Astrapotherium

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Astrapotherium
Temporal range: Early Miocene–Middle Miocene
Astrapotherium magnum Skull.jpg
Skull of Astrapotherium magnum
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Astrapotheria
Family: Astrapotheriidae
Subfamily: Astrapotheriinae
Genus: Astrapotherium
Burmeister, 1879
Type species
Astrapotherium magnum
Owen, 1853
Species
  • A. burmeisteriMercerat, 1891
  • A. guilleiKramarz et al. 2019 [1]
  • A. magnumOwen, 1853
  • A. ruderariumAmeghino, 1902
Synonyms
Genus synonymy
  • ListriotheriumMercerat 1891
  • MesembriotheriumMoreno 1882
  • XylotheriumMercerat 1891
Synonyms of A. burmeisteri
  • Astrapotherium giganteumAmeghino, 1891
  • Astrapotherium delimitatumAmeghino, 1891
Synonyms of A. magnum
  • Astrapotherium columnatumAmeghino, 1891
  • Astrapotherium nanumAmeghino, 1891
  • Astrapotherium karaikenseAmeghino, 1904b
  • Astrapodon carinatusAmeghino, 1891
Synonyms of A. ruderarium
  • Parastrapotherium paucumAmeghino 1902
  • Parastrapotherium crassum (partim) Ameghino 1902
  • Astrapothericulus minusculusAmeghino 1902
  • Astrapothericulus laevisculusAmeghino 1902
  • Astrapotherium triangulidensAmeghino 1902
  • Prochalicotherium patagonicumAmeghino 1902

Astrapotherium ("lightning beast") is an extinct genus of large astrapotherian ungulate native to South America during the early-middle Miocene. It is the best known member of the group. The type species. A. magnus have been found in the Santa Cruz Formation in Argentina. Other fossils have been found in the Deseado, Sarmiento, and Aisol Formations of Argentina and Chile (Cura-Mallín Group). [2]

Contents

Description

Restoration and size comparison of A. magnus Astrapotherium magnum NT.jpg
Restoration and size comparison of A. magnus

Astrapotherium had an elongated body, with a total length around 2.5 m (8.2 ft), a weight of nearly 1,000 kg (2,200 lb), and relatively short limbs. [3] Larger estimates suggest its body mass was up to 1,600–3,500 kilograms (3,500–7,700 lb). [4] It had small plantigrade feet, and the hind limbs were significantly weaker than the fore limbs. Its four canine teeth were elongated to form short tusks, and it had broad, protruding lower incisors, which likely ground against a horny pad in the upper jaw, as in many modern ruminants. [3]

Canine tooth of A. magnus at the Museum fur Naturkunde, Berlin Astrapotherium canine.jpg
Canine tooth of A. magnus at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin

Astrapotherium has been inferred to have had a tapir-like proboscis, based on its retracted narials and short upper jaw. [5]

Classification

Cladogram based in the phylogenetic analysis published by Vallejo-Pareja et al., 2015, showing the position of Astrapotherium: [6]

Eoastrapostylops

Trigonostylops

Tetragonostylops

Albertogaudrya

Scaglia

Astraponotus

Maddenia

Comahuetherium

Parastrapotherium

Astrapotheriinae

Astrapotherium

Astrapothericulus

Uruguaytheriinae

Uruguaytherium

Hilarcotherium

Xenastrapotherium

Granastrapotherium

Paleobiology

The animal was probably at least partially aquatic, living in shallow water and feeding on marsh plants in a similar manner to a modern hippopotamus. [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Theosodon</i> Extinct genus of litopterns

Theosodon is an extinct genus of litoptern mammal from the Early to Middle Miocene of South America.

<i>Protypotherium</i> Extinct genus of notoungulates

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 the Deseadan Fray Bentos Formation of Uruguay, Muyu Huasi and Nazareno Formations of Bolivia, Cura-Mallín and Río Frías Formations of Chile, and Santa Cruz, Salicas, Ituzaingó, Aisol, Cerro Azul, Cerro Bandera, Cerro Boleadoras, Chichinales, Sarmiento and Collón Curá Formations of Argentina.

