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Pyrotheria
Pyrotheria is an order of extinct meridiungulate mammals. These mastodon-like ungulates include the genera ''Baguatherium'', ''Carolozittelia'', ''Colombitherium'', ''Griphodon'', ''Propyrotherium'', ''Proticia'', and '' Pyrotherium''. They had the appearance of large, digitigrade, tapir-like mammals with relatively short, slender limbs and five-toed feet with broad, flat phalanges. Their fossils are restricted to Paleocene through Oligocene deposits of Brazil, Peru and Argentina. Some experts place the clade Xenungulata (which contains several genera, including '' Carodnia'') within Pyrotheria, even when dentition, although bilophodont in both orders, is very different. For most scholars, the two orders remain separated. The dentition is complete with strong, procumbent, chisel-shaped incisors, strong sharp-pointed canines, and low-crowned cheek teeth with bilophodont molars. The affinities of the Xenungulata remain uncertain. Affinities with the Dinocerata are strongly sup ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colombitherium
''Colombitherium'' is an extinct mammal from Eocene, Late Eocene Colombia. It has originally been assigned to the order Pyrotheria and the family Colombitheriidae, although a later detailed analysis of the fossil questions that classification. A fossil jawbone of approximately length of ''Colombitherium'' has been found by Texas Petroleum in 1945, in the Upper Eocene strata of the middle Gualanday Group in the department of Tolima Department, Tolima, Cordillera Central (Colombia), Central Ranges of the Colombian Andes. Etymology The genus ''Colombitherium'' means "Beast from Colombia". The species epithet ''tolimense'' refers to the departments of Colombia, department of Tolima Department, Tolima, where the type species has been found.Billet et al., 2010, p.319 Description The genus is only known from a single jawbone with some teeth, found by Texas Petroleum in 1945, a specimen approximately in length, recovered from the Late Eocene middle part of the Gualanday Group on th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pyrotherium
''Pyrotherium'' ('fire beast') is an extinct genus of South American ungulate, of the order Pyrotheria, that lived in what is now Argentina and Bolivia, during the Late Oligocene.''Pyrotherium'' at .org It was named ''Pyrotherium'' because the first specimens were excavated from an ancient volcanic ash deposit. Fossils of the genus have been found in the and s of Argentina and the |
Baguatherium
''Baguatherium'' is an extinct genus of herbivorous mammal, belonging to the order Pyrotheria. It lived during the Early Oligocene, and its fossilized remains were discovered in Peru. Description Although the fossils known are very partial (a maxilla, a left femur, isolated molars, they allow a comparison with those of similar animals better known, such as ''Pyrotherium'', and it can be hypothesized that ''Baguatherium'' was a large animal with heavy forms, similar to early proboscideans or modern tapirs. Compared to ''Pyrotherium'', ''Baguatherium'' possessed a slightly wider palate and the ridges on the molariform teeth were less oblique. A notable lingual crest connecting the posterior and anterior crests of those teeth was also present. The nasal bones, as in ''Pyrotherium'', were set back and indicate the presence of a proboscis. Classification ''Baguatherium jaureguii'' was first described in 2006, based on fossilized remains found near Bagua Grande, in the Departmen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xenungulata
Xenungulata ("strange ungulates") is an order of extinct and primitive South American hoofed mammals that lived from the Late Paleocene to Early Eocene (Itaboraian to Casamayoran in the SALMA classification). Fossils of the order are known from deposits in Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and Colombia. The best known member of this enigmatic order is the genus '' Carodnia'', a tapir-like and -sized animal with a gait similar to living African elephants. Description Xenungulates are characterized by bilophodont M1–2 and M1–2, similar to pyrotheres, and complex lophate third molars, similar to uintatheres. Though other relationships, to arctocyonids for example, have been suggested, no proofs thereof have been found. The foot bones of xenungulates were short and robust and their digits terminated in broad, flat, and unfissured hoof-like unguals, quite unlike any other meridiungulates. The discovery of '' Etayoa'' in Colombia made it clear that xenungulates are distinct from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meridiungulata
South American native ungulates, commonly abbreviated as SANUs, are extinct ungulate-like mammals of controversial affinities that were indigenous to South America prior to the Great American Biotic Interchange. They comprise five major groups conventionally ranked as orders— Astrapotheria, Litopterna, Notoungulata, Pyrotheria, and Xenungulata—as well as some other taxa, such as Didolodontidae and Kollpaniidae. It has been proposed that some or all of the members of this group form a clade, named Meridiungulata, though the relationships of South American ungulates remain largely unresolved. The two largest groups of South American ungulates, the notoungulates and the litopterns, were the only groups to persist beyond the mid Miocene. Only a few of the largest species of notoungulates and litopterns survived until the end-Pleistocene extinctions. Though most SANUs lived in South America, astrapotheres and litopterns are known from Eocene aged deposits in the Antarctic Penin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pyrotheriidae
Pyrotheriidae is the only family in the order Pyrotheria, provided one does not include the Paleocene genus, '' Carodnia''. These extinct, mastodon-like ungulates include the genera ''Baguatherium'', '' Carolozittelia'', '' Griphodon'', '' Propyrotherium'', and ''Pyrotherium ''Pyrotherium'' ('fire beast') is an extinct genus of South American ungulate, of the order Pyrotheria, that lived in what is now Argentina and Bolivia, during the Late Oligocene.Access Science [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proticia
