''Carolozittelia'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of mammals, belonging to the order

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 ...

. It contains the single species ''Carolozittelia tapiroides'' which lived during the Early

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

. Its fossilized remains were found in

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 sout ...

Description

This genus is only known from a few fossil teeth, and its appearance is entirely conjectural. The

molars The molars or molar teeth are large, flat teeth at the back of the mouth. They are more developed in mammals. They are used primarily to grind food during chewing. The name ''molar'' derives from Latin, ''molaris dens'', meaning "millstone to ...

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 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 ...

, based on fossils found in

Argentinian 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, ...

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 g ...

, in terrains dating from the

. 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 members of the order, and is now considered one of the most basal members of the family

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'', '' Pr ...

Bibliography

*F. Ameghino. 1901. Notices préliminaires sur des ongulés nouveaux des terrains crétacés de Patagonie reliminary notes on new ungulates from the Cretaceous terrains of Patagonia Boletin de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Córdoba 16:349-429 *G. G. Simpson. 1967. The beginning of the age of mammals in South America. Part II. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 137:1-260 {{Taxonbar, from=Q110456194 Meridiungulata Eocene mammals of South America Paleogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Fossil taxa described in 1901 Taxa named by Florentino Ameghino Prehistoric placental genera Monotypic mammal genera