue that these precautionary measures are necessary to maximise the robustness of reconstructions in extinct taxa for better evolutionary and ecological inferences., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2024 The Author(s). Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The Peruvian Province, from 6° S in Peru to 42° S in Chile, is a highly productive coastal marine region whose biology and fossil record have long been studied separately but never integrated. To understand how past events and conditions affected today's species composition and interactions, we examined the role of extinction, colonization, geologic changes to explain previously unrecognized peculiar features of the biota and to compare the Peruvian Province's history to that of other climatically similar temperate coasts. We synthesized all available data on the benthic (or benthically feeding) biota, with emphasis on fossilizable taxa, for the interval from the Miocene (23-5.4 Ma) and Pliocene (5.4-2.5 Ma) to the present. We outline the history of ecological guilds including primary producers, herbivores, predators, and suspension-feeders and document patterns of extinction, colonization, and geographic restriction. We identify twelve unusual attributes of the biota, most of which are the result of repeated episodes of extinction. Several guilds present during the Miocene and Pliocene are not represented in the province today, while groups such as kelps and perhaps intertidal predatory sea stars are relative newcomers. Guilds on soft bottoms and in sheltered habitats were severely affected by extinction, whereas those on hard bottoms were most affected by colonists and held their own in diversity. The Peruvian Province has not served as a biogeographic refuge, in contrast to the coasts of Australasia and Argentina, where lineages no longer present in the Peruvian Province survive. The loss of sheltered habitats since the Pliocene explains many of the present-day peculiarities of the biota. The history of the province's biota explains its unique attributes. High productivity, a rich Southern Hemisphere heritage, and colonization from the north account for the present-day composition and unusual characteristics of the biota., Competing Interests: None of the authors have competing interests., (© 2024 The Author(s). Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The fossil record of cetaceans documents how terrestrial animals acquired extreme adaptations and transitioned to a fully aquatic lifestyle 1,2 . In whales, this is associated with a substantial increase in maximum body size. Although an elongate body was acquired early in cetacean evolution 3 , the maximum body mass of baleen whales reflects a recent diversification that culminated in the blue whale 4 . More generally, hitherto known gigantism among aquatic tetrapods evolved within pelagic, active swimmers. Here we describe Perucetus colossus-a basilosaurid whale from the middle Eocene epoch of Peru. It displays, to our knowledge, the highest degree of bone mass increase known to date, an adaptation associated with shallow diving 5 . The estimated skeletal mass of P. colossus exceeds that of any known mammal or aquatic vertebrate. We show that the bone structure specializations of aquatic mammals are reflected in the scaling of skeletal fraction (skeletal mass versus whole-body mass) across the entire disparity of amniotes. We use the skeletal fraction to estimate the body mass of P. colossus, which proves to be a contender for the title of heaviest animal on record. Cetacean peak body mass had already been reached around 30 million years before previously assumed, in a coastal context in which primary productivity was particularly high., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

This research assessed carbon and nutrient burial during the past ~60 years within a Peruvian coastal marsh ecosystem affected by anthropogenic activities, by examining total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN) and isotopes (δ 13 C and δ 15 N) tracers in two dated sediment cores. Significantly higher TOC and TN burial, up to 416.4 ± 65.0 and 0.7 ± 0.1 g m -2  year -1 respectively, were observed after an uncontrolled urban expansion starting in the early 1970's to the 1990's. The TOC and TN burial rates were up to twofold higher than those observed for preserved coastal marshes. Furthermore, the decreased δ 13 C values (-16.1 ± 0.6 ‰) and increasing δ 15 N values (+10.6 ± 2.6 ‰) indicate higher deposition of algal material and urban sewage during the same period. The higher burial rates during 1970's-1990's and reduced rates thereafter evidenced the role of coastal marsh ecosystems plays in sequestering carbon and nutrients., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The evolution of crocodylians as sea dwellers remains obscure because living representatives are basically freshwater inhabitants and fossil evidence lacks crucial aspects about crocodylian occupation of marine ecosystems. New fossils from marine deposits of Peru reveal that crocodylians were habitual coastal residents of the southeastern Pacific (SEP) for approximately 14 million years within the Miocene ( ca 19 to 5 Ma), an epoch including the highest global peak of marine crocodylian diversity. The assemblage of the SEP comprised two long and slender-snouted (longirostrine) taxa of the Gavialidae: the giant Piscogavialis and a new early diverging species, Sacacosuchus cordovai . Although living gavialids ( Gavialis and Tomistoma ) are freshwater forms, this remarkable fossil record and a suite of evolutionary morphological analyses reveal that the whole evolution of marine crocodylians pertained to the gavialids and their stem relatives (Gavialoidea). This adaptive radiation produced two longirostrine ecomorphs with dissimilar trophic roles in seawaters and involved multiple transmarine dispersals to South America and most landmasses. Marine gavialoids were shallow sea dwellers, and their Cenozoic diversification was influenced by the availability of coastal habitats. Soon after the richness peak of the Miocene, gavialoid crocodylians disappeared from the sea, probably as part of the marine megafauna extinction of the Pliocene.

