Insights into the Neotropics prior to the Great American Biotic Interchange: new evidence of mammalian predators from the Miocene of Northern Colombia

A new species of Sparassodonta (Mammalia, Metatheria), <i>Lycopsis padillai</i>, sp. nov., is described on the basis of a partial left maxilla with M1–M4 and fragments of lacrimal and jugal. The material comes from the early to early middle Miocene Castilletes Formation, La Guajira Peninsula, Colombia. This specimen represents the northernmost record of a fossil metatherian in South America and integrates a highly diverse vertebrate association, recently discovered in the north of Colombia. The La Guajira specimen is referred to the genus <i>Lycopsis</i>, as supported by the results of our phylogenetic analysis. This analysis also demonstrates that species of <i>Lycopsis</i> (<i>L. torresi</i>, <i>L. longirostrus</i>, <i>L. viverensis</i>, and <i>L. padillai</i>) constitute a monophyletic group and are placed as the basal taxon of Borhyaenoidea. <i>Lycopsis padillai</i> is a large-sized sparassodont with a body mass of about 22 kg. The presence of <i>Lycopsis</i> from La Guajira extends the geographical distribution of the genus to the entire South America, representing the sparassodont with the widest latitudinal distribution. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B3127EDAB4BB-4972-81B9-4447CC44EE79 SUPPLEMENTAL DATA—Supplemental materials are available for this article for free at www.tandfonline.com/UJVP Citation for this article: Suarez, C., A. M. Forasiepi, F. J. Goin, and C. Jaramillo. 2015. Insights into the Neotropics prior to the Great American Biotic Interchange: new evidence of mammalian predators from the Miocene of Northern Colombia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2015.1029581.