''Peligrotherium'' is an extinct
meridiolestidan
Meridiolestida is an extinct clade of mammals known from the Cretaceous and Cenozoic of South America and possibly Antarctica. They represented the dominant group of mammals in South America during the Late Cretaceous. Meridiolestidans were morph ...
, and the sole member of the family Peligrotheriidae, from the
Paleocene
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pal ...
of
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 ...
, originally interpreted as a stem-
ungulate
Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Ungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. These include odd-toed ungulates such as horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, ...
(though it did co-exist with early
meridiungulates
South American native ungulates, commonly abbreviated as SANUs, are extinct ungulate-like mammals of controversial affinities that were indigenous to South America prior to the Great American Biotic Interchange. They comprise five major groups c ...
). Its remains have been found in the
Salamanca Formation
The Salamanca Formation is a geologic formation in the Golfo San Jorge Basin of central Patagonia that yields well-preserved, well-dated fossils from the early Paleocene. Studies of these fossils are providing new data on plant and animal diversit ...
.
[''Peligrotherium'']
at Fossilworks.org It was a
dog
The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...
-sized mammal, among the largest of all dryolestoids (as well as the largest South American
Paleocene
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pal ...
mammal), and closely related to
mesungulatid
Mesungulatidae is an extinct clade of meridiolestidan dryolestoid mammals from the Late Cretaceous of South America and possibly other Gondwannan landmasses. They are particularly notable for their ecological speciation and large size.
Characte ...
s, another lineage of large sized herbivorous dryolestoids. A recent phylogenetic study finds it to be the sister taxon to ''
Reigitherium
''Reigitherium'' was a mammal that lived during the Late Cretaceous, in the (Late Campanian-Maastrichtian). Its fossils have been found in the Los Alamitos and the La Colonia Formations of Argentina.
Description
The original specimen of ''Re ...
''.
[Tony Harper; Ana Parras; Guillermo W. Rougier (2018). "''Reigitherium'' (Meridiolestida, Mesungulatoidea) an enigmatic Late Cretaceous mammal from Patagonia, Argentina: morphology, affinities, and dental evolution". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. in press. doi:10.1007/s10914-018-9437-x.]
References
External links
Inist
Dryolestida
Paleocene mammals of South America
Paleogene Argentina
Fossils of Argentina
Fossil taxa described in 1993
Taxa named by José Bonaparte
Prehistoric mammal genera
Golfo San Jorge Basin
Salamanca Formation
{{paleo-mammal-stub