<i>Cramauchenia</i> Extinct genus of litoptern South American ungulate

Cramauchenia is an extinct genus of litoptern South American ungulate. Cramauchenia was named by Florentino Ameghino. The name has no literal translation. Instead, it is an anagram of the name of a related genus Macrauchenia. This genus was initially discovered in the Sarmiento Formation in the Chubut Province, in Argentina, and later it was found in the Chichinales Formation in the Río Negro Province and the Cerro Bandera Formation in Neuquén, also in Argentina, in sediments assigned to the SALMA Colhuehuapian, as well as the Agua de la Piedra Formation in Mendoza, in sediments dated to the Deseadan. In 1981 Soria made C. insolita a junior synonym of C. normalis. A specimen of C. normalis was described in 2010 from Cabeza Blanca in the Sarmiento Formation, in sediments assigned to the Deseadan SALMA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astrapotheria</span> Extinct order of mammals

Astrapotheria is an extinct order of South American and Antarctic hoofed mammals that existed from the late Paleocene to the Middle Miocene, 59 to 11.8 million years ago. Astrapotheres were large, rhinoceros-like animals and have been called one of the most bizarre orders of mammals with an enigmatic evolutionary history.

The Colhuehuapian age is a period of geologic time within the Early Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically within the SALMA classification in South America. It follows the Deseadan and precedes the Santacrucian age.

The Santacrucian age is a period of geologic time within the Early Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically with SALMA classification in South America. It follows the Colhuehuapian and precedes the Friasian age.

The Colloncuran age is a period of geologic time within the Middle Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically within the SALMA classification in South America. It follows the Friasian and precedes the Laventan age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astrapotheriidae</span> Extinct family of mammals

Astrapotheriidae is an extinct family of herbivorous South American land mammals that lived from the Late Eocene to the Middle Miocene 37.71 to 15.98 million years ago. The most derived of the astrapotherians, they were also the largest and most specialized mammals in the Tertiary of South America. There are two sister taxa: Eoastrapostylopidae and Trigonostylopidae.

<i>Granastrapotherium</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Granastrapotherium is an extinct genus of ungulate mammals, described from remains found in rocks of the Honda Group in the Tatacoa Desert, in the Colombian departments of Huila and Tolima, at the Miocene fossil site La Venta. The only species formally recognized is Granastrapotherium snorki. Remains found in Bolivia and Peru, seem to belong to Granastrapotherium or a very similar animal.

<i>Xenastrapotherium</i>

Xenastrapotherium is an extinct genus of astrapothere, a type of hoofed herbivorous mammal, native to South America, which lived in the Middle to Late Miocene period, typically during the Laventan stage. It is a member of the family Astrapotheriidae in the subfamily Uruguaytheriinae, large astrapotheres, equipped with a trunk-like nose and protruding teeth, similar to the elephants, but their tusks were the canine teeth, not the incisors. Xenastrapotherium was a genus widely distributed in northern South America, in contrast to other species of astrapotheres which lived in the area of the Southern Cone of the continent. It differed from other astrapotheres by having two lower incisors on each side of the jaw and the tusks have a pronounced longitudinal curvature, although their general shape and size are probably very similar to Astrapotherium, whose weight would be 900 to 1,500 kilograms, comparable to the current black rhinoceros.

<i>Parastrapotherium</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Parastrapotherium is an extinct genus of South American land mammal that existed from the Late Oligocene to the Early Miocene. The genus includes some of the largest and smallest known astrapotherian, but at present no generally recognized description can adequately characterize it.

Uruguaytherium is an extinct genus of astrapotherid mammal from the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene of South America. It was named by the Argentinean paleontologist Lucas Kraglievich in 1928, from a fragmentary fossil found in the Fray Bentos Formation of the department of Río Negro in Uruguay, and the type species is U. beaulieui. The related genera Xenastrapotherium and Granastrapotherium, which make up Uruguaytheriinae with Uruguaytherium, are also from South America, although them colonizated the equatorial zone. The holotype specimen of Uruguaytherium is a partial mandible (the left mandibular ramus), with a preserved third molar, or M3.