Miocene deposits of South America have yielded several species-rich assemblages of caviomorph rodents. They are mostly situated at high and mid- latitudes of the continent, except for the exceptional Honda Group of La Venta, Colombia, the faunal composition of which allowed to describe the late middle Miocene Laventan South American Land Mammal Age (SALMA). In this paper, we describe a new caviomorph assemblage from TAR-31 locality, recently discovered near Tarapoto in Peruvian Amazonia (San Martín Department). Based on mammalian biostratigraphy, this single-phased locality is unambiguously considered to fall within the Laventan SALMA. TAR-31 yielded rodent species found in La Venta, such as the octodontoid Ricardomys longidens Walton, 1990 (nom. nud.), the chinchilloids Microscleromys paradoxalis Walton, 1990 (nom. nud.) and M. cribriphilus Walton, 1990 (nom. nud.), or closely-related taxa. Given these strong taxonomic affinities, we further seize the opportunity to review the rodent dental material from La Venta described in the Ph.D. volume of Walton in 1990 but referred to as nomina nuda. Here we validate the recognition of these former taxa and provide their formal description. TAR-31 documents nine distinct rodent species documenting the four extant superfamilies of Caviomorpha, including a new erethizontoid: Nuyuyomys chinqaska gen. et sp. nov. These fossils document the most diverse caviomorph fauna for the middle Miocene interval of Peruvian Amazonia to date. This rodent discovery from Peru extends the geographical ranges of Ricardomys longidens, Microscleromys paradoxalis, and M. cribriphilus, 1,100 km to the south. Only one postcranial element of rodent was unearthed in TAR-31 (astragalus). This tiny tarsal bone most likely documents one of the two species of Microscleromys and its morphology indicates terrestrial generalist adaptations for this minute chinchilloid., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Closed-canopy rainforests are important for climate (influencing atmospheric circulation, albedo, carbon storage, etc.) and ecology (harboring the highest biodiversity of continental regions). Of all rainforests, Amazonia is the world's most diverse, including the highest mammalian species richness. However, little is known about niche structure, ecological roles, and food resource partitioning of Amazonian mammalian communities over time. Through analyses of δ 13 C bioapatite , δ 13 C hair , and δ 15 N hair , we isotopically characterized aspects of feeding ecology in a modern western Amazonian mammalian community in Peru, serving as a baseline for understanding the evolution of Neotropical rainforest ecosystems. By comparing these results with data from equatorial Africa, we evaluated the potential influences of distinct phylogenetic and biogeographic histories on the isotopic niches occupied by mammals in analogous tropical ecosystems. Our results indicate that, despite their geographical and taxonomic differences, median δ 13 C diet values from closed-canopy rainforests in Amazonia (-27.4‰) and equatorial Africa (-26.9‰) are not significantly different, and that the median δ 13 C diet expected for mammalian herbivores in any closed-canopy rainforest is -27.2‰. Amazonian mammals seem to exploit a narrower spectrum of dietary resources than equatorial African mammals, however, as depicted by the absence of highly negative δ 13 C diet values previously proposed as indicative of rainforests (<-31‰). Finally, results of keratin and bioapatite δ 13 C indicate that the predictive power of trophic relationships, and traditional dietary ecological classifications in bioapatite-protein isotopic offset expectations, must be reconsidered., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interest., (Copyright © 2020 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.)

Carbon isotopic signatures recorded in vertebrate tissues derive from ingested food and thus reflect ecologies and ecosystems. For almost two decades, most carbon isotope-based ecological interpretations of extant and extinct herbivorous mammals have used a single diet-bioapatite enrichment value (14‰). Assuming this single value applies to all herbivorous mammals, from tiny monkeys to giant elephants, it overlooks potential effects of distinct physiological and metabolic processes on carbon fractionation. By analysing a never before assessed herbivorous group spanning a broad range of body masses-sloths-we discovered considerable variation in diet-bioapatite δ 13 C enrichment among mammals. Statistical tests (ordinary least squares, quantile, robust regressions, Akaike information criterion model tests) document independence from phylogeny, and a previously unrecognized strong and significant correlation of δ 13 C enrichment with body mass for all mammalian herbivores. A single-factor body mass model outperforms all other single-factor or more complex combinatorial models evaluated, including for physiological variables (metabolic rate and body temperature proxies), and indicates that body mass alone predicts δ 13 C enrichment. These analyses, spanning more than 5 orders of magnitude of body sizes, yield a size-dependent prediction of isotopic enrichment across Mammalia and for distinct digestive physiologies, permitting reconstruction of foregut versus hindgut fermentation for fossils and refined mean annual palaeoprecipitation estimates based on δ 13 C of mammalian bioapatite., (© 2018 The Authors.)

