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Litopterns
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 Great American Biotic Interchange brought new ungulate species. Like other endemic South American mammals, their relationship to other mammal groups had long been unclear, but recent genetic and proteomic evidence indicates that their closest living relatives are Perissodactyls (odd-toed ungulates) including horses, rhinoceros, and tapirs, and that litopterns are closely related to notoungulates, another widespread group of South American ungulates. There were two major groups of litopterns: Proterotheriidae and Macraucheniidae. Proterotheriids were medium to large animals that evolved adaptations for fast running, and occupied a variety of niches that elsewhere were filled by animals such as goats and antelopes, mouse deer, and horses ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macrauchenia
''Macrauchenia'' ("long llama", based on the now-invalid llama genus, ''Auchenia'', from Greek "big neck") was a large, long-necked and long-limbed, three-toed native South American mammal in the order Litopterna. The genus gives its name to its family, the Macraucheniidae or "robust litopterns". Like other litopterns, it is most closely related to the odd-toed ungulates ( Perissodactyla), from which litopterns diverged approximately 66 million years ago. The oldest fossils in the genus date to the late Miocene, around seven million years ago, and ''M. patachonica'' disappears from the fossil record during the late Pleistocene, around 20,000-10,000 years ago. ''M. patachonica'' is one of the last and best known member of the family and is known primarily from the Luján Formation in Argentina, but is known from localities across southern South America. Another genus of macraucheniid ''Xenorhinotherium'' was present in northeast Brazil and Venezuela during the Late Pleistocene. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adianthidae
Adianthidae is an extinct family of litopterns that existed from the Middle Eocene ( Mustersan) to the Early Miocene (Santacrucian). Description These scansorial, viviparous animals were actively mobile and were herbivores. They were small in size when compared to most litopterns. Most species did not exceed the size of a cat. Although small in size, the adianthids showed dental features that were already specialized even in the Oligocene genera. The molars were equipped with ridges, and the upper molars were provided with crescent-shaped metacones and paracones, with a columnar parastyle and a very reduced or absent mesostyle. The lower fourth premolar was provided with a crested talonid, and the lower molars were double crescent-shaped or nearly so. The upper fourth premolar was molar-shaped, and the teeth from the third premolar to the upper third molar had three primary dimples and (in the more derived forms) a few accessory dimples behind the prostylar ''cingulum'' in fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meridiungulata
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 conventionally ranked as orders— Astrapotheria, Litopterna, Notoungulata, Pyrotheria, and Xenungulata—as well as some other taxa, such as Didolodontidae and Kollpaniidae. It has been proposed that some or all of the members of this group form a clade, named Meridiungulata, though the relationships of South American ungulates remain largely unresolved. The two largest groups of South American ungulates, the notoungulates and the litopterns, were the only groups to persist beyond the mid Miocene. Only a few of the largest species of notoungulates and litopterns survived until the end-Pleistocene extinctions. Though most SANUs lived in South America, astrapotheres and litopterns are known from Eocene aged deposits in the Antarctic Pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macraucheniidae
Macraucheniidae is a family in the extinct South American ungulate order Litopterna, that resembled various camelids. The reduced nasal bones of their skulls was originally suggested to have housed a small proboscis, similar to that of the saiga antelope. However, one study suggested that they were openings for large moose-like nostrils. Conversely, prehistoric pictographs by indigenous people seems to depict animals interpreted as macraucheniids with trunks. Their hooves were similar to those of rhinoceroses today, with a simple ankle joint and three digits on each foot. Thus, they may have been capable of rapid directional change when running away from predators, such as large phorusrhacid terror birds, sparassodont metatherians, giant short-faced bears (''Arctotherium)'' and saber-toothed cats (''Smilodon''). Macraucheniids probably lived in large herds to gain protection against these predators, as well as to facilitate finding mates for reproduction. The family Macrauch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proterotheriidae
Proterotheriidae is an extinct family of fossil ungulates from the Cenozoic era that displays toe reduction. Despite resembling primitive, small horses, they were only distantly related to them, and instead belonged to the native South American ungulate order Litopterna. Description Two subfamilies and 18 genera of Proterotheriidae are known. All forms were small or medium-sized. Typical is a reduction of the number of toes and brachydont or mesodont teeth. The family is recorded since the late Palaeocene. Various fossils are known from many parts of the South American continent. The diversity decreased in the Miocene to Pliocene and it has been assumed for a long time that they entirely disappeared in the late Pliocene. However, fossils found in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay show that one member of the group, ''Neolicaphrium recens'' survived into the Late Pleistocene. Better known genera of the family include ''Diadiaphorus'' and ''Thoatherium'' from the Miocene. Taxono ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sparnotheriodontidae
