| Lycopsis | |
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| Fossil of L. longirostrus | |
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| Genus: | † Lycopsis Cabrera 1927 |
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Lycopsis is an extinct genus of South American metatherian that lived during the Miocene in Argentina and Colombia. [1]
Although not named until 1927, Florentino Ameghino described a species now seen as synonymous with Lycopsis torresi, Anatherium oxyrhynchus, in 1895 based on a mandibular ramus with several teeth. [2] [3] The fossil was recovered from Puesto Estancia La Costa in Santa Cruz, Argentina, dating to the Miocene. [3] The type material of Lycopsis was collected in July 1895 by "C. Berry" from the middle Miocene strata of the Santa Cruz Formation along the Santa Cruz River in the same area. [2] [4] The fossils (MLP 11–113) were fragmentary, constituting only several fragmentary jaw sections from the maxilla and mandible, including several molars. [4] [5] However, these fossils were not named until in 1927, Ángel Cabrera named Lycopsis torresi, the generic name meaning "wolf-like aspect" after the anatomy of the mandible and the specific name after Argentine paleontologist and the director of the Museo de la Plata at the time, Luis Maria Torres. [4]
The cladogram after the analysis of Suárez et al., 2015, looks as follows: [6]
| Sparassodonta |
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Fossils of Lycopsis have been found in: [3]
Sparassodonta 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 thought to be a separate side branch that split before the last common ancestor of all modern marsupials. A number of these mammalian predators closely resemble placental predators that evolved separately on other continents, and are cited frequently as examples of convergent evolution. They were first described by Florentino Ameghino, from fossils found in the Santa Cruz beds of Patagonia. Sparassodonts were present throughout South America's long period of "splendid isolation" during the Cenozoic; during this time, they shared the niches for large warm-blooded predators with the flightless terror birds. Previously, it was thought that these mammals died out in the face of competition from "more competitive" placental carnivorans during the Pliocene Great American Interchange, but more recent research has showed that sparassodonts died out long before eutherian carnivores arrived in South America. Sparassodonts have been referred to as borhyaenoids by some authors, but currently the term Borhyaenoidea refers to a restricted subgroup of sparassodonts comprising borhyaenids and their close relatives.
Thylacosmilus is an extinct genus of saber-toothed metatherian mammals that inhabited South America from the Late Miocene to Pliocene epochs. Though Thylacosmilus looks similar to the "saber-toothed cats", it was not a felid, like the well-known North American Smilodon, but a sparassodont, a group closely related to marsupials, and only superficially resembled other saber-toothed mammals due to convergent evolution. A 2005 study found that the bite forces of Thylacosmilus and Smilodon were low, which indicates the killing-techniques of saber-toothed animals differed from those of extant species. Remains of Thylacosmilus have been found primarily in Catamarca, Entre Ríos, and La Pampa Provinces in northern Argentina.
Borhyaena is an extinct genus of South American metatherian, living between 17.5 and 15.5 million years ago in Patagonia, Argentina and Chile.
Hapalops is an extinct genus of ground sloth from the Early to Late Miocene of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, and Argentina in South America.
Theosodon is an extinct genus of litoptern mammal from the Early to Middle Miocene of 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.
Scalabrinitherium is an extinct genus of mammals of the family Macraucheniidae. Fossils of this animal were found among the fossils of prehistoric xenarthrans in the Ituzaingó Formation of Argentina.
The South American land mammal ages (SALMA) establish a geologic timescale for prehistoric South American fauna beginning 64.5 Ma during the Paleocene and continuing through to the Late Pleistocene. These periods are referred to as ages, stages, or intervals and were established using geographic place names where fossil materials where obtained.
The Friasian age is a period of geologic time within the Early Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically within the SALMA classification of South America. It follows the Santacrucian and precedes the Colloncuran age.
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.