Objectives: Undoubted fossil Cebidae have so far been primarily documented from the late middle Miocene of Colombia, the late Miocene of Brazilian Amazonia, the early Miocene of Peruvian Amazonia, and very recently from the earliest Miocene of Panama. The evolutionary history of cebids is far from being well-documented, with notably a complete blank in the record of callitrichine stem lineages until and after the late middle Miocene (Laventan SALMA). Further documenting their evolutionary history is therefore of primary importance., Material: Recent field efforts in Peruvian Amazonia (Contamana area, Loreto Department) have allowed for the discovery of an early late Miocene (ca. 11 Ma; Mayoan SALMA) fossil primate-bearing locality (CTA-43; Pebas Formation). In this study, we analyze the primate material, which consists of five isolated teeth documenting two distinct Cebidae: Cebus sp., a medium-sized capuchin (Cebinae), and Cebuella sp., a tiny marmoset (Callitrichinae)., Results: Although limited, this new fossil material of platyrrhines contributes to documenting the post-Laventan evolutionary history of cebids, and besides testifies to the earliest occurrences of the modern Cebuella and Cebus/Sapajus lineages in the Neotropics. Regarding the evolutionary history of callitrichine marmosets, the discovery of an 11 Ma-old fossil representative of the modern Cebuella pushes back by at least 6 Ma the age of the Mico/Cebuella divergence currently proposed by molecular biologists (i.e., ca. 4.5 Ma). This also extends back to > 11 Ma BP the divergence between Callithrix and the common ancestor (CA) of Mico/Cebuella, as well as the divergence between the CA of marmosets and Callimico (Goeldi's callitrichine)., Discussion: This discovery from Peruvian Amazonia implies a deep evolutionary root of the Cebuella lineage in the northwestern part of South America (the modern western Amazon basin), slightly before the recession of the Pebas mega-wetland system (PMWS), ca. 10.5 Ma, and well-before the subsequent establishment of the Amazon drainage system (ca. 9-7 Ma). During the late middle/early late Miocene interval, the PMWS was seemingly not a limiting factor for dispersals and widespread distribution of terrestrial mammals, but it was also likely a source of diversification via a complex patchwork of submerged/emerged lands varying through time., (© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Herein we describe a new species of early diverging mesotheriid notoungulate from the late Oligocene of Moquegua, Peru. This taxon, Trachytherus ramirezi sp. nov., is distinctive in terms of a few characteristics that appear plesiomorphic as compared to those of other described mesotheriids, even other species referred to Trachytherus. Such plesiomorphic traits include the absence of an upper diastema and a lack of heart-shaped incisive foramina, traits that are generally present in other mesotheriids. Our phylogenetic analysis of described early divergent mesotheriids indicates that T. ramirezi was the earliest to diverge. This analysis also confirms the paraphyletic nature of the "genus" Trachytherus.          Geographically, T. ramirezi clusters among T. alloxus, T. subandinus, and T. spegazzinianus, all of which are known from a discrete region in the middle latitudes of western South America that we refer to as the Bolivian Orocline Region (BOR). Our palaeobiogeographic reconstruction using maximum parsimony identifies the BOR as a possible ancestral area for the Mesotheriidae and as an important region for their diversification. For the more exclusive Mesotheriinae, the BOR was reconstructed as the ancestral area, an area from which some mesotheriines would have later dispersed to southern South America. Uncertainty concerning the ancestral area, for the Mesotheriidae-which could be BOR or southern South America area (or both)-is possibly due to the ignorance of the phylogenetic affinities for the undescribed mesotheriid remains reported from Tinguirirican localities. The present description of T. ramirezi therefore adds to the high taxonomic diversity of early mesotheriid species in the relatively small area of the BOR and emphasizes the likely role played by this topographically dynamic area on mesotheriid evolution during a significant time in the history of the clade.

