A history of land mammals in the western hemisphereScott, William Berryman
History
A history of land mammals in the western hemisphere
Scott, William Berryman
Mammals; Mammals, Fossil
There was a fourth group, the †Astrapotheria, concerning which our
knowledge is tantalizingly incomplete, some species of which were the
largest of known Santa Cruz mammals, while others were much smaller.
They had short, domed heads, with a considerable proboscis, and were
armed with formidable tusks, which were the enlarged canine teeth, the
only known instance of large canine tusks among the indigenous South
American hoofed animals. The limbs were long and not very massive, the
feet short, five-toed and somewhat elephantine in appearance. These
bizarre animals would seem to have held a rather isolated position among
the South American ungulates, and though they may be traced back to the
most ancient mammal-bearing beds of that continent, their relationships
are still obscure; much more complete material must be obtained before
this problem can be definitely solved. Both the †Astrapotheria and the
†Entelonychia died out shortly after the end of the Santa Cruz.
From many points of view the most interesting members of the Santa
Cruz fauna were the †Litopterna, an order which also went back to the
earliest South American Tertiary. In the Miocene and Pliocene the order
was represented by two very distinct families, the †Macrauchenidæ and
†Proterotheriidæ, which were superficially very unlike. In the Santa Cruz
beds is found a genus (_†Theosodon_) which was apparently the direct
ancestor of the Pampean _†Macrauchenia_. The Miocene genus was a much
smaller animal and had hardly more than an incipient proboscis, but
otherwise was very like its Pampean successor; it was somewhat larger and
heavier than a Llama and probably bore some resemblance to that animal
in appearance. The long, narrow head, with its prehensile upper lip,
must have had an almost reptilian likeness from the numerous uniform and
sharp-pointed teeth with which the front of the jaws was supplied; the
neck was elongate, the body short and rather slender and the legs long,
ending in three nearly equal toes.
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