Proterotherium

Proterotherium is an extinct genus of litoptern mammal of the family Proterotheriidae that lived during the Late Miocene of Argentina and Chile. Fossils of this genus have been found in the Ituzaingó Formation of Argentina, and the Galera Formation of Chile.

A picture published with the record for Proterotherium. What it shows has not been checked.

Smithsonian Institution · CC0 · via Smithsonian. 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
BrachytheriniPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Litopterna
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Eutheria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 17 million years on record.

The record covers at least 21 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 29 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Oligocene — about 1 of 47 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 42 of 47 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 47 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 47 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 24 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 12 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.4–8.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences8.5–7.5 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences7.5–6.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.6–5.7 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences5.7–4.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.8–3.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.9–3.0 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences3.0–2.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences21 Mya3.6 Mya29.5 Mya2.1 Mya

47 occurrences of Proterotherium 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

47 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

10 formations

Santa Cruz — 51.02°S, 69.15°WSanta Cruz — 51.20°S, 69.12°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 — 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 — 50.32°S, 72.10°WSanta Cruz — 47.58°S, 71.85°WSanta Cruz — 50.16°S, 69.68°WSanta Cruz — 50.28°S, 70.28°WPinturas — 48.08°S, 70.08°WSaldungaray-La Toma — 38.75°S, 61.73°WItuzaingo — 31.48°S, 60.23°WEntre Rios — 33.72°S, 59.25°WSolimoes — 10.12°S, 66.88°WGalera — 46.90°S, 72.30°WChiquimil — 26.80°S, 66.07°WFray Bentos — 34.38°S, 56.18°WMonte Hermoso — 38.97°S, 61.70°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Proterotherium has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Proterotherium and its relatives

Miocene

Where Proterotherium and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

626 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 32 sites for Proterotherium, 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

19 references

Each of the 47 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. 7 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 Proterotherium

Source
Smithsonian
Credit
Smithsonian Institution
Licence
CC0 — this site’s default, not the record’s
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Proterotherium cavum · amnh:fm:9245

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 itBrachytherini through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Ameghino 1883