Carodnia

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Carodnia
Temporal range: Early Eocene
(Itaboraian-Casamayoran)
~53–48.6  Ma
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Carodnia vieirai.JPG
Carodnia vieirai
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Xenungulata
Family: Carodniidae
Genus: Carodnia
Simpson 1935 [1]
Species
Synonyms

Ctalecarodnia Simpson 1935

Carodnia is an extinct genus of South American ungulate known from the Early Eocene of Brazil, Argentina, and Peru. [4] Carodnia is placed in the order Xenungulata together with Etayoa and Notoetayoa . [5]

Contents

Carodnia is the largest mammal known from the Eocene of South America. It was heavily built and had large canines and cheek teeth with a crested pattern like the uintatheres to which it can be related. [4] In life, it would have been a tapir-sized animal. It bore strong resemblances to dinoceratans, although without tusks or ossicones. When George Simpson first described Carodnia, he cited the genus name as being derived from the Tehuelche word for thunder "carodn". [6]

Description

Size comparison between a human and C. vieirai Carodnia vieirai NT.jpg
Size comparison between a human and C. vieirai

Simpson noted that Carodnia resembles the primitive uintathere Probathyopsis . Although Paula Couto also made the same favorable comparison, he placed Carodnia in the new order Xenungulata. Gingerich 1985 concluded that Probathyopsis shares several dental characteristics with Carodnia, but that in the latter the anterior dentition of is more reduced, the second lower and upper premolars are enlarged and pointed, and that the first and second molars are more lophodont. Gingerich thought the differences could justify a separate family for Carodnia but proposed that it should be included in Probathyopsis,Cifelli 1983 grouped Carodnia with Pyrotheria but later concluded that this was a mistake. [7]

Carodnia is characterized by bilophodont [explain 1] first and second molars and more complex lophate [explain 1] third molars, which suggests possible links to pyrotheres, uintatheres, and even arctocyonids. The bones of the foot are short and robust and the digits terminate in broad, flat, and unfissured hoof-like unguals, unlike any other known meridiungulate. [8]

C. feruglioi and C. cabrerai, from the Riochican in the SALMA classification of Patagonia, [7] are known from only a few dental remains. C. vieirai (from the Itaboraian SALMA of Itaborai) [7] is known from much more complete dental, cranial, and postcranial remains including an almost complete mandible, many vertebrae, and several partial leg bones. [9]

When Simpson 1935 first described Carodnia and Ctalecarodnia, the former was known only from a left lower molar which was lacking in the latter, making a comparison very difficult. Paula Couto 1952, based on considerably more complete remains, concluded that the molars and premolars of both are indistinguishable and therefore reduced Ctalecarodnia to a synonym. Paula Couto also noted that the dentition of C. cabrerai and C. feruglioi are similar except in size, and that C. feruglioi can be a juvenile C. cabrerai, but nevertheless left them as two distinct species. [10]

Distribution

Fossils of Carodnia have been found in: [11]

Itaboraian correlations

Itaboraian correlations in South America
Formation Itaboraí Las Flores Koluel Kaike Maíz Gordo Muñani Mogollón Bogotá Cerrejón Ypresian (IUCS) • Wasatchian (NALMA)
Bumbanian (ALMA) • Mangaorapan (NZ)
Basin Itaboraí Golfo San Jorge Salta Altiplano Basin Talara &
Tumbes
Altiplano
Cundiboyacense
Cesar-Ranchería
South America laea relief location map.jpg
Orange pog.svg
Dark Green 004040 pog.svg
Dark Green 004040 pog.svg
Pink ff0080 pog.svg
Orange pog.svg
Orange pog.svg
Orange pog.svg
Orange pog.svg
Carodnia (South America)
CountryFlag of Brazil.svg  Brazil Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina Flag of Peru.svg  Peru Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia
Carodnia Orange pog.svg Orange pog.svg
Gashternia Orange pog.svg Orange pog.svg Orange pog.svg
Henricosbornia Orange pog.svg Orange pog.svg Orange pog.svg
Victorlemoinea Orange pog.svg Orange pog.svg
Polydolopimorphia Orange pog.svg Orange pog.svg Orange pog.svg Orange pog.svg
Birds White pog.svg White pog.svg
Reptiles SpringGreen pog.svg SpringGreen pog.svg SpringGreen pog.svg SpringGreen pog.svg SpringGreen pog.svg
Fish Blue pog.svg Blue pog.svg
Flora Green pog.svg Green pog.svg Green pog.svg
Environments Alluvial-lacustrineAlluvial-fluvialFluvio-lacustrineLacustrineFluvialFluvio-deltaic
Pink ff0080 pog.svg Itaboraian volcanoclastics

