''Cullinia'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

litoptern Litopterna (from "smooth heel") is an extinct order of South American native ungulates that lived from the Paleocene to the Pleistocene-Holocene around 62.5 million to 12,000 years ago (or possibly as late as 3,500 years ago), and were also pres ...

, an order of

South American native ungulates South American native ungulates, commonly abbreviated as SANUs, are extinct ungulate-like mammals that were indigenous to South America from the Paleocene (from at least 63 million years ago) until the end of the Late Pleistocene (~12,000 years a ...

that included

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

-like and

camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

-like animals such as ''

Macrauchenia ''Macrauchenia'' ("long llama", based on the now-invalid llama genus, ''Auchenia'', from Greek "big neck") is an extinct genus of large ungulate native to South America from the Pliocene or Middle Pleistocene to the end of the Late Pleistocene. I ...

''. It is only known from fragmentary remains. ''Cullinia levis'' is known from

Chasicoan The Chasicoan ( or ) age is a period of geologic time from 10–9 Ma within the Late Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically within the SALMA classification in South America. It follows the Mayoan and precedes the Huayquerian age.

remains found in the

Arroyo Chasicó Formation Arroyo often refers to: * Arroyo (watercourse), an intermittently dry creek Arroyo may also refer to: Places United States * Arroyo, Pennsylvania * Arroyo, Puerto Rico, a municipality * Arroyo, West Virginia Spain * Arroyo (Santillana del Mar), ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, and remains from the Brazilian state of

Acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

and the

Huayquerian The Huayquerian () age is a period of geologic time (9.0–6.8 Ma) within the Late Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically within the SALMA classification. It follows the Chasicoan and precedes the Montehermosan age. Etymology T ...

Ituzaingó Formation The Ituzaingó Formation (), in older literature also described as Entre Ríos or Entrerriana Formation, is an extensive formation (geology), geological formation of Late Miocene (Tortonian, or Huayquerian in the South American land mammal age, SA ...

have been assigned to ''Cullinia'' sp. .

History and naming

''Cullinia'' was described in 1931 by Cabrera and Kraglievich, from MLP 29-IX-178, a holotype containing several fragmentary remains including a mandible and a metatarsal. In 1995, Bond and López add to the holotype other remains from the upper dentition. It was named from the Araucanian word "cullin", meaning "animal".

Description

''Cullinia'' was a slender, small

Macraucheniidae Macraucheniidae is a family in the extinct South American ungulate order Litopterna, that resembled camelids. They had three functional digits on the fore and hind feet, as well as elongate necks. The family is generally divided up into two sub ...

. It had proportionally larger metapodials than ''

Theosodon ''Theosodon'' is an extinct genus of litoptern mammal from the Early to Middle Miocene of South America. Description ''Theosodon'' was long-legged with a long neck resembling modern llamas or guanacos. It was large for a litoptern, reachin ...

'', and its first lower molar was absent.

Classification

Below is a phylogenetic tree of the

, based on the work of McGrath ''et al''. 2018, showing the position of ''Cullinia''.

Palaeoecology

The Arroyo Chasicó formation was, in the Miocene, on the tip of a peninsula bordered by the Paranaense Sea. ''Cullinia'' would have lived alongside various genera of

Cingulata Cingulata, part of the superorder Xenarthra, is an order of armored New World placental mammals. The armadillos, whose species are split between the families Dasypodidae and Chlamyphoridae, are the only surviving members of the order. Two grou ...

, including the last horned armadillo '' Epipeltephilus'', the dasypodids '' Chasicotatus'', the chlamyphorid '' Vetelia'', the euphractine '' Proeuphractus'', the pampathere '' Kraglievichia'', and the

glyptodont Glyptodonts are an extinct clade of large, heavily armoured armadillos, reaching up to in height, and maximum body masses of around 2 tonnes. They had short, deep skulls, a fused vertebral column, and a large bony carapace made up of hundreds o ...

'' Kelenkura''. Other

xenarthra Xenarthra (; from Ancient Greek ξένος, xénos, "foreign, alien" + ἄρθρον, árthron, "joint") is a superorder and major clade of placental mammals native to the Americas. There are 31 living species: the anteaters, tree sloths, and ...

ns includes several genera of ground sloths, such as the mylodontid '' Octomylodon'', the megalonychid '' Protomegalonyx'', the nothrotheriids '' Xyophorus'' and '' Chasicobradys'', and the megatheriid '' Anisodontherium''. Several genera of

rodents Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...

were recovered from the formation, such as the earliest genera of

tuco-tucos A tuco-tuco is a neotropical rodent in the family Ctenomyidae. Tuco-tucos belong to the only living genus of the family Ctenomyidae, ''Ctenomys'', but they include approximately 60 different species. The common name, "tuco-tuco", comes from the " ...

, maras and cavioids such as '' Cardiomys'', '' Procardiomys'' and '' Cardiatherium'', octodontids such as '' Chasicomys'' and '' Chasichimys'', the echimyids '' Pattersomys'', the plain viscacha ''Lagostomus telenkechanum'' and its relative '' Prolagostomus'', and the large-sized dinomyid '' Carlesia''. Meridiungulates were also present in the formation, with the fellow

genera such as the fellow macraucheniid '' Paranauchenia'', and the proterotheriid '' Neobrachytherium'', while

notoungulates Notoungulata is an extinct order of ungulates that inhabited South America from the early Paleocene to the end of the Pleistocene, living from approximately 61 million to 11,000 years ago. Notoungulates were morphologically diverse, with forms re ...

were represented by genera such as the large-sized late surviving homalodotheriid ''

Chasicotherium ''Chasicotherium'' is an extinct genus of a large notoungulate mammal known originally from a partial skull and mandible discovered in the Arroyo Chasicó Formation, in the stream of Party of Villarino, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The sediments in ...

'', the toxodontid '' Paratrigodon'', the interatheriid ''

Protypotherium ''Protypotherium'' is an extinct genus of Notoungulata, notoungulate mammals native to South America during the Oligocene and Miocene epoch (geology), epochs. A number of closely related animals date back further, to the Eocene. Fossils of ''Prot ...

'', the mesotheriid '' Typotheriopsis'', and the hegetotheriids '' Paedotherium'', '' Pseudohegetotherium'' and '' Hemihegetotherium''. The largest

predators Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

were the

sparassodonts Sparassodonta (from Greek to tear, rend; and , gen. , ' tooth) is an extinct order of carnivorous metatherian mammals native to South America, related to modern marsupials. They were once considered to be true marsupials, but are now though ...

'' Pseudolycopsis cabrerai'' and '' Lycopsis viverensis'', and the small

terror bird Phorusrhacids, colloquially known as terror birds, are an extinct family of large carnivorous, mostly flightless birds that were among the largest apex predators in South America during the Cenozoic era. Their definitive fossil records range from ...

'' Psilopterus''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q110639950 Macraucheniids Miocene mammals of South America Chasicoan Huayquerian Neogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Neogene Brazil Fossils of Brazil Ituzaingó Formation Fossil taxa described in 1931 Prehistoric placental genera