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Article History

Received: 19 May 2026

Accepted: 13 August 2026

First Online: 5 September 2026

Declarations

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Permit statement: Fossil specimen MPC-3000 is an existing specimen permanently housed at the Museo Paleontológico de Caldera, Caldera, Chile, and forms part of the museum’s founding collection, having been donated by Rodrigo Mauna from the local community group Agrupación de Artesanos Promuseo. It was made available for study with the permission of the Museo Paleontológico de Caldera in the context of the study of the El Morro Locality, under paleontological research permit Ord. N° 3468 (18 August 2009), issued by the Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales (CMN) of Chile to David Rubilar-Rogers (Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Santiago); one of the authors, Carolina S. Gutstein, participated as a team member of this project and field campaign and permit application. The permit was granted in the framework of FAIP Project 2009 “Nuevo yacimiento con vertebrados fósiles de la Formación Bahía Inglesa (Mioceno–Plioceno): Aspectos tafonómicos y paleoambientales,” in accordance with Ley N° 17.288 de 1970 and Decreto Supremo N° 484 de 1990. Collection research was carried out at the invitation and with the permission of the museum’s former director, Mario Suarez P., who is also a co-author of this study.