Xenastrapotherium

Xenastrapotherium
Temporal range: Mid-Late Miocene (Friasian-Huayquerian)
~16–6.8 Ma
Mandible of X. kraglievichi, Honda Group, Colombia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: †Astrapotheria
Family: †Astrapotheriidae
Subfamily: †Uruguaytheriinae
Genus: †Xenastrapotherium
Kraglievich, 1928
Type species
†Xenastrapotherium christi
(Stelin, 1928)
Species

See text

Synonyms
  • †Astrapotherium christi Stehlin 1928[1]
  • †Synastrapotherium Paula Couto 1976[2]

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 (named after the Greek word xenos "strange" add to the genus Astrapotherium, "lightning beast") 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.[3]

  1. ^ Astrapotherium christi at Fossilworks.org
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference FWXenastrapotherium was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Johnson, S. C. & Madden, R. H. 1997. Uruguaytheriine astrapotheres of tropical South America. In Kay, R. F., Madden, R. H., Cifelli, R. L. & Flynn, J. J. (eds) Vertebrate Paleontology in the Neotropics: The Miocene fauna of La Venta, Colombia. Smithsonian Institution Press (Washington, D.C.), pp. 355-381.