"The Neotropical Miocene biome of La Venta (Colombia)"

The La Venta deposits in Colombia are one of the most fossil-rich regions in tropical South America and offer an exceptional opportunity to study the effect of the Miocene climatic changes and the evolution of extinct and extant clades in a low-latitude ecosystem. Land and freshwater vertebrates, and less commonly plants and invertebrates, constitute most of the La Venta fossils. The mammal record has been studied for nearly a century and has been used to define the Laventan Age/Stage c. 13.5-11.8 million years old. Recently, Colombian and international researchers have joined collection and research efforts, resulting in the establishment of a new La Venta natural history museum (Museo de Historia Natural La Tatacoa). This new wave of paleontological and geological studies has provided an improved stratigraphy of La Venta and new paleobiological and evolutionary hypotheses of several vertebrate groups, and in the museum’s educational and outreach activities. This talk will review the paleontological knowledge of La Venta, identify knowledge gaps, and discuss future research directions. A century after the first paleontological expedition, La Venta’s fossil record continues to illuminate the evolution of the South American tropical biodiversity during the Miocene.