Peptide Mass Fingerprinting of South American Xenarthrans: A New Resource for Zooarcheology and Palaeontology

Xenarthrans─armadillos, anteaters, and sloths─are endemic to the Americas, primarily inhabiting the Neotropics, where they represent a key component of faunal diversity. They have essential functions for ecosystem maintenance, such as insect control and nutrient cycling, playing key roles as ecosystem engineers. Despite their frequent occurrence in archeological and paleontological contexts, their identification is often hindered by the highly fragmented and morphologically indistinct nature of bone remains. This limits our ability to track their biogeographic histories, population dynamics, and interactions with past human populations. To address this, we present a novel set of Zooarcheology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) peptide markers for ten extant and extinct Xenarthran species, enabling taxonomic identification of fragmented and morphologically indistinct bone assemblages. By enhancing the taxonomic resolution of fragmented faunal material, this work advances the reconstruction of past species distributions, long-term biodiversity trends, and human-animal interactions. Furthermore, it provides a foundation for an improved understanding of Xenarthran extinction and adaptation dynamics and can support conservation and ecosystem restoration efforts by informing models of historical biogeography and species abundance.

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Publication Details

Journal
Journal of Proteome Research
Published
2025-11-03
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jproteome.5c00636
Primary Topic
Evolution and Paleontology Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Peptide Mass Fingerprinting of South American Xenarthrans: A New Resource for Zooarcheology and Palaeontology

Eliane Chim, Laura Pereira Furquim, Diego de Sousa Mendes, Roshan Paladugu et al.
Journal of Proteome Research
Evolution and Paleontology Studies
article

Peptide Mass Fingerprinting of South American Xenarthrans: A New Resource for Zooarcheology and Palaeontology

Eliane Chim, Laura Pereira Furquim, Diego de Sousa Mendes, Roshan Paladugu, Patrick Roberts, Stefanie Schirmer, Jana Ilgner, Jorge D. Carrillo-Briceño, Mariya Antonosyan, André Strauss, Rafael Plá Matielo Lemos, Daniela Volke, Gabriela Prestes-Carneiro, Michael J. Ziegler
article en

Abstract

Xenarthrans─armadillos, anteaters, and sloths─are endemic to the Americas, primarily inhabiting the Neotropics, where they represent a key component of faunal diversity. They have essential functions for ecosystem maintenance, such as insect control and nutrient cycling, playing key roles as ecosystem engineers. Despite their frequent occurrence in archeological and paleontological contexts, their identification is often hindered by the highly fragmented and morphologically indistinct nature of bone remains. This limits our ability to track their biogeographic histories, population dynamics, and interactions with past human populations. To address this, we present a novel set of Zooarcheology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) peptide markers for ten extant and extinct Xenarthran species, enabling taxonomic identification of fragmented and morphologically indistinct bone assemblages. By enhancing the taxonomic resolution of fragmented faunal material, this work advances the reconstruction of past species distributions, long-term biodiversity trends, and human-animal interactions. Furthermore, it provides a foundation for an improved understanding of Xenarthran extinction and adaptation dynamics and can support conservation and ecosystem restoration efforts by informing models of historical biogeography and species abundance.

Journal of Proteome ResearchVol. 24(12)
Urban Land Institute (US), University of Zurich (CH), Royal Anthropological Institute (GB), Institute of Paleontology A A Borisyak (RU), Institute for Biomedicine (IT), Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (DE), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (FR), Central Laboratory For Agricultural Expert Systems (EG), Institute of Archeology and Ethnography (TM), Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (DE), Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Leipzig University (DE)
Openalex Percentile: Top 86%
Evolution and Paleontology Studies
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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