Josephoartigasia magna

Josephoartigasia is an extinct genus of enormous dinomyid rodent from the Early Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of Uruguay. Its closest living relative is the pacarana. Josephoartigasia is named after Uruguayan national hero José Artigas. It contains two species: J. magna, described in 1966 based on a left mandible, and J. monesi, described in 2008 based on a nearly complete skull. Both are reported from the San José Member of the Raigón Formation by the Barrancas de San Gregorio along Kiyú beach.

Josephoartigasia magna

Andres Rinderknecht · CC BY 4.0 · 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
JosephoartigasiaPBDB
Diet
frugivore, folivorePBDB, for Dinomyidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Dinomyidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At most 4.6 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 5 Mya and 400 ka, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Miocene — about 0 of 1 occurrencePliocene — about 1 of 1 occurrencePliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 1 occurrencePleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 1 occurrence5.1–5.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.0–4.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.8–4.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.6–4.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.4–4.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.2–4.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.0–3.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.9–2.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.4–2.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.2–2.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.0–1.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.6–1.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.5–1.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.3–1.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.1–917 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences917 ka–733 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences733 ka–550 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences550 ka–367 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.5 Mya0 Mya

1 occurrence of Josephoartigasia magna on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

1 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

1 formation

San José — 34.70°S, 56.75°W

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The named rock units Josephoartigasia magna has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Josephoartigasia magna and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Josephoartigasia magna and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

3 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Josephoartigasia magna, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence 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. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Josephoartigasia magna

Credit
Andres Rinderknecht
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Josephoartigasia magna 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 itJosephoartigasia through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Mones 2007