Interatheriidae 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 ...

family of notoungulate

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 ...

s from South America. Interatheriids are known from the Middle Eocene ( Mustersan) to the Early Pliocene ( Montehermosan).McKenna & Bell, 1997Linares, 2004 These animals were principally small-sized, occupying a habitat like hares, marmots and viscachas. The majority were very small, like rodents. Interatheriidae is one of the mammal groups that best represent the fauna from the Santa Cruz Formation. Particularly ''

Protypotherium ''Protypotherium'' is an extinct genus of notoungulate mammals native to South America during the Oligocene and Miocene epochs. A number of closely related animals date back further, to the Eocene. Fossils of ''Protypotherium'' have been found in ...

'' with three species is characteristic of the formation: ''P. australe'', ''P. praerutilum'' and ''P. attenuatum''. Another well-known genus is ''

Interatherium ''Interatherium'' is an extinct genus of interatheriid mammal from the Early to Middle Miocene (Colhuehuapian- Mayoan). Fossils have been found in the Santa Cruz, Collón Curá and Sarmiento Formations in Argentina.Fernández, M. (2015). Re ...

'', particularly well represented by ''I. robustum''.

References

Bibliography

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

References

Bibliography

Further reading