Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Cladus: Synapsida
Cladus: Eupelycosauria
Cladus: Sphenacodontia
Cladus: Sphenacodontoidea
Cladus: Therapsida
Cladus: Theriodontia
Cladus: Cynodontia
Cladus: Eucynodontia
Cladus: Probainognathia
Cladus: Prozostrodontia
Cladus: Mammaliaformes
Classis: Mammalia
Subclassis: Trechnotheria
Infraclassis: Zatheria
Supercohors: Theria
Cohors: Eutheria
Infraclassis: Placentalia
Cladus: Boreoeutheria
Superordo: Laurasiatheria
Cladus: †Meridiungulata
Ordo: †Litopterna
Familia: †Macraucheniidae
Subfamiliae: †Cramaucheniinae – †Macraucheniinae
Genera: †Cramauchenia – †Cullinia – †Macrauchenia – †Macraucheniopsis – †Oxyodontherium – †Phoenixauchenia – †Promacrauchenia – †Scalabrinitherium – †Xenorhinotherium
Name
Macraucheniidae Gill, 1872: 12
References
Primary references
Gill, T. 1872. Arrangement of the families of mammals. With analytical tables. Prepared for the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 230: i–vi, 1–98. BHL Reference page.
Links
Macraucheniidae – Taxon details on Paleobiology Database.
Macraucheniidae is a family in the extinct South American ungulate order Litopterna, that resembled various camelids. The reduced nasal bones of their skulls was originally suggested to have housed a small proboscis, similar to that of the saiga antelope.[2] However, one study suggested that they were openings for large moose-like nostrils.[3] Conversely, prehistoric pictographs by indigenous people seems to depict animals interpreted as macraucheniids with trunks.[4][5] Their hooves were similar to those of rhinoceroses today, with a simple ankle joint and three digits on each foot. Thus, they may have been capable of rapid directional change when running away from predators, such as large phorusrhacid terror birds, sparassodont metatherians, giant short-faced bears (Arctotherium) and saber-toothed cats (Smilodon). Macraucheniids probably lived in large herds to gain protection against these predators, as well as to facilitate finding mates for reproduction.
(A) Theosodon, (B) Scalabrinitherium, (C) Macrauchenia, portraying how the nasal bones shifted backwards on the skull, with the nasal opening following suit.
The family Macraucheniidae includes genera such as Theosodon, Xenorhinotherium, and Macrauchenia. Macrauchenia is the best-known and most recent macraucheniid. It became extinct during the Pleistocene Epoch. It was one of the few litopterns to survive the ecological pressures of the Great American Interchange between North and South America, which took place after the Isthmus of Panama rose above sea level some 3 million years ago. It may instead have died out in the aftermath of the invasion of the Americas by human hunters. When Macrauchenia died out, so too did Macraucheniidae and the entire litoptern order.
Sequencing of mitochondrial DNA extracted from a Macrauchenia patachonica fossil from a cave in southern Chile indicates that Macrauchenia (and by inference, Litopterna) is the sister group to Perissodactyla, with an estimated divergence date of 66 million years ago.[6] Analysis of collagen sequences obtained from Macrauchenia and Toxodon gave the same conclusion, adding notoungulates to the sister group clade.[7][8]
References
Dozo, M.T.; Vera, B. (2010). "First skull and associated postcranial bones of Macraucheniidae (Mammalia, Litopterna) from the Deseadan SALMA (late Oligocene) of Cabeza Blanca (Chubut, Argentina)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 30 (6): 1818–1826. doi:10.1080/02724634.2010.521534. hdl:11336/93665. S2CID 86291795.
The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. 1999. p. 248. ISBN 978-1-84028-152-1.
"Cranial characters associated with the proboscis postnatal-development in Tapirus (Perissodactyla: Tapiridae) and comparisons with other extant and fossil hoofed mammals | Request PDF". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
Morcote-Ríos, Gaspar; Aceituno, Francisco Javier; Iriarte, José; Robinson, Mark; Chaparro-Cárdenas, Jeison L. (2020-04-29). "Colonisation and early peopling of the Colombian Amazon during the Late Pleistocene and the Early Holocene: New evidence from La Serranía La Lindosa". Quaternary International. 578: 5–19. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2020.04.026. ISSN 1040-6182. S2CID 219014558.
"12,000-Year-Old Rock Drawings of Ice Age Megafauna Discovered in Colombian Amazon | Archaeology | Sci-News.com". Breaking Science News | Sci-News.com. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
Westbury, M.; Baleka, S.; Barlow, A.; Hartmann, S.; Paijmans, J. L. A.; Kramarz, A.; Forasiepi, A. M.; Bond, M.; Gelfo, J. N.; Reguero, M. A.; López-Mendoza, P.; Taglioretti, M.; Scaglia, F.; Rinderknecht, A.; Jones, W.; Mena, F.; Billet, G.; de Muizon, C.; Aguilar, J. L.; MacPhee, R. D. E.; Hofreiter, M. (2017-06-27). "A mitogenomic timetree for Darwin's enigmatic South American mammal Macrauchenia patachonica". Nature Communications. 8: 15951. doi:10.1038/ncomms15951. PMC 5490259. PMID 28654082.
Welker, F.; Collins, M. J.; Thomas, J. A.; Wadsley, M.; Brace, S.; Cappellini, E.; Turvey, S. T.; Reguero, M.; Gelfo, J. N.; Kramarz, A.; Burger, J.; Thomas-Oates, J.; Ashford, D. A.; Ashton, P. D.; Rowsell, K.; Porter, D. M.; Kessler, B.; Fischer, R.; Baessmann, C.; Kaspar, S.; Olsen, J. V.; Kiley, P.; Elliott, J. A.; Kelstrup, C. D.; Mullin, V.; Hofreiter, M.; Willerslev, E.; Hublin, J.-J.; Orlando, L.; Barnes, I.; MacPhee, R. D. E. (2015-03-18). "Ancient proteins resolve the evolutionary history of Darwin's South American ungulates". Nature. 522 (7554): 81–84. doi:10.1038/nature14249. hdl:11336/14769. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 25799987. S2CID 4467386.
Buckley, M. (2015-04-01). "Ancient collagen reveals evolutionary history of the endemic South American 'ungulates'". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 282 (1806): 20142671. doi:10.1098/rspb.2014.2671. PMC 4426609. PMID 25833851.
Bibliography
Forasiepi, Analía M.; MacPhee, Ross D.E.; Hernández del Pino, Santiago; Schmidt, Gabriela I.; Amson, Eli; Grohé, Camille (2016). "Exceptional skull of Huayqueriana (Mammalia, Litopterna, Macraucheniidae) from the Late Miocene of Argentina: anatomy, systematics and paleobiological implications" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 404: 1–76. doi:10.1206/0003-0090-404.1.1. S2CID 89219979. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
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