Abstract
We report the oldest record of a capybara (Caviidae: Hydrochoerinae) in Chile, dated at ca. 8.8 Ma, which along with paleobotanical proxy records, indicates a markedly wetter late Miocene Atacama Desert. Today hyperarid, the Atacama contrasts sharply with the semiaquatic ecology of capybaras, which are restricted to perennial wetlands east of the Andes. A partial left M3 (MPC 3000), assigned to Cardiatherium, along with stable isotope data from pedogenic carbonates indicating C3-dominated vegetation and phytoliths documenting palms and dicots, provides evidence for persistent freshwater and riparian ecosystems in the southern Atacama during the late Miocene. This occurrence requires ecological connectivity between foreland wetlands and the Pacific margin, implying a transcontinental dispersal pathway. Such connectivity may have been achieved either through a trans-Andean corridor or via a northern route linking the Amazon basin to the Pacific through westward-draining systems. Both scenarios indicate continent-scale hydrologic integration and challenge the long-term persistence of hyperaridity in the region. Instead, they support a substantially wetter late Miocene Atacama, characterized by expanded riparian networks and vegetation capable of sustaining large semiaquatic herbivores.
Acknowledgements
We sincerely thank Daniela Del Monte (Museo Casa Tornini, Caldera) and Rodrigo Mauna for assistance with field data collection and revision of the provenance of the tooth housed at the Museo Paleontológico de Caldera, Chile. We also thank Whitney Worrell, Fabián Muñoz, and Joao Martínez-López for field and sample collection assistance, Jay Quade for assistance acquiring pedogenic carbonate isotopic data at the University of Arizona, and paleoartist Mauricio Alvarez for the paleoenvironmental reconstruction illustration. We thank the staff of the Arizona LaserChron Center, suppported by NSF-EAR 2050246, for assistance with U–Pb zircon analyses and data reduction.
Funding
Funding for this research was provided by the National Geographic Early Career (NGS EC) Grant #8903-11 awarded to CSG, CCC, JPLR, and MES (PI: N.D. Pyenson). Additional funding resources include the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Phoenix Foundation award, SEPM Student Research Grant from the Society for Sedimentary Geology, the Lewis and Clark Exploration and Field Research Grant from the American Philosophical Society, and the NSF-GSA Graduate Student Geoscience Grant from the Geological Society of America awarded to PRM.
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Fossil specimen MPC-3000 is an existing specimen permanently housed at the Museo Paleontológico de Caldera, Caldera, Chile, and forms part of the museum’s founding collection, having been donated by Rodrigo Mauna from the local community group Agrupación de Artesanos Promuseo. It was made available for study with the permission of the Museo Paleontológico de Caldera in the context of the study of the El Morro Locality, under paleontological research permit Ord. N° 3468 (18 August 2009), issued by the Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales (CMN) of Chile to David Rubilar-Rogers (Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Santiago); one of the authors, Carolina S. Gutstein, participated as a team member of this project and field campaign and permit application. The permit was granted in the framework of FAIP Project 2009 “Nuevo yacimiento con vertebrados fósiles de la Formación Bahía Inglesa (Mioceno–Plioceno): Aspectos tafonómicos y paleoambientales,” in accordance with Ley N° 17.288 de 1970 and Decreto Supremo N° 484 de 1990. Collection research was carried out at the invitation and with the permission of the museum’s former director, Mario Suarez P., who is also a co-author of this study.
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Gutstein, C.S., Martinez, P.R., Carrapa, B. et al. Late Miocene capybara in the Atacama Desert reveals a wetter climate and a transcontinental dispersal pathway.
Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-67368-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-67368-2
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