Mesotherium

Mesotherium is an extinct genus of mesotheriid, a long-lasting family of superficially rodent-like, burrowing notoungulates from South America. It is one of the youngest notoungulates, spanning the Early-Middle Pleistocene, and is the last known member of Typotheria. It was first named by Étienne Serres in 1857, though initially lacked a type species. Another genus name Typotherium, was put forward by Auguste Bravard, and three species were included: however, the name Typotherium was not applied to any particular specimens, and is thus invalid. A type species for Mesotherium, M. cristatum, was named in 1867, securing its status as a valid genus. M. cristatum spanned the Early-Middle Pleistocene.

Mesotherium

Skye McDavid · CC BY-SA 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
PampainiPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Notoungulata
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Eutheria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 2.4 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Pliocene — about 1 of 18 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 17 of 18 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 18 occurrences3.7–3.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.4–3.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–3.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.0–2.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.6–2.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.3–2.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.2–2.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.0–1.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.6–1.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.5–1.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.4–1.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.2–1.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.1–957 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence957 ka–820 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence820 ka–683 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence683 ka–547 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence547 ka–410 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence410 ka–273 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences273 ka–137 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences137 ka–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.58 Mya129 ka4.1 Mya0 Mya

18 occurrences of Mesotherium on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

18 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

7 formations

Miramar — 38.27°S, 57.85°WMiramar — 38.17°S, 57.65°WMiramar — 37.87°S, 57.51°WMiramar — 37.98°S, 57.59°WEnsenada — 34.53°S, 58.47°WEnsenada — 38.02°S, 58.39°WVorohué — 38.03°S, 57.72°WSan Andres — 38.12°S, 57.70°W"Pampean" — 38.16°S, 58.03°WPampean — 34.25°S, 59.47°WPampean? — 32.03°S, 64.19°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Mesotherium has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Mesotherium and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Mesotherium and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

116 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 15 sites for Mesotherium, 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

10 references

Each of the 18 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. 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 Mesotherium

Credit
Skye McDavid
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Mesotherium was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itPampaini through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Serres 1867