Xenastrapotherium
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Xenastrapotherium Temporal range: 19–12 Ma Middle Miocene |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | †Astrapotheria |
| Family: | †Astrapotheriidae |
| Subfamily: | Uruguaytheriinae † |
| Genus: |
Xenastrapotherium † Kraglievich, 1929 |
| species | |
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See the text |
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| Synonyms | |
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See the text
Xenastrapotherium is an extinct genus of astrapothere, a type of hoofed herbivorous mammal, native to South America, which lived in the mid-Miocene period, during the Laventan stage. It is a member of the family Astrapotheriidae in the subfamily Uruguaytheriinae, large astrapotheres, equipped with a trunk-like nose and protruding teeth, similar to the elephants, but their tusks were the canine teeth, not the incisors. Xenastrapotherium (named after the Greek word xenos "strange" add to the genus Astrapotherium, "lightning beast") was a genus widely distributed in northern South America, in contrast to other species of astrapotheres which lived in the area of the Southern Cone of the continent. It differed from other astrapotheres by having two lower incisors on each side of the jaw and the tusks have a pronounced longitudinal curvature, although their general shape and size are probably very similar to Astrapotherium, whose weight would be 900 to 1,500 kilograms, comparable to the current black rhino.
Several species of Xenastrapotherium have been described, although none is known from complete remains; they are distinguished by features of their teeth and jaws, and their geographical and temporal distribution. The species currently recognized are:
Cladogram based in the phylogenetic analysis published by Vallejo-Pareja et al., 2015, showing the position of Xenastrapotherium:
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