Deuterotherium is an extinct genus of South American native ungulates, which lived during the Deseadan age of the Oligocene in what is now Argentina. Its type species is Deuterotherium distichum.[1] It was named by Florentino Ameghino in 1895.[1] The holotype of Deuterotherium distichum is a calcaneum.[2] It was formerly identified as a proterotheriid litoptern.[1] In 1999, Shockey argued Deuterotherium was certainly not a litoptern and interpreted it as a notohippid notoungulate.[2] In research by Soria posthumously[2] published in 2001, Soria considered Deuterotherium a nomen dubium.[3]

Deuterotherium
Temporal range: Oligocene (Deseadan)
~29–21 Ma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Notoungulata
Family: Notohippidae
Genus: Deuterotherium
Ameghino 1895
Species:
D. distichum
Binomial name
Deuterotherium distichum
Ameghino 1895

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Palmer, T. S. (1904), Index generum mammalium: a list of the genera and families of mammals
  2. ^ a b c Shockey, Bruce J. (1999). "Postcranial Osteology and Functional Morphology of the Litopterna of Salla, Bolivia (Late Oligocene)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 19 (2): 383–390. Bibcode:1999JVPal..19..383S. doi:10.1080/02724634.1999.10011149. JSTOR 4523998.
  3. ^ Soria, Miguel F. (2001), Los Proterotheriidae (Mammalia; Litopterna), sistemática, origen y filogenia, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia" e Instituto Nacional de Investigación de la Ciencias Naturales