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Toxodon platensis Owen, 1837

 

 

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Synonym/s: Toxodon angustidens Owen, 1846; Toxodon burmeisteri Giebel, 1866; Toxodon ensenadensis Ameghino, 1887; Toxodon gervaisii Gervais and Ameghino, 1880; Toxodon paradoxus Ameghino, 1882

 

Conservation Status

Extinct

Last record: Late Pleistocene

 

Distribution

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil & Uruguay

 

Anatomy & Morphology

It weighed an estimated 1,000–1,200 kg (Nelson et al., 2023).

 

Biology & Ecology

 

 

Hypodigm

 

 

Media

 

 

References

Original scientific description:

Owen, Richard. (1837). A description of the cranium of the Toxodon platensis, a gigantic extinct mammiferous species, referable by its dentition to the Rodentia, but with affinities to the Pachydermata and the herbivorous Cetacea: Geological Society of London, Proceedings, 2, 541-542.

 

Other references:

Asevedo, Lidiane et al. (2021). Diversity of Pleistocene megamammals from southern Amazon, Mato Grosso state, Brazil. Journal of South American Earth Sciences
Volume 112(1): 103552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2021.103552

Auler A.S., Piló L.B., Smart P.L., Wang X., Hoffmann D., Richards D.A., Edwards R.L., Neves W.A., Cheng H. 2006 U-series dating and taphonomy of Quaternary vertebrates from Brazilian caves. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 240(3-4), 508-522.

Azevedo, Renata L. et al. (In Press, 2019). ESR dating of megafauna enamel teeth from Lagoa Uri de Cima Archaeological Site (Pernambuco, Northeastern Brazil.Quaternary International. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2019.02.039 [Abstract]

Baffa O., Brunetti A., Karmann I., Neto C.M.D. 2000 ESR dating of a toxodon tooth from a Brazilian karstic cave. Applied Radiation and Isotopes 52(5), 1345-1349.

Bombin, M., 1976, Modelo paleoecológico evolutivo para o Neoquaternário da região da Campanha-Oeste do Rio Grande do Sul (Brasil), A Formação Touro Passo, seu conteúdo fossilífero e a pedogênese pós-deposicional: Comunicações do Museu de Ciências da PUCRS, 15, 1-90.

Braunn, P.R., Ferigolo, J., and Ribeiro, A.M. 2021. Enamel microstructure of permanent and deciduous teeth of a species of notoungulate Toxodon: Development, functional, and evolutionary implications. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 66 (X): xxx–xxx.

Cartelle, C. (1992). Edentata e megamamíferos herbivoros extinos da Toca dos Ossos (Ourolandia, BA). Doctoral dissertation, Curso de Pós-Graduaçāo em Morfologia (UFMG), Belo Horizonte.

Chahud, Artur et al. (2023). Quaternary ungulates of the Abismo Ponta de Flecha Cave, Ribeira of Iguape Valley, Southeast Brazil: Zooarchaeological and Paleoenvironmental aspects. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 121: 104107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2022.104107

da Costa Ribeiro, Ricardo et al. (2021). ESR dating of Toxodon teeth from Baixa Grande, Bahia, Brazil. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 112(2): 103616. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2021.103616

Dantas, Mário A. T. (2022). Estimating the body mass of the Late Pleistocene megafauna from the South America Intertropical Region and a new regression to estimate the body mass of extinct xenarthrans. Journal of South American Earth Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2022.103900

Dantas, Mário André Trindade, Cherkinsky, Alexander, Bocherens, Hervé, Drefahl, Morgana, Bernardes, Camila and França, Lucas de Melo. (2017). Isotopic paleoecology of the Pleistocene megamammals from the Brazilian Intertropical Region: Feeding ecology (δ13C), niche breadth and overlap. Quaternary Science Reviews 170: 152-163. [Abstract]

Dias, Dayana Ellen Miranda et al. (2021). Diagnosis of bone diseases in two representatives of the Pleistocene megafauna of Bahia, Brazil. Historical Biology 33(12): 3224-3227. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2020.1860032

Fariña, Richard A., Vizcaíno, Sergio F. and Bargo, María S. (1998). Body mass estimations in Lujanian (late Pleistocene-Holocene of South America) mammal megafauna. Mastozoología Neotropical 5(2): 87-108.

Fernicola, J. C., Vizcaino, F, and de Iuliis, G. (2009). The Fossil Mammals collected by Charles Darwin in South America during his travels on board the HMS Beagle. Revista de la Asociatión Geológica Argentina 64(1): 147-159.

Ferrero B., Brandoni D., Noriega J.I., Carlini A.A. 2007 Mamíferos de la Formación El Palmar (Pleistoceno tardío) de la provincia de Entre Ríos, Argentina. Revista del Museo 9(2), 109-117.

Gervais, H., Ameghino, F., 1880, Los mamíferos fósiles de America del Sur. Paris–Buenos Aires, F. Savy-Igon Hnos, 225 pp.

