An accumulation of bone remains of two Liolaemus species (Iguanidae) in an Holocene archaeological site of the Argentine Puna Adriana M. Albino 1 , Débora M. Kligmann 2 Abstract. An accumulation of iguanian bone remains was found inside a rodent burrow in an Holocene archaeological site of the Argentine southern Puna. Characters of the preserved bones suggest that a minimum of two species of the Liolaemus genus is represented. One of them is undoubtedly attributed to the montanus group, probably L. poecilochromus or L. andinus. The finding of Liolaemus bone remains in the Argentine Puna Region represents the first record of this genus in an archaeological site of South America and suggests that specimens of at least two Liolaemus species exploited the same refuge simultaneously, including both adult and juvenile individuals. Reptile remains found in archaeological sites are relevant for understanding the relation- ship between indigenous groups and their en- vironment as well as to interpret the taphon- omy of microvertebrate fossil assemblages. The findings of small iguanids in South American archaeological sites are still scarce. For Ar- gentina, Van Devender (1977) describes an iso- lated dentary belonging to the iguanid Leiosau- rus belli (Gruta del Indio cave, eastern slopes of the Andes), whereas Mengoni Goñalons and Silveira (1976) mention the presence of indeter- minate iguanids in Cueva de las Manos, Patag- onian region. Alero 12 is a rockshelter located at 3980 m asl in the Puna Region, Tinogasta Department, Catamarca Province, Argentina (68 ◦ 07 ′ W and 26 ◦ 55 ′ S). This archaeological site stands out by the presence of an unusual abundance of lizard bone remains (99.2% of the total microfaunal assemblage) found in an excavated surface of 4m 2 (Kligmann et al., 1999). The only radio- carbon date available for the site (590 ± 45 BP, LP-880) comes from the same stratigraphic 1 - CONICET – Departamento de Biología, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Funes 3250, 7600 Mar del Plata, Argentina e-mail: aalbino@mdp.edu.ar 2 - CONICET – Sección Arqueología, Instituto de Ciencias Antropológicas, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Uni- versidad de Buenos Aires, 25 de Mayo 217, 3er piso, C1002ABE Capital Federal, Argentina layer where the microvertebrates were found (Kligmann et al., 1999). These remains, that ac- cording to the number of preserved right den- taries belong to at least 71 individuals (Klig- mann et al., 1999), were concentrated in a sur- face smaller than 1 m 2 on the SW sector of the excavation. A rodent burrow, probably cor- responding to Ctenomys, was observed in the same area. Kligmann et al. (1999) preliminarly assigned the whole assemblage to the iguanid of the genus Liolaemus; however, they did not provide any unambiguous synapomorphy to support this assignation. They offered neither comparisons nor illustrations of the specimens. The aim of this note is to discuss the generic and species- group level systematic position of the lizard remains found at Alero 12. The methodology followed for sample collection in the field and during sample analysis in the laboratory is ex- plained in Kligmann et al. (1999). Stereoscopic microscope and camera lucida were used for the descriptions and illus- trations presented in this note. Skeletal materials used for fossil identification are listed in the Appendix. The systematic arrangement follows Schulte et al. (2003). An asterisk denotes a metataxon. The abbreviations used are: HAA, private herpetological collec- tion of Adriana Albino; MCN, Museo de Ciencias Natu- rales, Universidad Nacional de Salta; SA-ICA/Ca, Sección Arqueología, Instituto de Ciencias Antropológicas, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires. The studied sample (SA-ICA/Ca 01) consists of 13 pari- etals, one pterygoid, 21 frontals, 33 jugals, one osteoderm, 19 quadrates, one braincase remain, 11 premaxillae, 80 maxillae, 151 dentaries, 39 mandible fragments, 428 ver- © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2007. Amphibia-Reptilia 28 (2007): 154-158 Also available online - www.brill.nl/amre