First record of palaeozoic vertebrates from Peru

Abstract

Devonian vertebrates in South America are notably scarce compared with other continents, becoming this circumstance particularly evident in Peru, where no Palaeozoic vertebrates have been formally reported so far. In this paper, we report, figure and describe the first Devonian vertebrates remains from Peru recovered in the Puno region, south-eastern of the country. The remains belong to the very unusual group of Emsian to Eifelian stem-chondrichthyan Pucapampella and Zamponiopteron that characterise the vertebrate fauna of the so-called marine “Malvinokaffric Realm”. The remains studied are represented by three jaw fragments assigned to Pucapampella, and three fin plates of Zamponiopteron. These records increase the palaeogeographic distribution of this assemblage in the Palaeozoic of Gondwana, but more relevant, our findings highlight the potential of the Peruvian outcrops to contribute to the knowledge on the diversity and distribution of the early vertebrate faunas in the South American continent.