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Paucituberculata is an order of South American marsupials. Although currently represented only by the seven living species of shrew opossums, this order was formerly much more diverse, with more than 60 extinct species named from the fossil record, particularly from the late Oligocene to early Miocene epochs. The earliest paucituberculatans date to the late Paleocene. The group went through a pronounced decline in the middle Miocene epoch, which resulted in the extinction of all families of this order except for the living Caenolestidae.
Phoberomys is an extinct genus of rodents. Fossil specimens from the Late Miocene period have been discovered in the Ituzaingó Formation of Argentina, the Solimões Formation of Brazil, the Urumaco Formation at Urumaco in Venezuela, and the Pliocene of Peru.
Phorusrhacos is an extinct genus of giant flightless terror birds that inhabited Argentina during the Miocene epoch. Phorusrhacos was one of the dominant land predators in South America at the time it existed. It is thought to have lived in woodlands and grasslands.
Protypotherium is an extinct genus of notoungulate mammals native to South America during the Miocene epoch. A number of closely related animals date back further, to the Paleocene. Fossils of Protypotherium have been found in the Deseadan Fray Bentos Formation of Uruguay, Muyu Huasi Formation of Bolivia, Cura-Mallín and Río Frías Formations of Chile, and Santa Cruz, Salicas, Ituzaingó, Cerro Bandera, Chichinales, Sarmiento and Collón Curá Formations of Argentina.
Palaeospheniscus bergi is a species of the extinct penguin genus Palaeospheniscus. It stood about 60 to 75 centimetres high in life, or somewhat smaller on average than the extant African penguin.
Palaeospheniscus gracilis is a species of the extinct penguin genus Palaeospheniscus. It is the smallest species of its genus, with a height of 40 to 60 centimetres. Average individuals, thus, were about the size of the Galapagos penguin.
Paraptenodytes brodkorbi is a proposed, but possibly invalid, species of extinct penguin in the genus Paraptenodytes. The bird was probably about the size of a king penguin. Known material is limited to a single humerus, Early Miocene in age, found in the Monte León Formation near Puerto San Julián in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. It exists as an unnumbered specimen in the collection of the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales.
The Neoepiblemidae are an extinct family of hystricognath rodents from South America. The genera Dabbenea and Perumys are now included in Phoberomys. The delineation between Neoepiblemidae and Dinomyidae has historically been unclear; with some genera having varying taxonomic placement. A 2017 study found Phoberomys to be part of the group, While Eusigmomys to be part of Dinomyidae.
Scalabrinitherium is an extinct genus of the family Macraucheniidae. Fossils of this animal were found among the fossils of prehistoric xenarthrans in the Ituzaingó Formation of Argentina.
Cephalomyidae is an extinct family of caviomorph rodents from South America. The specific relationships of the family are uncertain, and affinities to both chinchilloid and cavioid rodents have been supported. Most recently, Kramarz (2005) performed a phylogenetic analysis supporting a relationship to the Cavioidea, as represented by Eocardiidae. McKenna and Bell (1997) questioned the validity of the family, placing the cephalomyid genera then known in Dasyproctidae, but Kramarz (2001) subsequently reasserted the distinctiveness of cephalomyids. Fossils of the family have been found in Deseadan to Colhuehuapian Fray Bentos, Deseado, Cerro Bandera and Sarmiento Formations and the Colhué Huapí Member of Argentina and the Puca Group of Bolivia.
Psilopterus is an extinct genus of phorusrhacid from the Middle Oligocene to Late Pleistocene of Argentina and Uruguay. Compared to other phorusrhacids, members of the genus are both relatively gracile and diminutive, and include the smallest known species of terror bird: with the head raised P. bachmanni was 70–80 centimeters (2.3–2.6 ft) in height and weighed about 5 kilograms (11 lb), while the largest members of the genus were only about 7 kilograms (15 lb). The birds resemble the modern cariama, except with a heavier build and considerably smaller wings. The strong morphological similarity between the claws of the predatory cariama and Psilopterus, both of which are sharp, curved, and laterally compressed, may indicate they were used to strike prey. In contrast to the other, larger terror birds, Tonni and Tambussi also suggested Psilopterus could use their claws to climb trees, and could even fly, but this has been rejected in more recent literature. Fossil finds in Uruguay indicate the genus may have survived until 96,040 ± 6,300 years ago, millions of years after the larger phorusrhacids became extinct.
Orophodon is an extinct genus of ground sloth of the family Mylodontidae, endemic to Argentina, South America.
Cruschedula is an enigmatic bird genus considered to be nomen dubium which consists of the single species Cruschedula revola.
Diaphorocetus is an extinct genus of odontocete cetacean belonging to Physeteroidea. Its remains were found in the Monte León Formation of Argentina, dating to the Early Miocene.
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.
Phoberomys insolita is an extinct species of rodent that was known as the largest rodent on earth, before the discovery of Josephoartigasia monesi. Fossil specimens from the Late Miocene period have been discovered in the Ituzaingó Formation of Argentina.
Arthrodytes is an extinct genus of penguins which contains a single species, whose remains have been recovered from the San Julian Formation of Patagonia. Other authors report a younger age for the fossils recovered from the Early Miocene Gaiman and Monte León Formations.
Notocetus is an extinct genus of river dolphin belonging to Squalodelphinidae. Known specimens have been found in Early Miocene marine deposits from Argentina, Italy and Peru.
Utaetus is an extinct genus of mammal in the order Cingulata, related to the modern armadillos. The genus contains a single species, Utaetus buccatus. It lived in the Middle to Late Eocene and its fossil remains were found in Argentina and Brazil in South America.
The Gaiman Formation, in older literature also referred to as Patagonian Marine Formation, is a fossiliferous geologic formation of the Peninsula Valdés Basin in the eastern Chubut Province of northwestern Patagonia, eastern Argentina.
References
- ↑ Ameghino, F. (1894). "Sur les oiseaux fossiles de Patagonie; et la faune mammalogique des couches à Pyrotherium". Boletin del Instituto Geográfico Argentino. 15: 501–660.
- ↑ Liptornis hesternus at Fossilworks.org
- ↑ Olson, Storrs L. (1985). "The fossil record of birds". In Donald S. Farner; James R. King; Kenneth C. Parkes (eds.). Avian Biology, vol. VIII. Academic Press. p. 201. ISBN 0-12-249408-3.
- ↑ "†Liptornis (darter)". Paleobiology Database. Fossilworks. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
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