Orange pog.svg Itaboraian fauna

Dark Green 004040 pog.svg Itaboraian flora
VolcanicYes

Notes

  1. 1 2 A loph is a crest on the crown of a tooth. A bilophodont tooth has two parallel lophs running transversally across the tooth.

Related Research Articles

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

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

Xenungulata is an order of extinct and primitive South American hoofed mammals that lived from the Late Paleocene to Early Eocene. Fossils of the order are known from deposits in Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and Colombia. The best known member of this enigmatic order is the genus Carodnia, a tapir-like and -sized animal with a gait similar to living African elephants.

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

Dinocerata or Uintatheria, also known as uintatheres, is an extinct order of large herbivorous hoofed mammals with horns and protuberant canine teeth, known from the Paleocene and Eocene of Asia and North America. With body masses ranging up to 4,500 kilograms (9,900 lb) they represent some of the earliest known large mammals.

Victorlemoinea is an extinct litoptern genus of the family Sparnotheriodontidae, that lived from the Early to Middle Eocene. Fossils of Victorlemoinea have been found in the Las Flores, Sarmiento and Koluel Kaike Formations of Argentina, the Itaboraí Formation of Brazil and La Meseta Formation, Antarctica.

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

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Itaboraian</span>

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Ernestokokenia is an extinct genus of mammal, belonging to the Didolodontidae. It lived during the Early Eocene and the Middle Eocene, and its fossils were discovered in South America.

Lamegoia is an extinct genus of mammals, belonging to the family Didolodontidae. It contains a single species, Lamegoia conodonta, which lived during the Late Paleocene in what is now South America.

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Notoetayoa is an extinct genus of mammal, from the order Xenungulata. It contains a single species, Notoetayoa gargantuai, which lived during the Middle Paleocene. Its fossilized remains were discovered in South America.

Rodcania is an extinct genus of mammal, belonging to the order Xenungulata. It contains a single species, Rodcania kakan, which lived during the Paleocene. Its remains were found in South America. The genus name is an anagram of Carodnia.

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References

  1. Carodnia in the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved May 2013.
  2. 1 2 Pierre-Olivier Antoine; Guillaume Billet; Rodolfo Salas-Gismondi; Julia Tejada Lara; Patrice Baby; Stéphane Brusset; Nicolas Espurt (2015). "A New Carodnia Simpson, 1935 (Mammalia, Xenungulata) from the Early Eocene of Northwestern Peru and a Phylogeny of Xenungulates at Species Level". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 22 (2): 129–140. doi:10.1007/s10914-014-9278-1. S2CID   15272216.
  3. Gelfo, J. N.; López, G. M.; Bond, M. (2024). "New insights on the anatomy, paleobiology, and biostratigraphy of Xenungulata (Mammalia) from the Paleogene of South America". Palaeontologia Electronica. 27 (2). 27.2.a30. doi: 10.26879/1360 .
  4. 1 2 "Pantodonts, uintatheres and xenungulates: The first large herbivorous mammals". Paleocene Mammals. August 2005. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  5. "Xenungulata". Palaeocritti. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  6. Simpson, George Gaylord (1935). "Descriptions of the oldest known South American mammals, from the Río Chico Formation". American Museum Novitates. Publications of the Scarritt Expeditions, no. 24 (793). hdl:2246/2125. OCLC   44083494.
  7. 1 2 3 Gingerich 1985 , pp. 130–1
  8. Rose 2006 , Xenungulata, p. 238
  9. Paula Couto 1952 , pp. 371–2
  10. Paula Couto 1952 , pp. 372–3
  11. Carodnia at Fossilworks.org

Bibliography