Sparnotheriodontidae is an enigmatic extinct family of litopterns known primarily from teeth. Sparnotheriodontids are one of two South American native ungulate clades known to have reached Antarctica, the other being astrapotheres. Description Sparnotheriodontids ranged in size from the mid-sized ''Phoradiadus'' to the large ''Sparnotheriodon''. ''Sparnotheriodon'' and one species of ''Notiolofos'', ''N. arquinotiensis'', have been estimated to have had masses of roughly . Another species of ''Notiolofos'', ''N. regueroi'', was smaller, with a body mass estimated to have been between 25 and 58 kg. Classification The phylogenetic position of Sparnotheriodontidae is uncertain. Most researchers consider them to belong to Litopterna. In contrast, Cifelli and Bergqvist have argued that sparnotheriodontids are condylarths. Their methodology, based on attempting to associate isolated teeth and isolated postcranial bones based on size and relative abundance, has been criticized. Phyl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paraceratheriidae
Paraceratheriidae is an extinct family of long-limbed, hornless rhinocerotoids, commonly known as paraceratheres or indricotheres, that originated in the Eocene epoch and lived until the early Miocene. The first paraceratheres were only about the size of large dogs, growing progressively larger in the late Eocene and Oligocene. They were most common in the rainforest floodplain region which is now Kazakhstan, India, and southwest China, and lived further inland throughout northern and central Asia as well. The paraceratheres reached the peak of their evolution from the middle Oligocene to the early Miocene, where they became very large, herbivorous mammals. Most genera were about the size of modern draft horses and the extinct giant horse ''Equus giganteus'', with some growing significantly larger. The largest genus was ''Paraceratherium'', which was more than twice as heavy as a bull African elephant, and was one of the largest land mammals that ever lived. However, they remai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macraucheniopsis
''Macraucheniopsis'' is an extinct genus of litoptern mammal belonging to the family Macraucheniidae from the Middle to Late Pleistocene of Argentina. It, along with ''Macrauchenia'', ''Neolicaphrium'', and ''Xenorhinotherium'' were among the youngest known genera of litopterns. Classification Cladogram based in the phylogenetic analysis In biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that pro ... published by Schmidt ''et al''., 2014, showing the position of ''Macraucheniopsis'': References {{Taxonbar, from=Q113946418 Macraucheniids Pleistocene mammals of South America Pleistocene Argentina Ensenadan Lujanian Fossils of Argentina Fossil taxa described in 1945 Prehistoric placental genera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neolicaphrium
''Neolicaphrium'' is an extinct genus of ungulate mammal belonging to the extinct order Litopterna. This animal lived from the Late Pliocene (Chapadmalalan) to the Late Pleistocene ( Lujanian) in southern South America, being the last survivor of the family Proterotheriidae. Species The genus includes two species, the type species ''N. recens'' and ''N. major''. The fossil found of ''N. major'', one jaw, come from the Miramar Formation in Chapadmalal, Argentina and correspond to the Chapadmalalan mammal age of South America (4.0 to 3.0 million years ago, in the Pliocene). ''N. recens'' appeared in the Ensenadan age (1.2-0.8 million years ago) and the species survived until the Lujanian age (800,000 and 11,000 years ago). Fossils of this species have been found in the Argentine provinces of the northeast, in Córdoba, Corrientes, Tezzanos Pinto Formation, Santa Fe and Santiago del Estero,Gaudioso et al., 2017, p.24 in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhinoceros
A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family (biology), family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species of the superfamily Rhinocerotoidea.) Two of the extant species are native to Africa, and three to South Asia, South and Southeast Asia. Rhinoceroses are some of the largest remaining megafauna: all weigh at least one tonne in adulthood. They have a herbivore, herbivorous diet, small brains (400–600 g) for mammals of their size, one or two horns, and a thick (1.5–5 cm), protective skin formed from layers of collagen positioned in a crystal structure, lattice structure. They generally eat leafy material, although their ability to ferment food in their colon (anatomy), hindgut allows them to subsist on more fibrous plant matter when necessary. Unlike other perissodactyls, the two African species of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sivatherium
''Sivatherium'' ("Shiva's beast", from Shiva and ''therium'', Latinized form of Ancient Greek θηρίον -'' thēríon'') is an extinct genus of giraffids that ranged throughout Africa to the Indian subcontinent. The species ''Sivatherium giganteum'' is, by weight, one of the largest giraffid known, and also one of the largest ruminants of all time. ''Sivatherium'' originated during the Late Miocene (around 7 million years ago) in Africa and survived through to the late Early Pleistocene ( Calabrian) ''S. giganteum'' remains have been recovered from the Himalayan foothills, dating around 1 million years ago. Suggestions have been made that ''S. maurusium'' may have gone extinct as recently as 8,000 years ago, as depictions that resemble it are known from ancient rock paintings in the Sahara and Central West India. But these claims are not substantiated by fossil evidence, and the depictions likely represent other animals. Description ''Sivatherium'' resembled the modern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giraffidae
The Giraffidae are a family of ruminant artiodactyl mammals that share a common ancestor with deer and bovids. This family, once a diverse group spread throughout Eurasia and Africa, presently comprises only two extant genera, the giraffe (one or more species of '' Giraffa'', depending on taxonomic interpretation) and the okapi (the only known species of '' Okapia''). Both are confined to sub-Saharan Africa: the giraffe to the open savannas, and the okapi to the dense rainforest of the Congo. The two genera look very different on first sight, but share a number of common features, including a long, dark-coloured tongue, lobed canine teeth, and horns covered in skin, called ossicones. Taxonomy Evolutionary background The giraffids are ruminants of the clade Pecora. Other extant pecorans are the families Antilocapridae ( pronghorns), Cervidae (deer), Moschidae (musk deer), and Bovidae ( cattle, goats and sheep, wildebeests and allies, and antelopes). The exact interr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
