Biology:Adinotherium
Adinotherium (meaning "not terrible beast")[1] is an extinct genus of toxodontid, large bodied hoofed ungulates which inhabited South America during the Middle to Late Miocene, from 17.5 to 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.[2]
Description
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The approximately 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) long animal, with an estimated 120 kilograms (260 lb) body mass, looked like a smaller version of its rhinoceros-like relative Toxodon.[3] 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.[4]
Palaeobiology
Life cycle
The fractal complexity of the enamel crests and the occlusal surface tooth area of A. ovinum teeth from the second premolar to the third molar both varied with age, making both of them useful tools for age estimation in this species and other toxodontids. Enamel crest complexity decreased as the animal matured due to wear, while the area of the tooth's occlusal surface was greater in adults than juveniles due to a combination of both wear and increase in overall size of the teeth of adults.[5]
Palaeoecology
Adinotherium had highly hypsodont dentition, which may have been an adaptation for grazing on grasses, habitats heavily featuring which were spreading throughout South America at the time Adinotherium was extant.[6] Dental microwear, however, shows that Adinotherium was predominantly a browser.[7]
References
- ↑ Palmer (1904) p. 80.
- ↑ Adinotherium at Fossilworks.org
- ↑ "Adinotherium ferum - Бестиарий - Доисторические животные - Prehistoric Fauna". http://prehistoric-fauna.com/publ/bestiarij/adinotherium_ferum/1-1-0-121.
- ↑ Palmer, D., ed (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 253. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
- ↑ Costamagna, Donato; Cassini, Guillermo; Cabral, Vanina; Schmidt, Gabriela I.; Ferrero, Brenda S. (16 July 2025). "Fractal Dimension of Dental Crowns: An Innovative Method for Age Estimation in Toxodonts" (in en). Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution. doi:10.1002/jez.b.23319. ISSN 1552-5007. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jez.b.23319. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
- ↑ Cassini, Guillermo H.; Hernández Del Pino, Santiago; Muñoz, Nahuel A.; Acosta, M. V. Walter G.; Fernández, Mercedes; Bargo, M. Susana; Vizcaíno, Sergio F. (December 2015). "Teeth complexity, hypsodonty and body mass in Santacrucian (Early Miocene) notoungulates (Mammalia)" (in en). Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 106 (4): 303–313. doi:10.1017/S1755691016000153. ISSN 1755-6910. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/earth-and-environmental-science-transactions-of-royal-society-of-edinburgh/article/teeth-complexity-hypsodonty-and-body-mass-in-santacrucian-early-miocene-notoungulates-mammalia/B3DC03EF53287097964D921D90571760. Retrieved 21 September 2025.
- ↑ Townsend, K. E. Beth; Croft, Darin A. (12 March 2008). [217:DONFTS2.0.CO;2 "Diets of notoungulates from the Santa Cruz Formation, Argentina: new evidence from enamel microwear"] (in en). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28 (1): 217–230. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2008)28[217:DONFTS2.0.CO;2]. ISSN 0272-4634. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1671/0272-4634(2008)28[217:DONFTS]2.0.CO;2. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
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.
External links
Template:Meridiungulata Wikidata ☰ Q504104 entry
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