The hairy long-nosed armadillo, currently referred as Dasypus (Cryptophractus) pilosus, is an enigmatic species endemic to montane cloud forests and subparamo of Peruvian Andes. Its strikingly different external features, which include the carapace concealed by abundant hair, the presence of more movable bands, and a slender skull, have raised questions regarding its taxonomic status as subgenus or as genus. This paper assesses this issue based on a cladistic study and provides a detailed comparative description of the species, including the first account on the distinctive ornamentation of its osteoderms. Based on several unique characters in the carapace, skull, mandible, and teeth, as well as on the external phylogenetic position relative to other Dasypus, we favor the assignment of the hairy long-nosed armadillo to other genus. As result, we revalidate the original generic epithet, so that the valid name of the species is Cryptophractus pilosus Fitzinger, 1856.

Amazonia contains one of the world's richest biotas, but origins of this diversity remain obscure. Onset of the Amazon River drainage at approximately 10.5 Ma represented a major shift in Neotropical ecosystems, and proto-Amazonian biotas just prior to this pivotal episode are integral to understanding origins of Amazonian biodiversity, yet vertebrate fossil evidence is extraordinarily rare. Two new species-rich bonebeds from late Middle Miocene proto-Amazonian deposits of northeastern Peru document the same hyperdiverse assemblage of seven co-occurring crocodylian species. Besides the large-bodied Purussaurus and Mourasuchus, all other crocodylians are new taxa, including a stem caiman-Gnatusuchus pebasensis-bearing a massive shovel-shaped mandible, procumbent anterior and globular posterior teeth, and a mammal-like diastema. This unusual species is an extreme exemplar of a radiation of small caimans with crushing dentitions recording peculiar feeding strategies correlated with a peak in proto-Amazonian molluscan diversity and abundance. These faunas evolved within dysoxic marshes and swamps of the long-lived Pebas Mega-Wetland System and declined with inception of the transcontinental Amazon drainage, favouring diversification of longirostrine crocodylians and more modern generalist-feeding caimans. The rise and demise of distinctive, highly productive aquatic ecosystems substantially influenced evolution of Amazonian biodiversity hotspots of crocodylians and other organisms throughout the Neogene., (© 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.)

Endemic South American river stingrays (Potamotrygonidae), which include the most diversified living freshwater chondrichthyans, were conspicuously absent from pre-Neogene deposits in South America despite the fact that recent phylogenetic analyses strongly suggest an older origination for this clade. To date, the rare representatives of this family were mostly represented by ambiguous isolated remains. Here, we report 67 isolated fossil teeth of a new obligate freshwater dasyatoid (Potamotrygon ucayalensis nov. sp) from the fossiliferous level CTA-27 (Yahuarango Formation), near Contamana, in the Peruvian Amazonia. We assigned this sample to a new representative of Potamotrygon by comparison with numerous fresh jaws of living specimens of Potamotrygonidae, thus providing the first detailed review of dental morphology for this poorly understood clade. These new fossils fill a long stratigraphic gap by extending the family range down to the middle Eocene (~41 Mya). Moreover, the relative modernity and diversity in tooth morphology among Eocene freshwater stingrays (including Potamotrygon ucayalensis nov. sp. and coeval North American dasyatoids) indicate that the hypothetically marine ancestor of potamotrygonids probably invaded the rivers earlier than in the middle Eocene. The first potamotrygonids and affiliates were possibly more generalized and less endemic than now, which is consistent with an opportunistic filling of vacated ecospace.

The rich fossil record of the family Equidae (Mammalia: Perissodactyla) over the past 55 MY has made it an icon for the patterns and processes of macroevolution. Despite this, many aspects of equid phylogenetic relationships and taxonomy remain unresolved. Recent genetic analyses of extinct equids have revealed unexpected evolutionary patterns and a need for major revisions at the generic, subgeneric, and species levels. To investigate this issue we examine 35 ancient equid specimens from four geographic regions (South America, Europe, Southwest Asia, and South Africa), of which 22 delivered 87-688 bp of reproducible aDNA mitochondrial sequence. Phylogenetic analyses support a major revision of the recent evolutionary history of equids and reveal two new species, a South American hippidion and a descendant of a basal lineage potentially related to Middle Pleistocene equids. Sequences from specimens assigned to the giant extinct Cape zebra, Equus capensis, formed a separate clade within the modern plain zebra species, a phenotypicically plastic group that also included the extinct quagga. In addition, we revise the currently recognized extinction times for two hemione-related equid groups. However, it is apparent that the current dataset cannot solve all of the taxonomic and phylogenetic questions relevant to the evolution of Equus. In light of these findings, we propose a rapid DNA barcoding approach to evaluate the taxonomic status of the many Late Pleistocene fossil Equidae species that have been described from purely morphological analyses.