''Neodolodus'' is a

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 ...

of extinct

litoptern 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 th ...

from the late middle

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

of southern

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. It was named in 1986 by Hoffstetter and Soria, for the species ''Neodolodus colombianus'' from the

Castilletes Formation The Castilletes Formation ( es, Formación Castilletes, N1c) is a fossiliferous geological formation of the Cocinetas Basin in the northernmost department of La Guajira, Colombia. The formation consists of fossiliferous mudstones, siltstones an ...

and the La Victoria and

Villavieja Formation The Honda Group ( es, Grupo Honda, Tsh, Ngh) is a geological group of the Upper and Middle Magdalena Basins and the adjacent Central and Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The group, in older literature also defined as formation, is in it ...

s of the Honda Group. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

''N. colombianus'' is known from a right mandibular ramus, teeth, and part of the fore- and hindlimbs. ''Neodolodus'' has been classified as a species of '' Prothoatherium'' or '' Lambdaconus'', but was recognized as a distinct genus by McGrath and colleagues in 2020. The taxon was recovered in a phylogenetic analysis as the sister taxon of '' Protheosodon'', between other proterotheriid genera like '' Picturotherium'' and '' Anisolophus''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q97183319 Proterotheriids Miocene mammals of South America Neogene Colombia Fossils of Colombia Laventan Honda Group, Colombia Prehistoric placental genera Fossil taxa described in 1986