<i>Hilarcotherium</i>

Hilarcotherium is an extinct genus of astrapotheriid mammals that lived in South America during the Middle Miocene (Laventan). The type species is H. castanedaii, found in sediments of the La Victoria Formation, part of the Honda Group in the department of Tolima in Colombia. In 2018, Carrillo et al. described a partial skull and mandible of a second species H. miyou from the Castilletes Formation in the Cocinetas Basin of northern Colombia, and estimated the body weight of the animal at 6,465 kilograms (14,253 lb).

<i>Astraponotus</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Astraponotus is an extinct genus of astrapotheriids. It lived during the Middle-Late Eocene and its fossil remains have been found in the Sarmiento Formation of Argentina, South America.

Maddenia is an extinct genus of astrapothere, meridiungulate herbivore mammals characterised by its large tusks and the development of proboscis, endemic of South America. This genus was discovered in an outcrop near to the Lake Colhué Huapi in the place La Cantera, in the Chubut Province, in Argentina, in sediments corresponding to the Sarmiento Formation, that dates of the Late Oligocene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collón Curá Formation</span> Geological formation in Argentina

The Collón Curá Formation is a Middle Miocene fossiliferous geological formation of the southern Neuquén Basin in northwestern Patagonia and the western Cañadón Asfalto Basin of central Patagonia, Argentina. The formation crops out from the southern Neuquén Province, the western Río Negro Province to the northern Chubut Province.

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.

Tetragonostylops is an extinct genus of mammal, related to Astrapotheria. It lived during the Late Paleocene, and its fossils were discovered in South America.

Astrapothericulus is an extinct genus of mammals, belonging to the order Astrapotheria. It lived during the Lower Miocene in what is now South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarmiento Formation</span> Geologic formation in Chubut Province, Argentina

The Sarmiento Formation, in older literature described as the Casamayor Formation, is a geological formation in Chubut Province, Argentina, in central Patagonia, which spans around 30 million years from the mid-Eocene to the early Miocene. It predominantly consists of pyroclastic deposits, which were deposited in a semi-arid environment. It is divided up into a number of members. The diverse fauna of the Sarmiento Formation, including a variety of birds, crocodilians, turtles and snakes, also includes many mammals such as South American native ungulates as well as armadillos, and caviomorph rodents.

References

  1. Alejandro Kramarz; Alberto Garrido; Mariano Bond (2019). "Astrapotherium from the Middle Miocene Collón Cura Formation and the decline of astrapotheres in southern South America". Ameghiniana. in press. Archived from the original on 2017-10-02. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  2. Astrapotherium at Fossilworks.org
  3. 1 2 3 Palmer, Douglas, ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 248. ISBN   1-84028-152-9.
  4. Kramarz, Alejandro G.; Bond, Mariano (2008). "Revision of Parastrapotherium (Mammalia, Astrapotheria) and other Deseadan astrapotheres of Patagonia". Ameghiniana . 45 (3).
  5. Milewski, Antoni V.; Dierenfeld, Ellen S. (March 2013). "Structural and functional comparison of the proboscis between tapirs and other extant and extinct vertebrates". Integrative Zoology. 8 (1): 84–94. doi:10.1111/j.1749-4877.2012.00315.x. PMID   23586563.
  6. Vallejo-Pareja, M. C.; Carrillo, J. D.; Moreno-Bernal, J. W.; Pardo-Jaramillo, M.; Rodriguez-Gonzalez, D. F.; Muñoz-Duran, J. (January 2015). "Hilarcotherium castanedaii, gen. et sp. nov., a new Miocene astrapothere (Mammalia, Astrapotheriidae) from the Upper Magdalena Valley, Colombia" (PDF). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 35 (2): e903960. Bibcode:2015JVPal..35E3960V. doi:10.1080/02724634.2014.903960. S2CID   130728894. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 July 2019 via the Colombian Geological Survey.