Biography:

Since my PhD dissertation I participated in numerous field work projects in Argentina and Antarctica. I directed my own studies on the paleobiology of South American fossil vertebrates, mostly mammals. I have published results in International journals such us Paleobiology, Letahia, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Journal of Mammalian Evolution, and Journal of Zoology; Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society among others. In 1996 I was awarded the Miguel F. Soria (h) Prize by the Asociacin Paleontologica Argentina and I became the President of that Association for the period 2003-2004. I edited several special volumes and a book.

Abstract:

The fossil mammals of South America before and after Darwin

During the first two years of his voyage aboard the HMS Beagle, Darwin collected a considerable number of fossil mammals from various localities in Argentina and Uruguay. Among them, there were large mammals that he informally assigned mostly to Megatherium and Mastodon -the only large taxa then described for South America although he also recognized for the first time the existence of glyptodonts- and small and medium sized mammals that he documented as representing at least two rodents and a horse. The study of his collection was entrusted to Richard Owen, who described eleven taxa between 1837 and 1845. This contribution envisions Darwin's background on biological diversity and palaeontology by the time he arrived to South America and the influence that the fossils he collected produced on his intellect. Furthermore, it is interpreted the way in which his work inspired taxonomic and phylogenetic studies on fossil mammal lineages in South America and opened a gate to the research on their palaeobiology.