Protypotherium

Protypotherium is an extinct genus of notoungulate mammals native to South America during the Oligocene and Miocene epochs. A number of closely related animals date back further, to the Eocene. Fossils of Protypotherium have been found in the Deseadan Fray Bentos Formation of Uruguay, Muyu Huasi and Nazareno Formations of Bolivia, Cura-Mallín and Río Frías Formations of Chile, and Santa Cruz, Salicas, Ituzaingó, Aisol, Cerro Azul, Cerro Bandera, Cerro Boleadoras, Chichinales, Sarmiento and Collón Curá Formations of Argentina.

Protypotherium

Daderot · CC0 · 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
InteratheriidaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Notoungulata
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Eutheria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 13 million years on record.

The record covers at least 21 Mya to 8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 29 Mya to 5 Mya.

Oligocene — about 1 of 123 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 122 of 123 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 123 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 occurrences25–25 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 2 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 29 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 40 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 10 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 9 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 8 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 3 occurrences10–9.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.5–8.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.7–7.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.8–7.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.0–6.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.2–5.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.3–4.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences21 Mya8 Mya29.5 Mya4.5 Mya

123 occurrences of Protypotherium 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

123 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

24 formations

Santa Cruz — 51.02°S, 69.15°WSanta Cruz — 51.20°S, 69.12°WSanta Cruz — 50.43°S, 69.08°WSanta Cruz — 51.57°S, 69.42°WSanta Cruz — 50.00°S, 70.00°WSanta Cruz — 51.57°S, 69.47°WSanta Cruz — 50.75°S, 69.18°WSanta Cruz — 51.34°S, 69.02°WSanta Cruz — 51.35°S, 69.00°WSanta Cruz — 47.58°S, 71.85°WSanta Cruz — 50.28°S, 70.28°WSanta Cruz — 50.28°S, 70.22°WSanta Cruz — 50.16°S, 69.68°WSanta Cruz — 51.60°S, 69.56°WSanta Cruz — 50.27°S, 70.37°WSanta Cruz — 50.60°S, 69.08°WSanta Cruz — 50.05°S, 70.44°WSanta Cruz — 50.36°S, 71.84°WCollón Cura — 41.00°S, 70.58°WCollón Cura — 40.03°S, 70.80°WCollón Cura — 40.09°S, 70.84°WCollón Cura — 40.39°S, 70.21°WCollón Cura — 40.57°S, 70.47°WCollón Cura — 41.01°S, 70.86°WCollón Cura — 41.12°S, 70.08°WCollón Cura — 41.00°S, 70.00°WCollón Cura — 42.65°S, 69.70°WCerro Bandera — 39.27°S, 69.28°WCerro Bandera — 38.92°S, 69.58°WCerro Bandera — 38.88°S, 69.47°WCerro Bandera — 39.04°S, 69.68°WCura-Mallín — 37.50°S, 71.27°WCura-Mallín — 37.65°S, 71.23°WCura-Mallín — 38.52°S, 71.22°WCura-Mallín — 38.58°S, 71.14°WChinches — 32.00°S, 69.74°WChinches — 31.99°S, 69.78°WRio Frias — 45.63°S, 70.31°WRio Frias — 45.62°S, 70.50°WRío Frias — 44.58°S, 71.22°WCerro Azul — 37.37°S, 65.47°WCerro Azul — 37.14°S, 65.77°WCollón Curá — 42.58°S, 70.33°WCollón Curá — 42.85°S, 69.46°WCerro Boleadoras — 47.00°S, 71.62°WSalicas — 28.33°S, 66.95°WMuyu Huasi — 19.04°S, 65.26°WGalera — 46.90°S, 72.30°WChichinales — 39.13°S, 67.75°WItuzaingo — 31.48°S, 60.23°WSarmiento — 45.67°S, 68.67°WFray Bentos — 33.62°S, 58.42°WRío Frías — 44.58°S, 71.23°WAisol — 34.91°S, 68.50°WPalo Pintado — 25.37°S, 65.92°WRío Mayo — 46.10°S, 71.63°WChiquimil — 27.38°S, 66.85°WArroyo Chasicó — 38.62°S, 62.98°WPatagonia — 45.72°S, 68.93°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Protypotherium has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Protypotherium and its relatives

Miocene

Where Protypotherium and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

562 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 72 sites for Protypotherium, 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

40 references

Each of the 123 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. 28 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 Protypotherium

Credit
Daderot
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Protypotherium praerutilum · NHMUK:PAL:PV M 7282

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itInteratheriidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Ameghino 1882