Testing the hypothesis of an impoverished predator guild in the Early Miocene ecosystems of Patagonia: An analysis of meat availability and competition intensity among carnivores

The lower Miocene Santa Cruz Formation (dated to ~18–16 Ma) of Southern Patagonia, Argentina, preserves rich vertebrate faunas, which are representative of communities that existed prior to the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI). Some previous researchers have hypothesized that these pre-GABI faunas had a low richness of mammalian carnivores (an impoverished predator guild), while others argue for a predator/prey ratio similar to those of...