Neolicaphrium was a proterotherid of small (N. recens) to medium (N. major) size. N. recens, weighing about 37 kilograms was one third smaller than N. major. In general terms, Neolicaphrium resembled Thoatherium of the Miocene, one of the most famous proterotherids, by its relatively graceful build adapted to a cursorial locomotion, although without presenting the extreme monodactyly that characterizes Thoatherium, so that still retained its three fingers in each hand and foot.
The composition of the fauna of the Sopas Formation in Uruguay, where fossils of N. recens from the late Pleistocene have been found,[7] indicates that Neolicaphrium was a resident of savannas and open tree forests. The rocks of the Sopas Formation were deposited in a gallery forest with rivers and Neolicaphrium lived there along with other mammals such as tapirs, the white-lipped peccary, the prehensile tail porcupine Coendou magnus, the capybara, the jaguar, and the otter, species that characterize the tropical forest areas of South America.[8]
Classification
The genus Neolicaphrium was first described in 1921 by Frenguelli, based on incomplete remains found in Argentina. The type species, Neolicaphrium recens, is typical of Upper Pliocene - Upper Pleistocene deposits of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, while the species N. major was found in Pliocene soils of Argentina.
Neolicaphrium is the last of the proterotheres, a group of litoptern mammals with shapes similar to equids, particularly with regard to leg structure. Neolicaphrium, in any case, was not the most specialized proterothere.
Palaeoecology
The dental microwear patterns of N. recens clearly indicate that it was a herbivorousbrowser. It would have consumed the stems and buds of shrubs and trees as well as fed on fleshy leaves.[9] Analysis of its δ13C and δ18O values has likewise revealed that N. recens was a browsing herbivore, bearing similarities in dietary ecology to the smaller cervids of today, such as the pudus, the pampas deer and the muntjac. The isotopic analysis of the fossils provides evidence that the species fed primarily on fruits and to a lesser extent on terrestrial plants that grew at ground level, and that leaves were only a very limited part of their diet.[10]
Extinction
Previously it was thought that the family Proterotheriidae became extinct during the Pliocene, as a consequence of the climatic changes that occurred in the transition to the Pleistocene, along with the pachyrukhinenotoungulates and the argyrolagidmetatherians. The fossil record of N. recens however, showed that this group survived until the Late Pleistocene in forested areas, outside the typical Pampa regions of the Southern Cone that were predominant during the Quaternary ice ages; However, this idea was rejected until the 21st century, when the new fossil finds allowed to corroborate its presence in the Pleistocene. In the Sopas Formation have been found also fossils of several types of deer (Pampas deer and an extinct form).[11]Neolicaphrium therefore coexisted throughout the Pleistocene with ungulate mammals of holarctic origin. Both competition with these animals, which reached South America during the Great American Biotic Interchange, and the environmental changes occurring since the end of the Miocene, which led to the disappearance of forest areas, may have contributed the decline and extinction of proterotherids.[12]
↑ Soria, M.F. 2001. Los Proterotheriidae (Litopterna, Mammalia), sistemática, origen y filogenia. Monografías del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, 1:1-167
↑ Frenguelli, J. 1921. Sobre un proterotérido del Pampeano superior de Córdoba, Neolicaphrium recens, nov. Actas de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias en Córdoba, 7:7-23
↑ Ubilla, M.; Perea, D.; Bond, M.; Rinderknecht, A. (2011). "The first cranial remains of the Pleistocene proterotheriid Neolicaphrium Frenguelli, 1921 (Mammalia, Litopterna): a comparative approach". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 31 (1): 193–201. Bibcode:2011JVPal..31..193U. doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.539647. S2CID84000052.
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