Huilabradys

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Huilabradys
Temporal range: Middle Miocene (Laventan)
~13.8–11.8  Ma
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Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Pilosa
Family: Nothrotheriidae
Subfamily: Nothrotheriinae
Genus: Huilabradys
Villarroel, 1998
Species:
H. magdaleniensis
Binomial name
Huilabradys magdaleniensis
Villarroel 1998

Huilabradys is an extinct genus of ground sloths of the family Nothrotheriidae that lived in what is now Colombia. Huilabradys was discovered in the strata of the La Tatacoa desert in the Huila department, in the Villavieja Formation, and is part of the so-called La Venta fauna, a fossiliferous location from the mid-Miocene period that has provided a notable paleontological contribution on the Miocene faunas of northern South America. The remains discovered are basically fragments of the jaws and teeth, allowed the identification of this species, whose only species is Huilabradys magdaleniensis, and was classified as a member of the nothrotheriid subfamily Nothrotheriinae, which comprises small to medium-sized species of ground sloths. [1]

Contents

Etymology

The genus name, Huilabradys, is derived from the Huila Department in Colombia and bradys meaning "slow". The specific name refers to the Magdalena River where the holotype was found. [1]

Description

Huilabradys is a medium-sized species, similar in size to the Argentine species Pronothrotherium mirabilis , characterized by a very high mandibular ramus and characteristics of its molariform teeth, such as the lack of a diastema between the first and second molars and the oblique location of the fourth molars. [1]

Huilabradys is one of many ground sloths present in the La Venta area. Additional remains found in the area suggest the presence of other nothrotheriines as unidentified species that could belong to the genera Hapalops and Eucholoeops , previously known from Argentina and Bolivia, along with a species of mylodontid sloth Magdalenabradys . [2] The remains of these sloths show that at this time the nothrotheres were already differentiated from the megatheres and possessed the characteristics that would identify them in later times. [1]

Related Research Articles

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Hapalops is an extinct genus of ground sloth from the Early to Late Miocene of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, and Argentina in South America.

La Venta is a fossil locality located in the modern departments of Tolima and Huila in Colombia. This site is one of the richest Neogene fossil assemblages in South America and represents the best-known Cenozoic fossil site outside of Argentina. It provides a glimpse of what life in the region was like before the main wave of the Great American Interchange.

<i>Langstonia</i> Extinct species of reptile

Langstonia is an extinct genus of notosuchian crocodylomorph of the family Sebecidae. It lived in the middle Miocene, in the "Monkey Beds" of the Colombian Villavieja Formation. Langstonia was named in 2007 by Alfredo Paolillo and Omar Linares for fossils originally described by Langston in 1965 as Sebecus huilensis. Thus, the type species is L. huilensis.(Paolillo & Linares 2007)

<i>Granastrapotherium</i>

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 rhino.

Colombophis is an extinct genus of snakes of the clade Alethinophidia, a group of "primitive" snakes. The genus was first recognized in the Villavieja Formation in the town of Los Mangos, part of the known fossil fauna of La Venta in the department of Huila (Colombia), in the middle Miocene. With the remains of a fossil snake was erected the species Colombophis portai in 1977, based on forty fragmentary vertebrae. These vertebrae are characterized by a low neural spine, and subdivided paradiapophysis and thin zygosphen. The vertebrae are medium to large, so the snake would measure about 1.77 metres long, similar in size to the current Boa constrictor.

<i>Huilatherium</i> Extinct genus of leontiniid, a group of hoofed mammals

Huilatherium is an extinct genus of leontiniid, a group of hoofed mammals belonging to the order Notoungulata, that comprises other South American ungulate families that evolved in parallel with some mammals of the Northern hemisphere. The leontiinids were a family of herbivorous species comprising medium to large browsers, with relatively short skulls and robust limbs, somewhat similar to their relatives, the best known toxodontids.

<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).

Micodon is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene. Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia. The type species is M. kiotensis, a very small monkey among the New World species.

Mohanamico is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene. Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia. The type species is M. hershkovitzi. Due to the relatively few material found of Mohanamico, the placement of the genus is not certain and three possible families have been proposed by different authors, Callitrichidae, Pitheciidae or Aotidae.

Saimiri annectens, originally described as Laventiana annectens and later as Neosaimiri annectens, is an extinct species of New World monkey in the genus Saimiri from the Middle Miocene. Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia.

Saimiri fieldsi is an extinct species of New World monkey in the genus Saimiri from the Middle Miocene. Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia.

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

Miocochilius is an extinct genus of small notoungulate mammals (typotheres) native to South America. The genus lived during the Middle Miocene epoch. The genus contains two described species, the type species M. anomopodus described in 1953 by Ruben Arthur Stirton and M. federicoi, described and included in the genus by Darin A. Croft.

Paradracaena is an extinct genus of lizards from northern South America. Fossils of Paradracaena colombiana have been found in the Honda Group of Colombia, Peru and Brazil. The species was described as a member of the tegus; Tupinambis huilensis by Estes in 1961.

Megadolodus is an extinct genus of proterotheriid litopterns.

<i>Scirrotherium</i> An extinct genus of mammals belonging to the armadillo order of xenarthrans

Scirrotherium is an extinct genus of pampatheres, a family of herbivorous cingulates, related to the similar but smaller modern armadillos, and with the now extinct glyptodonts, well-known from their shell-like armor. Its scientific name is derived from the Greek prefix "skiros-", "cover", and the suffix "-therion, "beast", while the name of the type species, hondaensis, honors the town of Honda, in the Tolima Department of Colombia. Scirrotherium is one of several genera of xenarthrans found in the La Venta fauna, dated from the Middle Miocene.

Villarroelia is an extinct genus of proterotheriid from the Middle Miocene of Colombia.

Chasicobradys is an extinct genus of ground sloths of the family Nothrotheriidae that lived in what is now Argentina. Chasicobradys was discovered in the Arroyo Chasicó Formation, in Buenos Aires Province. It is only known from jaw fragments and teeth, which allowed the identification of this species, and was classified as a member of the nothrotheriid subfamily Nothrotheriinae, which comprises small to medium-sized species of ground sloths.

Brievabradys is an extinct genus of ground sloth belonging to the family Mylodontidae that lived in Colombia during the Middle Miocene. This genus was discovered in the Honda Group of Colombia, in the strata of the Tatacoa Desert in the Huila Department with an approximate age of 13 to 11 million years ago, dating to the Middle Miocene. Brievabradys was described based on a fossilized skull and additional cranial remains found in that area.

Magdalenabradys is an extinct genus of mylodontid ground sloths that lived during the Middle Miocene and Early Pliocene of what is now Colombia and Venezuela. Fossils have been found in the Villavieja Formation of the Honda Group in Colombia, and the Codore and Urumaco Formations of Venezuela.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Villarroel, C. (1998). Los Nothrotheriinae (Megatheriidae, Gravigrada) del Mioceno de La Venta (Colombia). Descripción de Huilabradys magdaleniensis, nuevos genero y especie (PDF). Revista de la Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. pp. 498–499.
  2. Wyss, Andre (March 1998). "Vertebrate Paleontology in the Neotropics: The Miocene Fauna of La Venta, Colombia.Richard F. Kay , Richard H. Madden , Richard L. Cifelli , John J. Flynn". The Quarterly Review of Biology. 73 (1): 66–66. doi:10.1086/420076. ISSN   0033-5770.