Proadinotherium

Proadinotherium Temporal range: Late Oligocene-Early Miocene ~27–17.5  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Proadinotherium fossils
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	† Notoungulata
Family:	† Toxodontidae
Subfamily:	† Nesodontinae
Genus:	† Proadinotherium Ameghino, 1894
Type species
†Proadinotherium leptognathum Ameghino, 1894
Species
P. angustidensAmeghino 1897 P. leptognathumAmeghino 1894 P. muensteriAmeghino 1902 P. saltoniShockey & Anaya 2008

Proadinotherium is an extinct genus of toxodontid. It lived between the Late Oligocene and the Early Miocene in what is now South America.

Description

This genus is only known from very partial remains. From the comparison with its relatives Adinotherium and Nesodon , it is supposed that Adinotherium was an herbivorous animal the size of a sheep, with an elongated body and rather short legs ; it was probably more slender-built than the two latter forms. The legs, in particular, had more delicate and slender bones than those of Adinotherium and Nesodon. Proadinotherium was characterized by its teeth with a lower crown, less hypsodont than those of Adinotherium, but evocating more derived toxodontids. Its dentition was complete with a complex structure, and the development of a crest on the molars.

Classification

Proadinotherium is considered to be the most basal and oldest member of the Toxodontidae, the most specialized group of the notoungulates, which included the well known Pleistocene genus Toxodon , as well as a number of Miocene and Pliocene forms.

The genus Proadinotherium was first described in 1894 by Florentino Ameghino, based on fossil remains found in Argentine Patagonia, with the type species being Proadinotherium leptognathum, known from various remains from the Santa Cruz Province and Chubut Province. Ameghino described several other species, from more recent Early Miocene deposits of Patagonia, such as P. angustidens and P. muensteri. Another species, P. saltoni, was discovered in the Salla Formation in Bolivia. ^[1] Other remains attributed to the genus have been found in the Tremembé Formation of Brazil, the Chaparral Formation of Colombia, and the Agua de la Piedra and Cerro Bandera Formations of Mendoza and Neuquén Provinces of Argentina. ^{[2] [3]}

References

1. Shockey, Bruce J.; Anaya, Federico (2008). "Postcranial Osteology of Mammals from Salla, Bolivia (Late Oligocene): Form, Function, and Phylogenetic Implications". In Sargis, Eric J.; Dagosto, Marian (eds.). Mammalian Evolutionary Morphology: A Tribute to Frederick S. Szalay. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series. Dordrecht. pp. 135–157. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-6997-0_7. ISBN   978-1-4020-6997-0.
2. Hernández Del Pino, Santiago; Seoane, Federico; Cerdeño, Esperanza (2017). "New postcranial remains of large toxodontian notoungulates from the late Oligocene of Mendoza, Argentina and their systematic implications". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 62. doi: 10.4202/app.00301.2016 . hdl: 11336/63620 . ISSN   0567-7920.
3. Kramarz, Alejandro; Garrido, Alberto; Forasiepi, Analía; Bond, Mariano; Tambussi, Claudia (2005). "Stratigraphy and vertebrates (Aves and Mammalia) from the Cerro Bandera Formation, Early Miocene of Neuquén Province, Argentina". Revista Geológica de Chile . 32 (2). doi: 10.4067/S0716-02082005000200006 .

• Florentino Ameghino (1894). Sur les oiseaux fossiles de Patagonie; et la faune mammalogique des couches à Pyrotherium. Vol. 15. Boletin del Instituto Geographico Argentino. pp. 501–660.
• F. Ameghino. 1897. Mammiféres crétacés de l’Argentine (Deuxième contribution à la connaissance de la fauna mammalogique de couches à Pyrotherium). Boletin Instituto Geografico Argentino 18(4–9):406-521
• F. Ameghino. 1902. Première contribution à la connaissance de la fauna mammalogique des couches à Colpodon. Boletin de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Córdoba 17:71-141