Pyrotherium
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Pyrotherium Temporal range: Early Oligocene |
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| P. sorondoi skull in Beneski Museum of Natural History | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | †Pyrotheria |
| Family: | †Pyrotheriidae |
| Genus: |
†Pyrotherium Ameghino, 1888 |
| Type species | |
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Pyrotherium romeroi Ameghino, 1888 |
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| Species | |
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Pyrotherium ('fire beast') is an extinct genus of South American ungulate, of the order Pyrotheria, that lived in what is now Argentina and Bolivia, during the Early Oligocene. It was named Pyrotherium, meaning "Fire Beast", because the first specimens were excavated from an ancient volcanic ash deposit.
Possible South American descendants of the xenungulates, the complete study of the tarsus of Pyrotherium fails to support this relationship. In one study, derived characters were not seen in any mammal examined except the embrithopod Arsinoitherium from the Cenozoic of Africa. Whether this is due to common ancestry, or to the unusual mode of locomotion used by these animals ( and plantigrade) remains to be seen.
The vaguely elephant-like Pyrotherium was about 3 metres (9.8 ft) long and alive stood approximately 1.50 metres (4.9 ft) tall at the shoulders, with an estimated weight up to 3,500 kilograms (3.5 t) for P. romeroi. A recently discovered species, P. macfaddeni was smaller, at under 900 kilograms (2,000 lb) in weight. The living animal's heavy body was carried by robust legs. Pyrotherium also had a short trunk on its snout, and two pairs of flat, forward-facing tusks in the upper jaw, with a single pair in the lower jaw.
Life reconstruction of P. romeroi
Size of P. sorondoi compared to a human
Restoration of the head by Robert Bruce Horsfall
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