User:Magnatyrannus/Oxyodontherium

Oxyodontherium is an extinct genus of macraucheniine litopterns that lived from the Late Miocene to Middle Pliocene of what is now Argentina. Fossils have been found in the Ituzaingó and Río Quinto formations of Argentina.

Taxonomy
Oxyodontherium was first described in 1883 by Argentinean paleontologist Florentino Ameghino, who described the genus based on for this species, also describing the new species S. bravardi in the fauna of Entre Rios which dates to the Late Miocene. Later, in 1885, the same author described an additional species, S. rothii.

Oxyodontherium was a rather derived representative of the Macraucheniidae, a group of litopterns with a camel-like appearance. Probably derived from lower Miocene forms such as Cramauchenia and Theosodon, this animal probably gave rise to the large macraucheniids of the Pliocene and Pleistocene, such as Macrauchenia and Xenorhinotherium.

Paleoecology
Fossils of Oxyodontherium have been recovered from the Ituzaingó Formation of Entre Rios, Argentina, which preserves vast tidal flats similar to those in the modern day Amazon and a warm climate. Large, herbivorous notoungulate mammals in the Ituzaingó Formation were widespread, including the toxodontids Xotodon and Adinotherium, and fellow litopterns such as Brachytherium, Cullinia, Diadiaphorus, Neobrachytherium, Paranauchenia, Promacrauchenia, Proterotherium, and Scalabrinitherium. Large, armored glyptodonts like Palaehoplophorus, Eleutherocercus, and Plohophorus lived in the area as well as other cingulates like the pampatheres Kraglievichia and Scirrotherium, and the dasypodid Dasypus neogaeus. Carnivores included the phorusrhacids Devincenzia and Andalgalornis and sparassodonts, with giant crocodilians like Gryposuchus and Mourasuchus in the freshwater. Bamboos, coconut palms, and other palms were also present.