Isotopic palaeoecology (<i>δ</i>¹³C) of three faunivores from Late Pleistocene of the Brazilian intertropical region

The palaeoecology of megamammals has been commonly accessed by stable isotope. Particularly in the Americas, this approach has been focusing efforts on the study of intertropical species, especially from a key paleozoogeographical region in the Late Quaternary of South America: the Brazilian Intertropical Region (BIR). Here we present an isotopic study (<i>δ</i>¹³C) conducted on bioapatite samples of <i>Smilodon populator, Protocyon troglodytes</i> and <i>Arctotherium wingei</i> from the BIR. We discuss their potential prey preferences, niche width and overlap, and paleoenvironmental reconstitutions. Our results suggest a generalist carnivorous diet for <i>P. troglodytes</i> (<i>δ</i>¹³C = – 5.0 ‰; <i>B_A</i> = 0.83), a specialist C₃ herbivorous diet and opportunistic scavenger behaviour for <i>A. wingei</i> (<i>δ</i>¹³C = – 11.0 ± 2.1 ‰; <i>B_A</i> = 0.00), and a specialist carnivorous diet for <i>S. populator</i> (<i>δ</i>¹³C = – 8.5 ± 1.6 ‰; <i>B_A</i> = 0.06). Within the Late Pleistocene of the BIR, <i>P. troglodytes</i> possibly inhabited open savanna-like environments, while <i>S. populator</i> and <i>A. wingei</i> occupied arboreal savanna forests. An atypical preference for small and medium-size prey for the predator <i>S. populator</i>, and a mainly herbivorous diet with a slight amount of meat for the bear <i>A. wingei</i> is also discussed.