Abstract

Punta Pelluco is a known fossil forest locality near Puerto Montt in the province of Llanquihue, Southern Chile, which preserves exquisite palynological and xylological records of the last glacial period (Late Pleistocene), discoveries that have been made since 1978. The present investigation contributes the first Chilean record of camelid and proboscidean footprints, discovered in 2015 at Punta Pelluco. The ichnospecies identified are Lamaichnum guanicoe (average footprint 10.1 cm length, 9.9 cm width) and the largest Proboscipeda cf. P. australis (average 38 cm length, 38.2 cm width in the first footprint and average 41.8 cm length, 42.2 cm width in the second footprint) found in South America, respectively. These are the oldest Chilean records for Lamini and Proboscidea, dating back to between about 52.300 and 44.300 years ago. Not much is known about the dispersal of camelids and gomphotherids through the Andean Mountains after the Great American Biotic Interchange, but the present record status seems to indicate that the presence was restricted to the Pleistocene, at least 44,000 years ago.