Toxodon

Toxodon
	Skeleton of Toxodon in the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum
Temporal occurrence
	Pliocene to Pleistocene
	2.6 to 0.013 million years
Locations
	South America;
Systematics
	South American ungulates (Meridiungulata)
	Notoungulata
	Toxodontia
	Toxodontidae
	Toxodontinae
	Toxodon
Scientific name
	Toxodon
	Owen , 1837

Toxodon is a genus of extinct mammals and namesake of the Toxodontidae , a family of the Notoungulata . It was a herbivore , so it was herbivorous and wasdescribedby Richard Owen in 1837 . It livedin South America from the late Pliocene and Pleistocene (about 3.6 million years ago) to about 13,000 years ago. His name means "tooth in the shape of an arrow".

features

Toxodon reached a live weight of up to two tons and a total length of over 2.7 meters. The shoulder height was about 1.50 meters. This made Toxodon resemble a heavy rhinoceros with a hippo- like head. Nasal openings on the head portion of the skull indicate a well-developed snout. The body was barrel-shaped and suggests extensive digestive systems. Similar to today's rhinos , it had short but muscular legs that ended with three toes. The incisors protruded and were probably used to tear off leaves.

Way of life

It is usually assumed that Toxodon lived in a semi- aquatic manner, similar to today's hippopotamus , as the nostrils and eyes were relatively high on the head and the limbs were relatively short. The high-crowned teeth indicate a grass-eater, which is supported by the results of studies using carbon isotopes . The similar genus Mixotoxodon occurred in the Pleistocene in northern South America and in Central America.

species

Different species are known from the Pleistocene. T. ensenadensis is documented from the early to middle Pleistocene , while several species may have existed in the Lujanian. T. platensis , T. burmeisteri , T. darwinii , T. paradoxus , T. bilobidens , T. gracilis and T. gezi are sometimes considered to be valid species of this section, although apparently only T. platensis and T. burmeisteri until the late Lujanian existed.

literature

David Lambert: Lexicon of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. Dorling Kindersley, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-8310-0342-4 .

Web links

Commons : Toxodon - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ BJ MacFadden and BJ Shockey, (1997). Ancient feeding ecology and niche differentiation of Pleistocene mammalian herbivores from Tarija, Bolivia: morphological and isotopic evidence. Palaeobiology 23 (1): 77-100.
↑ M. Bond, Quaternary native ungulates of South America; a synthesis. In: J. Rabassa and M. Salemme, Editors, Quaternary of South America and Antarctic Peninsula vol. 12, AA Balkema, Rotterdam (1999), pp. 177-205.

[1] BJ MacFadden and BJ Shockey, (1997). Ancient feeding ecology and niche differentiation of Pleistocene mammalian herbivores from Tarija, Bolivia: morphological and isotopic evidence. Palaeobiology 23 (1): 77-100.

[2] M. Bond, Quaternary native ungulates of South America; a synthesis. In: J. Rabassa and M. Salemme, Editors, Quaternary of South America and Antarctic Peninsula vol. 12, AA Balkema, Rotterdam (1999), pp. 177-205.