''Asmodeus'' is an

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 ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

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 ...

, belonging to the order

Notoungulata Notoungulata is an extinct order of mammalian ungulates that inhabited South America from the early Paleocene to the Holocene, living from approximately 61 million to 11,000 years ago. Notoungulates were morphologically diverse, with forms resemb ...

. It lived during the Late

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 ...

, in what is today

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

Description

This animal was relatively heavy-shaped, with long, strong and slender limbs. Its hand had four fingers, and a reduced fifth metacarpal. The main characteristic of ''Asmodeus'', which shows its affinities with its relative ''

Homalodotherium ''Homalodotherium'' is an extinct genus of notoungulate mammals native to South America. Fossils of ''Homalodotherium'' have been found in the Middle Miocene (Friasian in the SALMA classification) Santa Cruz Formation of Argentina and the Río ...

'', is in the shape of its forelimbs, which made the hind legs lower than the forelegs. The front legs were clawed, and not hooved as in most of the known toxodonts. Compared to ''Homalodotherium'', the reduction of the fifth metacarpal was less important in ''Asmodeus''.

Classification

First described in 1894 by

Florentino Ameghino Florentino Ameghino (born Giovanni Battista Fiorino Giuseppe Ameghino September 19, 1853 – August 6, 1911) was an Argentine naturalist, paleontologist, anthropologist and zoologist, whose fossil discoveries on the Argentine Pampas, especially ...

, ''Asmodeus'' belonged to the family

Homalodotheriidae Homalodotheriidae is an extinct family comprising four genera of notoungulate mammals known from the Late Eocene (Tinguirirican) through Late Miocene (Chasicoan) of Argentina and Chile in South America South America is a continent enti ...

, a group of notoungulates with characteristically elongated and clawed front legs. Two species of ''Asmodeus'' are known, including ''A. osborni'', the type species, from the

Deseado Formation Deseado may refer to: Geographic names and features * Deseado (crater), a crater on the planet Mars * Deseado Department, a department in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina * Deseado Massif, a geological formation in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina * Des ...

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...

, and ''A. petrasnerus'' from the

Agua de la Piedra Formation The Agua de la Piedra Formation (FAP, Spanish names include ''Estratos de Agua de la Piedra'' and ''Complejo Volcano-sedimentario del Terciario inferior'')Combina et al., 1994, p.418 is a Late Oligocene (Deseadan in the SALMA classification) geol ...

in the

Mendoza Province Mendoza, officially Province of Mendoza, is a province of Argentina, in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders San Juan to the north, La Pampa and Neuquén to the south, San Luis to the east, and the republic o ...

of Northern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. The species are mainly distinguished by characteristics of the talus and the calcaneus.

Bibliography

*F. Ameghino. 1894. ''Sur les oiseaux fossiles de Patagonie; et la faune mammalogique des couches à Pyrotherium.'' Boletin del Instituto Geographico Argentino 15:501-660 *F. B. Loomis. 1914. ''The Deseado Formation of Patagonia'', pp. 1–232 *Federico Seoane and Esperanza Cerdeño (2014). ''First extra-Patagonian record of Asmodeus (Notoungulata, Homalodotheriidae) in the Late Oligocene of Mendoza Province, Argentina.'' Ameghiniana. Toxodonts Oligocene mammals of South America Paleogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Fossil taxa described in 1894 Taxa named by Florentino Ameghino Prehistoric placental genera Golfo San Jorge Basin Sarmiento Formation {{Paleo-mammal-stub