''Proticia'' is an extinct genus of mammals belonging to the order Pyrotheria. It lived during the Early Eocene, and its fossilized remains were discovered in South America. Description This animal is only known from a fragmentary mandible preserving several teeth, and it is therefore impossible to reconstruct its exact appearance. ''Proticias teeth had a bunodont structure, and their characteristic were similar to its enigmatic relative ''Colombitherium''; the molars and premolars, however, possessed more bulbous cusps and the lophids had disappeared. Classification ''Proticia venezuelensis'' was first described in 1977 by Bryan Patterson, based on an incomplete mandible preserving the third premolar and the first molar. It is likely that ''Proticia'' was similar to ''Colombitherium'', another enigmatic large mammal from the South American Eocene, probably more recent. Patterson found the remains of ''Proticia'' in the Lara State of Venezuela Venezuela (; ), off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Propyrotherium
''Propyrotherium'' is an extinct genus of mammals, belonging to the order Pyrotheria. It lived during the Late Eocene, in what is now South America. Description This animal is only known from its fossilized dentition. From a comparison with its close relatives, it is supposed that it was a large herbivorous mammal, vaguely similar to an elephant and with massive limb ; it was decidedly smaller than ''Pyrotherium'' but still of considerable size, and it is supposed that it was at least two meters long. It was endowed with incisors developed in elongated and forward pointed tusks, with a limited growth, and had large bilophodont molars. The study of the dentition of ''Propyrotherium'' indicates that it had two premolars and three molars in both the maxilla and the mandible. THe teeth gradually increased in size towards the back of the jaws, and the upper teeth gradually increased in the curvature of the ridges, as in ''Pyrotherium''. Although they were bilophodont, the premolar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the epoch are slightly uncertain. The name Oligocene was coined in 1854 by the German paleontologist Heinrich Ernst Beyrich from his studies of marine beds in Belgium and Germany. The name comes from the Ancient Greek (''olígos'', "few") and (''kainós'', "new"), and refers to the sparsity of extant forms of molluscs. The Oligocene is preceded by the Eocene Epoch and is followed by the Miocene Epoch. The Oligocene is the third and final epoch of the Paleogene Period. The Oligocene is often considered an important time of transition, a link between the archaic world of the tropical Eocene and the more modern ecosystems of the Miocene. Major changes during the Oligocene included a global expansi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carodnia
''Carodnia'' is an extinct genus of South American ungulate known from the Early Eocene of Brazil, Argentina, and Peru. ''Carodnia'' is placed in the order ''Xenungulata'' together with ''Etayoa'' and '' Notoetayoa''. ''Carodnia'' is the largest mammal known from the Eocene of South America. It was heavily built and had large canines and cheek teeth with a crested pattern like the uintatheres to which it can be related. In life, it would have been a tapir-sized animal. It bore strong resemblances to dinoceratans, although without tusks or ossicones. Description Simpson noted that ''Carodnia'' resembles the primitive uintathere '' Probathyopsis''. Although Paula Couto also made the same favorable comparison, he placed ''Carodnia'' in the new order Xenungulata. concluded that ''Probathyopsis'' shares several dental characteristics with ''Carodnia'', but that in the latter the anterior dentition of is more reduced, the second lower and upper premolars are enlarged and pointe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Griphodon
''Griphodon'' is an extinct genus of mammals, belonging to the order Pyrotheria. It lived during the Middle Eocene, in what is now Peru. Description All that is known about this animal is a fragment of a mandible complete with teeth. Its teeth were two-crested, slightly more transversal than in other genera such as '' Carolozittelia'', but there are indications of the presence of a longitudinal crest, and even, in the third premolar, of a complete crest, not found in ''Pyrotherium''. Classification ''Griphodon peruvianus'' was first described in 1924 by Anthony, who considered it to be a Perissodactyl. The fragmentary fossil was found near Chicoca, along the Huallaga River. Subsequently the genus was considered a basal member of the Pyrotheres, a mysterious clade of heavy-shaped mammals from the Early Cenozoic of South America, of uncertain affinities. Other fossils attributed to ''Griphodon'' were later found near Contamana in the Loreto Province of Peru , image_f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carolozittelia
''Carolozittelia'' is an extinct genus of mammals, belonging to the order Pyrotheria. It contains the single species ''Carolozittelia tapiroides'' which lived during the Early Eocene. Its fossilized remains were found in South America. Description This genus is only known from a few fossil teeth, and its appearance is entirely conjectural. The molars of ''Carolozittelia'' were endowed with transversal crests, but traces of tubercles from a primitive quadrituberculate dentition can still be recognized. Classification ''Carolozittelia'' was first described in 1901 by Florentino Ameghino, based on fossils found in Argentinian Patagonia, in terrains dating from the Eocene. Ameghino described two species attributed to the genus : ''Carolozittelia tapiroides'' and ''C. eluta'', the second later synonymized with the first. ''Carolozittelia'' was a Pyrothere, a clade of South American mammals of uncertain affinities, who lived during the early Cenozoic. It was one of the oldest mem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
