“Monstros” Taxonômicos do “Novo Mundo”: De como Tatus, Tamanduás e Preguiças Desafiaram o Pensamento Zoológico e Evolutivo do Século XVI Ao XIX

Le résumé fourni par la source

This article discusses the role of Xenarthrans, currently represented by armadillos, sloths, and anteaters, in transforming concepts of “nature” that have evolved since Classical Antiquity. The relevance of this fauna in the scientific revolution, which led to the modern systematic and taxonomic based on phylogeny and evolution, is also highlighted. First, books and reports of the first chronists of “New World” fauna were analyzed. In them, is possible to dimension how this sui generis fauna has impacted a zoological science still growing in Europe. After, it is taken as a case study the Athanasius Kircher” book “Noah’s Ark” (1675). The invention in which Kircher explains the existence of animals once absent in the biblical Ark, including the Xenarthras, shows us, in a particular way, how this “new” fauna has influenced the Natural Philosophy of the period. Finally, the article assesses the role of the extinct Xenarthrans, such as giant sloths and armadillos, on comparative biology developments and the great debates of paleontology and geology of the 18th and 19th centuries. From naturalistic-fantastic descriptions of live Xenarthrans, such as in Hans Staden and André Thevet in the 16th century, to their first fossils studied by Georges Cuvier in Germany and Peter Lund in Brazil of the 18th century, are problematized herein. The consequences of Xenarthrans “discovered” by Europeans to the Natural Philosophy were tremendous, including implications for the posterior consolidation of own natural sciences. The article discusses how the discovery by Western science of these 'taxonomic monsters' was crucial for the epistemology of diferent disciplines, as Comparative Biology, Biogeography, and even for the consolidation of the early Evolutionary Theory. The text also aims to provoke discussion on how studies of the Historical Ecology of groups such as Xenarthra can be important for strengthening and valoration of conservation projects, for the remaining diversity of this important group of ‘New World’ mammals, particularly in the Neotropics.

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