Ghilardi A.M., Fernandes M.A., Bichuette M.E. 2011 Megafauna from the Late Pleistocene-Holocene deposits of the Upper Ribeira karst area, southeast Brazil. Quaternary International 245(2), 369-378.

Gomes, Verônica Santos et al. (2023). Seasonal variations in diet (δ13C) and climate (δ 18O) inferred through toxodonts enamel teeth during the Late Pleistocene in the brazilian intertropical region. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 121: 104148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2022.104148

Herrera, Edher Zacarias et al. (In Press, 2021). Characterization of dental fragments of Toxodon sp. (Mammalia, Notoungulata) by multiple physical and chemical techniques. Vibrational Spectroscopy. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vibspec.2021.103248 [Abstract]

Hubbe, Alex, Hubbe, Mark and Neves, Walter Alves. (2009). New Late-Pleistocene Dates for the Extinct Megafauna of Lagoa Santa, Brazil. Current Research in the Pleistocene 26: 154-156.

Lessa, Carlos Micael Bonfim et al. (2021). Isotopic paleoecology (δ13C, δ18O) of two megamammals assemblages from the late pleistocene of Brazilian intertropical region. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 112(1): 103576. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2021.103576 [Abstract]

Lopes, R.P., Buchmann, F.S.C., Caron, F., Itusarry, M.E., 2001., Tafonomia dos fósseis de vertebrados (megafauna extinta) encontrados ao longo das barrancas do arroio Chuí e linha de costa, RS, Brasil: Pesquisas em Geociências, 28 (2), 67-73.

Lopes, Renato Pereira et al. (2021). The Santa Vitória Alloformation: an update on a Pleistocene fossil-rich unit in Southern Brazil. Brazilian Journal of Geology 51(1): e2020065.

Luna, Carlos A. et al. (2024). Bone diseases in a Pleistocene South American native ungulate species: the case of Toxodon platensis Owen, 1837 (Mammalia, Notoungulata, Toxodontidae). Journal of Quaternary Science. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3601

MacFadden B.J. 2005 Diet and habitat of toxodont megaherbivores (Mammalia, Notoungulata) from the late Quaternary of South and Central America. Quaternary Research 64(2), 113-124.

Nascimento, Johnson Sarmentode Oliveira et al. (In Press, 2019). Taxonomy and paleoenvironmental inferences from fossil vertebrates of Paripiranga Borboletas Cave, Northeastern Bahia, Brazil. Journal of South American Earth Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2019.102491

Nelson, Allison, Engelman, Russell K. and Croft, Darin A. (2023). How to weigh a fossil mammal? South American notoungulates as a case study for estimating body mass in extinct clades. J. Mammal. Evol. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-023-09669-1

Omena, Érica Cavalcante et al. (2020). Late Pleistocene meso-megaherbivores from Brazilian Intertropical Region: isotopic diet (δ13C), niche differentiation, guilds and paleoenvironmental reconstruction (δ13C, δ18O). Historical Biology. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2020.1789977

Paula Couto, C., 1943, Vertebrados fósseis do Rio Grande do Sul (revisão): Porto Alegre, Gráfica Thurman, 49 pp.

Smith F.A., Lyons S.K., Ernest S.K.M., Jones K.E., Kaufman D.M., Dayan T., Marquet P.A., Brown J.H., Haskell J.P. 2003 Body mass of late Quaternary mammals. Ecology 84(12), 3403-3403.

Turvey, Samuel T. (2009). In the shadow of the megafauna: prehistoric mammal and bird extinctions across the Holocene, pp. 17-39. In: Turvey, Samuel T. (ed.). Holocene Extinctions. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ubilla M., Perea D., Goso Aguilar C., Lorenzo N. 2004 Late Pleistocene vertebrates from northern Uruguay: tools for biostratigraphic, climatic and environmental reconstruction. Quaternary International 114(1), 129-142.

Varela, Luciano, Clavijo, Lucía, Tambusso, P. Sebastián and Fariña, Richard A. (2023). A window into a late Pleistocene megafauna community: Stable isotopes show niche partitioning among herbivorous taxa at the Arroyo del Vizcaíno site (Uruguay). Quaternary Science Reviews 317: 108286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108286

Welker, Frido et al. (2015). Ancient proteins resolve the evolutionary history of Darwin’s South American ungulates. Nature 522: 81-84.

A. E. Zurita, A. A. Carlini, G. J. Scillato-Yané and E. P. Tonni. 2004. Mamíferos extintos del Cuaternario de la Provincia del Chaco (Argentina) y su relación con aquéllos del este de la región pampeana y de Chile. Revista geológica de Chile 31(1): 65-87.

https://twilightbeasts.wordpress.com/2014/11/13/darwins-18-pence/

http://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/8397/toxodon-platensis

 

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