Macrauchenia
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Macrauchenia Temporal range: 7–0.01 Ma Late Miocene to Late |
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| Macrauchenia patachonica (larger) and Phenacodus primaevus (smaller) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | †Litopterna |
| Family: | †Macraucheniidae |
| Genus: | †Macrauchenia |
| Type species | |
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Macrauchenia patachonica Owen, 1838 |
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| Species | |
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†M. patachonica |
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†M. patachonica
†M. ullomensis
†M. boliviensis
Macrauchenia (name meaning "long llama", based on the now superseded Latin term for llamas, Auchenia, from Greek terms which literally mean "big neck") was a long-necked and long-limbed, three-toed South American ungulate mammal, typifying the order Litopterna. The oldest fossils date back to around 7 million years ago, and M. patachonica disappears from the fossil record during the late , around 20,000-10,000 years ago. M. patachonica was the best known member of the family Macraucheniidae, and is known only from fossil finds in South America, primarily from the Lujan Formation in Argentina. The original specimen was discovered by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle. In life, Macrauchenia resembled a humpless camel with a short trunk, though it is not closely related to either camels or proboscideans.
Macrauchenia had a somewhat camel-like body, with sturdy legs, a long neck and a relatively small head. Its feet, however, more closely resembled those of a modern rhinoceros, and had three hoofs each. It was a relatively large animal, with a body length of around 3 metres (9.8 ft) and a weight up to 1042.8 kg.
One striking characteristic of Macrauchenia is that, unlike most other mammals, the openings for nostrils on its skull were atop the head, leading some early scientists to believe that, much like a whale, it used these nostrils as a form of snorkel. Soon after some more recent findings, this theory was rejected. An alternative theory is that the animal possessed a trunk, perhaps to keep dust out of the nostrils.Macrauchenia's trunk may be comparable to that of the modern Saiga antelope.
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Wikipedia