Santacrucian
South American land mammal age (SALMA)

The Santacrucian age is a period of geologic time (17.5 – 16.3 Ma) within the Early Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically with SALMA classification in South America. It follows the Colhuehuapian and precedes the Friasian age.
Etymology
The age is named after the Santa Cruz Formation in the Austral/Magallanes Basin of southern Patagonia, Argentina and Chile.
Formations
Fossils
References
Bibliography
Santa Cruz Formation
Agnolin, Federico L (2009), Sistemática y Filogenia de las Aves Fororracoideas (Gruiformes, Cariamae) (PDF), Fundación de Historia Natural Felix de Azara, pp. 1–79, retrieved 2019-02-28
Arnal, M.; Vucetich, M.G. (2015), "Revision of the fossil rodent Acaremys Ameghino, 1887 (Hystricognathi, Octodontoidea, Acaremyidae) from the Miocene of Patagonia (Argentina) and the description of a new acaremyid", Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology, 27 (1): 42–59, Bibcode:2015HBio...27...42A, doi:10.1080/08912963.2013.863881, hdl:11336/13646, retrieved 2019-02-13
Bostelmann, J. Enrique; Le Roux, Jacobus P.; Vásquez, Ana; Gutiérrez, Néstor M.; Oyarzún, José Luis; Carreño, Catalina; Torres, Teresa; Otero, Rodrigo; Llanos, C. Mark Fanning, Francisco Hervé, Andrea (2013), "Burdigalian deposits of the Santa Cruz Formation in the Sierra Baguales, Austral (Magallanes) Basin: Age, depositional environment and vertebrate fossils" (PDF), Andean Geology, 40: 458–489, retrieved 2019-02-28{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Brea, Mariana; Zucol, Alejandro F.; Bargo, M. Susana; Fernicola, Juan Carlos; Vizcaíno, Sergio F. (2017), "First Miocene record of Akaniaceae in Patagonia (Argentina): a fossil wood from the early Miocene Santa Cruz formation and its palaeobiogeographical implications", Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 183 (3): 334–347, doi:10.1093/botlinnean/bow014, hdl:11336/65078, retrieved 2019-02-28
Buffetaut, Éric (2016), "A reassessment of the giant birds Liornis floweri Ameghino, 1895 and Callornis giganteus Ameghino, 1895, from the Santacrucian (late Early Miocene) of Argentina", Palæovertebrata, 40 (2) e3, doi:10.18563/pv.40.2.e3, retrieved 2019-02-28
Cenizo, Marcos Martín; Agnolín, Federico Lisandro (2010), "The southernmost records of Anhingidae and a new basal species of Anatidae (Aves) from the lower–middle Miocene of Patagonia, Argentina", Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology, 34 (4): 493–514, Bibcode:2010Alch...34..493C, doi:10.1080/03115511003793504, retrieved 2019-02-28
Chandler, Robert M (2012), "A new species of tinamou (Aves: Tinamiformes, Tinamidae) from the Early-Middle Miocene of Argentina" (PDF), PalArch's Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, 9 (2): 1–8, archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-03-18, retrieved 2019-02-28
Ercoli, Marcos D.; Prevosti, Francisco J. (2011), "Estimación de masa de las especies de Sparassodonta (Mammalia, Metatheria) de edad Santacrucense (Mioceno Temprano) a partir del tamaño del centroide de los elementos apendiculares: inferencias paleoecológicas", Ameghiniana, 48 (4): 462–479, Bibcode:2011Amegh..48..462E, doi:10.5710/AMGH.v48i4(347), archived from the original on 2013-12-12, retrieved 2019-02-28
González, Laureano Raúl; Scillato Yané, Gustavo Juan (2008), "Una nueva especie de Stegotherium Ameghino (Xenarthra, Dasypodidae, Stegotheriini) del Mioceno de la provincia de Santa Cruz (Argentina)", Ameghiniana, 45: 641–648, retrieved 2019-02-28
Mayr, Gerald; Noriega, Jorge I. (2015), "A well-preserved partial skeleton of the poorly known early Miocene seriema Noriegavis santacrucensis" (PDF), Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 60 (3): 589–598, Bibcode:2015AcPaP..60..589M, doi:10.4202/app.00011.2013, retrieved 2019-02-28
Muñoz, Nahuel A.; Toledo, Néstor; Candela, Adriana M.; Vizcaíno, Sergio F. (2019), "Functional morphology of the forelimb of Early Miocene caviomorph rodents from Patagonia", Lethaia, 52 (1): 91–106, Bibcode:2019Letha..52...91M, doi:10.1111/let.12292, retrieved 2019-02-28
Noriega, Jorge I.; Mayr, Gerald (2017), "The systematic affinities of the putative seriema Noriegavis santacrucensis (Noriega et al., 2009) from the Miocene of Argentina", Contribuciones del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, 7: 133–139
Noriega, Jorge I.; Vizcaíno, Sergio F.; Bargo, Susana (2009), "First Record and a New Species of Seriema (Aves: Ralliformes: Cariamidae) from Santacrucian (Early-Middle Miocene) Beds of Patagonia", Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 29 (2): 620–626, Bibcode:2009JVPal..29..620N, doi:10.1671/039.029.0216, hdl:11336/80002, retrieved 2019-02-28
