Adinotherium
| Adinotherium[1] | |
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| A. ferum skull at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin | |
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| Genus: | †Adinotherium Ameghino, 1887
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| Type species | |
| †Adinotherium ovinum | |
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Adinotherium (meaning "not terrible beast")[2] is an extinct genus of Toxodontidae, large bodied hoofed ungulates which inhabited South America during the Middle to Late Miocene, from 17.5—6.8 Ma and existed for approximately 10.7 million years, Santacrucian to Huayquerian in the South American land mammal ages (SALMA). Fossils of Adinotherium have been found in the Santa Cruz and Ituzaingó Formations of Argentina and the Chucal and Río Frías Formations of Chile.[3]
Description
The 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) long animal,with a 120 kg weight, looked like a smaller version of its rhinoceros-like relative Toxodon.[4] Its front legs were somewhat longer than those of its relatives, making its hip and shoulder height about equal. A small horn atop Adinotherium's skull may have played a role in the mating season.[5]
References
- ^ range and species from Croft et al. (2004), p. 8; synonyms from McKenna and Bell (1997), p. 459.
- ^ Palmer (1904) p. 80.
- ^ Adinotherium at Fossilworks.org
- ^ http://prehistoric-fauna.com/publ/bestiarij/adinotherium_ferum/1-1-0-121[permanent dead link]
- ^ Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 253. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
Bibliography
- Croft, D.A., Flynn, J.J. and Wyss, A.R. 2004. Notoungulata and Litopterna of the Early Miocene Chucal Fauna, Northern Chile. Fieldiana Geology 50(1):1-52. [1]
- McKenna, Malcolm C., and Bell, Susan K. 1997. Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press, New York, 631 pp. ISBN 0-231-11013-8
- Palmer, T.S. 1904. Index Generum Mammalium: a List of the Genera and Families of Mammals. North American Fauna 23:1-984.
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