Proterotheriidae

Proterotheriidae is an extinct family of litoptern ungulates known from the Eocene to Late Pleistocene of South America. Members of the group were small to medium-sized cursorial herbivores with brachydont teeth, with their toes showing progressive reduction, with later members of the group bearing weight on a single large toe similar to living horses.

Proterotheriidae

Internet Archive Book Images · No restrictions · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
LitopternaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Litopterna
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Eutheria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 55 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 57 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 2 of 282 occurrencesEocene — about 29 of 282 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 9 of 282 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 199 of 282 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 28 of 282 occurrencesPleistocene — about 15 of 282 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 2 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 2 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 2 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 2 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 2 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 4 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 4 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 4 occurrences43–41 Mya — about 3 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 3 occurrences39–37 Mya — about 2 occurrences37–35 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences33–31 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 3 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 2 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 2 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 9 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 17 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 79 occurrences16–14 Mya — about 7 occurrences14–12 Mya — about 29 occurrences12–9.7 Mya — about 12 occurrences9.7–7.8 Mya — about 10 occurrences7.8–5.8 Mya — about 27 occurrences5.8–3.9 Mya — about 26 occurrences3.9–1.9 Mya — about 9 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 14 occurrences56 Mya129 ka58 Mya0 Mya

282 occurrences of Proterotheriidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

282 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

51 formations

Santa Cruz — 51.02°S, 69.15°WSanta Cruz — 51.20°S, 69.12°WSanta Cruz — 50.16°S, 69.67°WSanta Cruz — 50.60°S, 69.08°WSanta Cruz — 51.57°S, 69.42°WSanta Cruz — 50.85°S, 69.13°WSanta Cruz — 47.50°S, 71.88°WSanta Cruz — 51.57°S, 69.47°WSanta Cruz — 50.00°S, 70.00°WSanta Cruz — 51.05°S, 69.13°WSanta Cruz — 50.75°S, 69.18°WSanta Cruz — 51.34°S, 69.02°WSanta Cruz — 51.35°S, 69.00°WSanta Cruz — 50.32°S, 72.10°WSanta Cruz — 47.58°S, 71.85°WSanta Cruz — 50.28°S, 70.28°WSanta Cruz — 50.28°S, 70.22°WSanta Cruz — 50.35°S, 68.95°WPinturas — 47.02°S, 70.68°WPinturas — 46.96°S, 70.61°WPinturas — 47.17°S, 70.21°WPinturas — 48.08°S, 70.08°WLa Victoria — 3.22°N, 75.22°WLa Victoria — 3.32°N, 75.17°WLa Victoria — 3.37°N, 75.14°WLa Victoria — 3.24°N, 75.10°WLa Victoria — 3.39°N, 75.16°WLa Victoria — 3.30°N, 75.13°WSarmiento — 45.23°S, 67.49°WSarmiento — 45.33°S, 68.00°WSarmiento — 45.67°S, 68.67°WSarmiento — 45.77°S, 69.00°WSarmiento — 44.02°S, 68.02°WSarmiento — 44.50°S, 66.00°WCerro Azul — 35.69°S, 64.67°WCerro Azul — 37.73°S, 63.53°WCerro Azul — 37.37°S, 65.47°WCerro Azul — 36.70°S, 64.28°WCerro Azul — 36.25°S, 65.51°WCerro Azul — 37.13°S, 62.81°WMonte Hermoso — 38.97°S, 61.70°WMonte Hermoso — 38.98°S, 61.82°WVillavieja — 3.22°N, 75.22°WVillavieja — 3.25°N, 75.17°WVillavieja — 3.21°N, 75.26°WItuzaingo — 31.48°S, 60.23°WItuzaingo — 31.70°S, 60.48°WEpecuén — 37.22°S, 63.55°WEpecuén — 37.18°S, 62.77°WGalera — 46.90°S, 72.30°WArroyo Chasicó — 38.62°S, 62.98°WSopas — 31.25°S, 57.00°WSopas — 32.05°S, 56.12°WSopas — 30.98°S, 57.52°WSopas — 30.43°S, 56.45°WSolimoes — 10.93°S, 69.09°WSolimoes — 10.12°S, 66.88°WSolimoes — 10.93°S, 69.92°WLas Flores — 45.40°S, 67.18°WLas Flores — 45.60°S, 69.08°WCamacho — 34.58°S, 56.98°WSaldungaray-La Toma — 38.75°S, 61.73°WAndalhuala — 26.68°S, 66.03°WAndalhuala — 26.98°S, 66.22°WIpururo — 10.81°S, 73.76°WIpururo — 6.59°S, 76.31°WSanta Cruz — 50.63°S, 72.47°WCerro Boleadoras — 47.00°S, 71.62°WDeseado — 47.90°S, 66.25°WEntre Rios — 33.72°S, 59.25°WUpper Moquegua — 17.21°S, 71.01°WNazareno — 21.67°S, 65.58°W

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The named rock units Proterotheriidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 27 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 43 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Proterotheriidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Proterotheriidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,561 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 151 sites for Proterotheriidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

96 references

Each of the 282 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 84 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Proterotheriidae

Credit
Internet Archive Book Images
Licence
No restrictions
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Proterotheriidae indet. · MLP:PV:48-XII-16-1

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itLitopterna through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Ameghino 1887