Sinclair, W.; Farr, M. (1932), "Aves of the Santa Cruz beds", Reports of the Princeton University Expeditions to Patagonia (1896–1899), 7: 157–191
Verzi, Diego H.; Olivares, A. Itatí; Morgan, Cecilia C. (2017), "Systematics and evolutionary significance of the small Abrocomidae from the early Miocene of southern South America", Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology, 29 (3): 411–422, Bibcode:2017HBio...29..411V, doi:10.1080/08912963.2016.1168410, hdl:11336/56470, retrieved 2019-02-12
Vizcaíno, Sergio F.; Kay, Richard F.; Bargo, Susana (2012), Early Miocene Paleobiology in Patagonia: High-Latitude Paleocommunities of the Santa Cruz Formation, Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–370, ISBN 978-0-521-19461-7, retrieved 2017-10-21
Aisol Formation
Forasiepi, Analía M.; Cerdeño, Esperanza; Bond, Mariano; Schmidt, Gabriela I.; Naipauer, Maximiliano; Straehl, Fiona R.; Martinelli, Agustín G.; Garrido, Alberto C.; Schmitz and James L. Crowley, Mark D. (2015), "New toxodontid (Notoungulata) from the Early Miocene of Mendoza, Argentina", Paläontologische Zeitschrift, 89 (3): 611–634, Bibcode:2015PalZ...89..611F, doi:10.1007/s12542-014-0233-5, hdl:11336/20443, retrieved 2019-02-13
Forasiepi, Analía M.; Martinelli, Agustín G.; De la Fuente, Marcelo S.; Dieguez, Sergio; Bond, Mariano (2011), Paleontology and stratigraphy of the Aisol Formation (Neogene), San Rafael, Mendoza (PDF), Cenozoic Geology of the Central Andes of Argentina, SCS Publisher, Salta, pp. 135–154, retrieved 2017-10-01
Cantaure Formation
Mendi, David; Rodríguez, Eliana (2005), Integración geológica de la Península de Paraguaná, Estado Falcón (MSc thesis), Universidad Central de Venezuela, pp. 1–184, retrieved 2017-10-26
Castillo Formation
Johnson, Kenneth G.; Sánchez Villagra, Marcelo R.; Aguilera, Órangel A. (2009), "The Oligocene-Miocene transition on coral reefs in the Falcón Basin (NW Venezuela)", PALAIOS, 24 (1): 59–69, Bibcode:2009Palai..24...59J, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.617.9079, doi:10.2110/palo.2008.p08-004r, retrieved 2017-08-15 {{citation}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter |citeseerx= (help)CS1 maint: miscellaneous url (link)
Rincón, Ascanio D.; Solórzano, Andrés; McDonald, H. Gregory; Núñez Flores, Mónica (2017), "Baraguatherium takumara, gen. et sp. nov., the earliest mylodontoid sloth (early Miocene) from northern South America", Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 24 (2): 179–191, doi:10.1007/s10914-016-9328-y, retrieved 2019-02-12
Rincón, Ascanio D.; Solórzano, Andrés; Benammi, Mouloud; Vignaud, Patrick; McDonald, H. Gregory (2014), "Chronology and geology of an Early Miocene mammalian assemblage in North of South America, from Cerro La Cruz (Castillo Formation), Lara State, Venezuela: implications in the 'changing course of Orinoco River' hypothesis" (PDF), Andean Geology, 41: 507–528, retrieved 2018-09-07
Solórzano, Andrés; Rincón, Ascanio D.; Cidade, Giovanne M.; Núñez Flores, Mónica; Sánchez, Leonardo (2018), "Lower Miocene alligatoroids (Crocodylia) from the Castillo Formation, northwest of Venezuela" (PDF), Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, 99 (2): 1–19, Bibcode:2019PdPe...99..241S, doi:10.1007/s12549-018-0332-5, retrieved 2018-09-07
Urbani, Franco; Mendi, David (2010), "Notas sobre la discordancia del margen sur de la cuenca Oligo-Miocena de Falcón estados Lara, Falcón y Yaracuy, Venezuela", Boletín de la Academia de Ciencias Físicas, Matemáticas y Naturales, LXX: 9–25, retrieved 2017-08-15
Cerro Boleadores Formation
Dal Molín, C.N.; Colombo, F. (2003), "Sedimentación neógena en la Cuenca del Río Zeballos y del Río Jeinemeni (47° Latitud Sur) Antepaís patagónico Argentina" (PDF), Geogaceta, 34: 139–142, retrieved 2018-09-10
Chaguaramas Formation
Horovitz, Inés; Sánchez Villagra, Marcelo R. (2012), El Registro Fósil del Cenozoico (PDF), Venezuela Paleontológica: Evolución de la diversidad en el pasado, pp.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Santacrucian” is south American land mammal age (SALMA). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Santacrucian, South and American, not as a finished interpretation.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7420000. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2009, 2019, 2015 and 1887.
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