Piauhytherium
| Piauhytherium | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | †Notoungulata |
| Family: | †Toxodontidae |
| Genus: | Piauhytherium Guérin & Faure, 2013 |
| Binomial name | |
| †Pauhytherium capivarae Guérin & Faure, 2013 | |
Piauhytherium is an extinct genus of herbivorous mammal, pertaining to the order of the notoungulates and the family of the toxodontids. It lived during the Late Pleistocene (about 10.000 years ago; fossils have been found in Brazil. The only known species is Piauhytherium capivarae.[1]
Description
This animal in general terms resembles a hippopotamus, with a big short snout, a massive body and a big head. The skull measured almost 60 centimetres in length, which indicates that Piauhytherium could be as big as a modern black rhinoceros. With regard to its nearest relatives, such as Toxodon, this animal's legs were shorter and thicker, in addition, certain differences in the denture distinguish it from other notoungulates of this period.[1]
Classification
Piauhytherium capivarae was described for the first time in 2013, based on a complete skull including a jaw and some postcranial bones found in Serra da Capivara in Piauí, in northeastern Brazil. This animal belonged to a group of notoungulates known as the Toxodonta, which comprises to numerous herbivores spread during the Cenozoic in South America, whose better-known representative is Toxodon. (But some remains found in Brazil have been reassigned to Piauhytherium). Piauhytherium was very similar to the latter, but differentiated in some features of the bones in its legs and characteristics of the teeth.[1]
Paleobiology
The limb bones, particularly short and massive, led the authors of the original scientific description to make the hypothesis that this animal could have led a semiaquatic lifestyle, similar to that of the current hippopotamus. This hypothesis had already been previously proposed for other toxodontids (among which Toxodon), but equally has been refuted by other studies. The discovery of Piauhytherium is remarkable since it increases the degree of diversity of the toxodontids in the final stages of their evolutionary history: in the Upper Pleistocene only Toxodon, Trigodonops and Mixotoxodon were also known.[1]