Astrapotheria

Astrapotheria is an extinct order of South American and Antarctic hoofed mammals that existed from the late Paleocene to the Middle Miocene, 59 to 11.8 million years ago. Astrapotheres were large, rhinoceros-like animals and have been called one of the most bizarre orders of mammals with an enigmatic evolutionary history.

Astrapotheria

Gastón Cuello · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
SudamericungulataPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Eutheria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 55 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 59.24 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 5 of 251 occurrencesEocene — about 94 of 251 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 21 of 251 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 129 of 251 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 251 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1 of 251 occurrences60–58 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 3 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 4 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 3 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 3 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 3 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 9 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 10 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 10 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 14 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 27 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 9 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 2 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 2 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 2 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 4 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 6 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 5 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 5 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 7 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 11 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 41 occurrences16–14 Mya — about 7 occurrences14–12 Mya — about 34 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 22 occurrences10–8.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.1–6.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.0–4.0 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences4.0–2.0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.0–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences56 Mya11.7 ka60 Mya0 Mya

251 occurrences of Astrapotheria 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

251 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

41 formations

Sarmiento — 44.67°S, 68.42°WSarmiento — 44.38°S, 68.75°WSarmiento — 44.42°S, 68.67°WSarmiento — 44.83°S, 68.25°WSarmiento — 45.23°S, 67.49°WSarmiento — 45.33°S, 68.00°WSarmiento — 45.67°S, 68.67°WSarmiento — 43.75°S, 69.58°WSarmiento — 44.02°S, 68.02°WSarmiento — 46.74°S, 67.11°WSarmiento — 47.03°S, 66.48°WSarmiento — 46.68°S, 68.35°WSarmiento — 45.77°S, 69.00°WSarmiento — 45.95°S, 69.20°WSarmiento — 45.78°S, 68.47°WSarmiento — 44.35°S, 69.78°WSanta Cruz — 51.02°S, 69.15°WSanta Cruz — 51.20°S, 69.12°WSanta Cruz — 50.16°S, 69.67°WSanta Cruz — 51.57°S, 69.42°WSanta Cruz — 51.05°S, 69.13°WSanta Cruz — 50.75°S, 69.18°WSanta Cruz — 51.34°S, 69.02°WSanta Cruz — 51.35°S, 69.00°WSanta Cruz — 51.56°S, 68.96°WSanta Cruz — 51.53°S, 72.09°WSanta Cruz — 47.52°S, 71.90°WSanta Cruz — 50.25°S, 71.07°WSanta Cruz — 50.28°S, 70.28°WSanta Cruz — 50.28°S, 70.22°WSanta Cruz — 51.60°S, 69.56°WVillavieja — 3.22°N, 75.22°WVillavieja — 3.32°N, 75.13°WVillavieja — 3.25°N, 75.17°WVillavieja — 3.21°N, 75.26°WVillavieja — 3.12°N, 75.21°WLa Victoria — 3.22°N, 75.22°WLa Victoria — 3.78°N, 74.98°WLa Victoria — 3.32°N, 75.18°WLa Victoria — 3.23°N, 75.11°WLa Victoria — 3.27°N, 75.12°WLa Victoria — 3.39°N, 75.12°WLas Flores — 45.37°S, 67.74°WLas Flores — 45.40°S, 67.18°WLas Flores — 45.60°S, 69.08°WCerro Bandera — 38.92°S, 69.58°WCerro Bandera — 39.27°S, 69.28°WCerro Bandera — 39.03°S, 69.68°WIpururo — 10.56°S, 73.13°WIpururo — 10.40°S, 73.52°WIpururo — 10.58°S, 73.60°WIpururo — 10.45°S, 73.55°WCastilletes — 11.95°N, 71.32°WCastilletes — 11.95°N, 71.33°WSolimões — 9.39°S, 72.72°WSolimões — 8.82°S, 72.82°WSolimões — 9.23°S, 72.70°WSolimões — 9.32°S, 72.69°WSolimões — 11.02°S, 68.87°WLa Meseta — 64.23°S, 56.63°WLa Meseta — 64.23°S, 56.67°WLas Chacras — 41.37°S, 69.65°WLas Chacras — 41.37°S, 69.65°WDeseado — 47.90°S, 66.25°WCura-Mallín — 37.65°S, 71.23°WCura-Mallín — 38.52°S, 71.22°WPozo — 7.33°S, 74.95°WPozo — 6.58°S, 76.28°WCollón Cura — 40.85°S, 70.23°WCollón Cura — 42.65°S, 69.70°WSolimoes — 10.12°S, 66.88°WItaboraí — 22.84°S, 42.88°WBarzalosa — 3.78°N, 75.18°WCura-Mallin — 38.00°S, 71.40°WChambira — 7.32°S, 74.93°WChambira — 7.35°S, 74.95°WSanta Cruz — 50.63°S, 72.47°WAbanico — 34.98°S, 70.43°WGeste — 26.06°S, 67.41°WLumbrera — 25.80°S, 65.44°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Astrapotheria has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 17 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 52 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Astrapotheria and its relatives

Miocene

Where Astrapotheria and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,202 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 142 sites for Astrapotheria, 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

85 references

Each of the 251 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. 73 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 content1

Picture of Astrapotheria

Credit
Gastón Cuello
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Astrapotheria was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itSudamericungulata through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lydekker 1894