Anachlysictis gracilis is an extinct carnivorous mammal belonging to the group Sparassodonta, which were metatherians that inhabited South America during the Cenozoic. Anachlysictis is the first record of such borhyaenoids in northern South America, and also the most primitive known member of the family Thylacosmilidae, a group of predators equipped with "saber teeth". It was also the only confirmed record of a thylacosmilid that did not belong to the genus Thylacosmilus until the official publication of Patagosmilus in 2010.
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.
Dukecynus is an extinct genus of meat-eating metatherian belonging to the order Sparassodonta, which lived in South America during the Middle Miocene (Laventan), between about 13.8 and 11.8 million years ago. The name of the genus meaning "Duke dog", for Duke University and the Greek word cynos, dog, for the pretended similarity of this animal with dogs. A single species known so far, Dukecynus magnus. The species name "magnus" derives from Latin for big, to reflect their great size.
Thylacosmilidae is an extinct family of metatherian predators, related to the modern marsupials, which lived in South America between the Miocene and Pliocene epochs. Like other South American mammalian predators that lived prior to the Great American Biotic Interchange, these animals belonged to the order Sparassodonta, which occupied the ecological niche of many eutherian mammals of the order Carnivora from other continents. The family's most notable feature are the elongated, laterally flattened fangs, which is a remarkable evolutionary convergence with other saber-toothed mammals like Barbourofelis and Smilodon.
Stegotherium is an extinct genus of long-nosed armadillo, belonging to the Dasypodidae family alongside the nine-banded armadillo. It is currently the only genus recognized as a member of the tribe Stegotheriini. It lived during the Early Miocene of Patagonia and was found in Colhuehuapian rocks from the Sarmiento Formation, Santacrucian rocks from the Santa Cruz Formation, and potentially also in Colloncuran rocks from the Middle Miocene Collón Curá Formation. Its strange, almost toothless and elongated skull indicates a specialization for myrmecophagy, the eating of ants, unique among the order Cingulata, which includes pampatheres, glyptodonts and all the extant species of armadillos.
Prothylacinus is an extinct genus of South American metatherian, that lived during the Early Miocene.
Boreostemma is an extinct genus of glyptodonts from northern South America. Fossils assigned to the genus were first described as belonging to Asterostemma from southern South America, but have been placed in the new genus Boreostemma by Carlini et al. in 2008. The type species is B. pliocena. Fossils of Boreostemma have been found in the Honda Group of Colombia, in Peru and Venezuela.
Cullinia is an extinct genus of litoptern, an order of South American native ungulates that included horse-like and camel-like animals such as Macrauchenia. It is only known from fragmentary remains. Cullinia levis is known from Chasicoan remains found in the Arroyo Chasicó Formation of Argentina, and remains from the Brazilian state of Acre and the Huayquerian Ituzaingó Formation have been assigned to Cullinia sp..
Pternoconius is an extinct genus of macraucheniid litoptern from the Late Oligocene and Early Miocene of Argentina. Fossils of this genus have been found in the Sarmiento Formation of Argentina.
The Santa Cruz Formation is a geological formation in the Magallanes/Austral Basin in southern Patagonia in Argentina and in adjacent areas of Chile. It dates to the late Early Miocene epoch, and is contemporaneous with eponymous Santacrucian SALMA. The formation extends from the Andes to the Atlantic coast. In its coastal section it is divided into two members, the lower, fossil rich Estancia La Costa Member, which has a lithology predominantly consisting of tuffaceous deposits and fine grained sedimentary claystone and mudstone, and the upper fossil-poor Estancia La Angelina Member, which consists of sedimentary rock, primarily claystone, mudstone, and sandstone. The environment of deposition is interpreted to have been mostly fluvial, with the lowermost part of the Estancia La Costa Member being transitional between fluvial and marine conditions. The environment of the Estancia La Costa Member is thought to have been relatively warm and humid, but likely became somewhat cooler and drier towards the end of the sequence. The Santa Cruz Formation is known for its abundance of South American native ungulates, as well as an abundance of rodents, xenarthrans, and metatherians.
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