Typotheriopsis

Typotheriopsis; Temporal range: Late Miocene (Mayoan-Huayquerian); ~11.6–6.8 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ .
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	†Notoungulata
Family:	†Mesotheriidae
Subfamily:	†Mesotheriinae
Genus:	†Typotheriopsis; Cabrera & Kraglievich, 1931
Type species
	†Typotheriopsis chasicoensis;
Species
	T. chasicoensis (Cabrera & Kraglievich, 1931); T. silveyrai Cabrera, 1937;
Synonyms
	Typotheriopsis vanhouttei Cattoi, 1943; Typotheriopsis jachalensis Rusconi, 1947;

Typotheriopsis is an extinct genus of Notoungulate, belonging to the family Mesotheriidae, which included several small sized Meridiungulates specialized in digging. It is considered as the sister taxon of the clade including Mesotherium and Pseudotypotherium.^[1] Its fossils are known from the Chasicoan and the Huayquerian periods, notably among Late Miocene rocks from the Arroyo Chasicó Formation and the Cerro Azul Formation of Argentina.^[2]

Description[edit]

Typotheriopsis chasicoensis was described in 1931^[3] by Angel Cabrera and Jorge L. Kraglievich, with a holotype composed of badly preserved cranial remains from the Arroyo Chasicó Formation of Argentina. Those remains were similar to Pseudotypotherium, but included thicker teeth and less atrophied incisors than in other genera of mesotherid. Later studies expanded this list of differences between Typotheriopsis and Pseudotypotherium.^[4] It was large for a mesothere, with a broad skull, and a suborbital fossa on its eye socket which may have hosted a scent gland.^[5]

References[edit]

^ Cerdeño, E.; Montalvo, C. I. (2001). "Los Mesotheriinae (Mesotheriidae, Notoungulata) del Mioceno Superior de La Pampa, Argentina". Revista Española de Paleontologia. 16 (1): 63–75.
^ Montalvo, C. I.; Tomassini, R. L.; Sostillo, R.; Cerdeño, E.; Verzi, D. H.; Visconti, G.; Folguera, A.; Schmidt, G. I. (2019). "A Chasicoan (late Miocene) vertebrate assemblage from Cerro Azul Formation, central Argentina. Geomorphological and biochronological considerations". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 95: 102218. Bibcode:2019JSAES..9502218M. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2019.102218. S2CID 189976661.
^ Cabrera, A.; Kraglievich, J. L. (1931). "Diagnosis previas de los ungulados fósiles del arroyo Chasicó". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 1: 107–113.
^ Armella, M. A.; Ercoli, M. D. (2018). "An evaluation of the dental features used to distinguish Typotheriopsis from Pseudotypotherium (Mesotheriidae, Notoungulata) : reappraisals and proposals regarding their systematic value". Ameghiniana. 55 (5): 592–599. doi:10.5710/AMGH.17.07.2018.3186. hdl:11336/95024.
^ Croft, D. A. (2016). Horned Armadillos and Rafting Monkeys: The Fascinating Fossil Mammals of South America. Indiana University Press. pp. 161–172. ISBN 978-0253020949.