Extinct genus of litopterns
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Uruguayodon is an extinct genus of proterotheriid from the middle Pleistocene of Uruguay. It is known from the type and only species U. alius, named by Corona and colleagues in 2019 for dentaries and a partial postcrania from the Raigón Formation. "Uruguayodon" represents one of the latest occurrences of Proterotheriidae, with only "Neolicaphrium" representing other remains from the Pleistocene to possibly Holocene.
Description.
This animal would have been very similar to other proterotheriids, such as "Anisolophus" or "Diadiaphorus". "Uruguayodon" possessed slender and elongated legs, equipped with three toes (the middle one of which was well developed). The skull was equipped with a rather short and high snout, with fairly elongated nasal bones. The molar had closely spaced internal tubercles but, in contrast to "Anisolophus," the last lower molar was characterized by paraconid and paralophid in a lingually peripheral position; the metaflexis was smooth and there was no entoflexis.
Classification.
"Uruguayodon" was described in 2019, based on fossil remains found in Uruguay, in the San José member of the Raigón Formation. Another mammal has been found in the formation, "Charruatoxodon", a toxodontid notoungulate described in 2022. The fossils of "Uruguayodon" had previously been ascribed to the genus "Anisolophus", but a redescription allowed them to be attributed to a new genus and species. "Uruguayodon" is a derived member of the Proterotheriidae, a group of litoptern mammals, which during the Cenozoic developed evolutionary convergence with the equids, particularly with regards to their legs. "Uruguayodon" is the second known proterotheriid known from the Pleistocene, after "Neolicaphrium".
Below is a phylogenetic tree of the Proterotheriidae, based on the work of McGrath "et al". 2020, showing the position of "Uruguayodon".
References.
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