THE BRAZILIAN INTERTROPICAL REGION AS A REFUGIA DURING THE LATE QUATERNARY

The Brazilian Intertropical Region (BIR) was proposed by Cartelle as a zoogeographical domain, based on the occurrence of endemic species from the northeastern brazilian states (excluding Maranhão), plus Goiás, and Southeastern states (excluding São Paulo). Later, some authors proposed the expansion of the BIR including Mato Grosso and São Paulo. In this communication we used potential distributions maps of 15 BIR meso -megamammals taxa to test previous proposals, and estimate the potential distribution of Brazilian Intertropical Region through three climatic moments (6 ka, 21 ka and 120 ka) in Late Pleistocene/Middle Holocene. To create the PSDM's were used the MaxEnt and occurrence points for: _Eremotherium laurillardi, Glossotherium phoenesis, Catonyx cuvieri, Nothrotherium maquinense, Glyptotherium sp., Holmesina paulacoutoi, Notiomastodon platensis, Toxodon platensis, Equus (Amerhippus) neogeus, Hippidion principale, Palaeolama major, Xenorhynotherium bahiense, Protocyon troglodites, Arctotherium wingei and Smilodon populator_. Climate reconstructions were acquired from the images database of the Worldclim. The PSDM models were summing to generate models to interpret the boundary of BIR during the Late Quaternary. The model from 120 ka shows an area similar to what was suggested by Cartelle as the BIR, however, excluding Góias, west and south of Minas Gerais, west of Bahia and Piauí. In this model appear a disjunct major area from "BIR" in west of Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil (Mato Grosso do Sul and São Paulo). The 21 ka model shows a huge "BIR", an area connecting northeastern with northwest of South America. In this area are included all states of northeastern, southeastern, center-west and part of north of Brazil, plus Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Equador, north of Chile and north of Argentina. At 6 ka the model shows the separation of the corridor between Northeastern-Northwest South America, the "BIR" would include northeastern, southeastern, south of Brazil, plus Góias, Mato Grosso do Sul, Bolívia, Paraguay, Uruguay and North of Argentina. Based in these models we suggests that the BIR should be the historically stable area in which the meso -megamammals should lived, a refugia, lower than the area proposed by Cartelle and similar to the 120 ka model. [*PQ/CNPq 308122/2016-0]