''Bounodus'' 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 of ungulates native from South America, belonging to the order

Litopterna Litopterna (from grc, λῑτή πτέρνα "smooth heel") is an extinct order of fossil hoofed mammals from the Cenozoic era. The order is one of the five great orders of South American ungulates that were endemic to the continent, until the G ...

. Its remains were found in Miocene rocks from the Urumaco Formation of northern Venezuela. The genus is only known from its holotype, AMU-CURS 44, a fragmentary right maxilla preserving teeth from the fourth premolar to the third molar and the alveolus of the third premolar, exhibiting a typical bunodont structure in the animal dentition, a characteristic shared with its close relative ''

Megadolodus ''Megadolodus'' is an extinct genus of proterotheriid litopterns. History The first fossils of ''Megadolodus'' were uncovered from the Villavieja Formation, in the fossil locality La Venta, in what is today Colombia, in terrains dated from ...

''. The postcranial skeleton of the genus is unknown. Its dentition indicates that the animal was omnivorous, with teeth adapted to potentially eat shelled fruits, as well as the

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

s and crustaceans that thrived in the wetlands that covered most of North-West South America, including the Urumaco Formation, during the

Neogene The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period Mya. ...

. The genus name, ''Bounodus'', is composed of the Greek prefix ''Bouno-'', meaning "hill", and the Greek suffix ''-odus'', meaning ''tooth'', in allusion to the bunodont dentition, characteristic of the genus. The species name, ''enigmaticus'', was given in regard of its stockier morphology than most litopterns.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q42268909 Proterotheriids Miocene mammals of South America Neogene Venezuela Mayoan Fossils of Venezuela Fossil taxa described in 2006 Prehistoric placental genera