''Archaeohyrax'' is a genus of

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

known from the Middle Eocene to

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 ...

of Argentina and

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

.Billet, G., B. Patterson, and C. de Muizon. "The latest Archaeohyracid representatives (Mammalia, Notoungulata) from the Deseadan of Bolivia and Argentina." 4th European Meeting on Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Latin America. E. Dıaz-Martınez and I. Rábano (eds.). Cuadernos del Museo Geominero. Eds. E. Díaz-Martínez, and I. Rábano. Vol. 8. 2007

/ref>McKenna, Malcolm C., and Bell, Susan K. 1997. ''Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level.'' Columbia University Press, New York, 631 pp.

Description

The holotype of the type species, ''A. patagonicus'', is a skull with a tall, blunt muzzle, and high-crowned cheek teeth. When the skull is compared to those of the superficially similar

hyrax Hyraxes (), also called dassies, are small, thickset, herbivorous mammals in the order Hyracoidea. Hyraxes are well-furred, rotund animals with short tails. Typically, they measure between long and weigh between . They are superficially simil ...

es, the remains suggest a small animal about long. Fossils of ''Archaeohyrax'' have been found in the

Sarmiento Sarmiento may refer to: Places Argentina *Sarmiento Department, San Juan, a subdivision of the San Juan Province *Sarmiento Department, Santiago del Estero, a subdivision of the Santiago del Estero Province *Sarmiento Department, Chubut, a subdivi ...

, Agua de la Piedra, and Deseado Formations of Argentina and the

Salla Formation Salla (''Kuolajärvi'' until 1936) ( smn, Kyelijävri) is a municipality of Finland, located in Lapland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The nearby settlement of Sa ...

of the Salla-Luribay Basin of

.''Archaeohyrax''
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks is a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals ...

.org

References

Typotheres Eocene genus first appearances Oligocene extinctions Eocene mammals of South America Oligocene mammals of South America Deseadan Tinguirirican Divisaderan Mustersan Paleogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Paleogene Bolivia Fossils of Bolivia Fossil taxa described in 1897 Taxa named by Florentino Ameghino Prehistoric placental genera Sarmiento Formation {{paleo-mammal-stub