Ultrapithecus: Difference between revisions

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'''''Ultrapithecus''''' is an [[extinct]] [[genus]] of [[Notoungulate]], belonging to the suborder [[Typotheria]]. It lived during the Middle [[Eocene]], and its fossilized remains have been discovered in [[South America]].

==Description==

This genus is mostly known from its dentition, and a detailed reconstruction is impossible. It can be supposed that ''Ultrapithecus'' was, like its better known relatives, similar in size and appearance with a modern [[marmot]]. Its dentition consisted of low-crowned (brachydont) teeth. The molars were devoid of mesostyle, while the premolars lacked the fold of the metacone.

==Classification==

The genus ''Ultrapithecus'' was first described in 1901 by [[Florentino Ameghino]], based on fossil remains found in [[Argentina|Argentine]] terrains dated from the end of the Middle Eocene. Ameghino described two species, ''Ultrapithecus rutilans'' and ''U. rusticulus'', and thought that this genus was an archaic [[primate]], hence its genus name, ''Ultrapithecus'', meaning "monkey from the other side", referring to its discovery in [[South America]] instead of the [[Old World]]. ''Ultrapithecus'' was subsequently placed within the order Notoungulata, and the two species are considered synonyms, with ''U. rutilans'' taking precedence.

''Ultrapithecus'' has historically been placed with the family [[Oldfieldthomasiidae]],<ref name=Simpson>G. G. Simpson. 1967. The beginning of the age of mammals in South America. Part II. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 137:1-260</ref> but more recent studies tends to indicate that this family was paraphyletic, with ''Ultrapithecus'' being a member of an Eocene adaptive radiation of archaic notoungulates, nested at the basis of the suborder [[Typotheria]].<ref>*G. Billet. 2011. Phylogeny of the Notoungulata (Mammalia) based on cranial and dental characters. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 9 (4): 481–97. doi:10.1080/14772019.2010.528456. OCLC 740994816.</ref> It seems to have been closely related with the genus ''[[Kibenikhoria]]''.

==References and Bibliography==

{{reflistReflist}}

*F. Ameghino. 1901. Notices préliminaires sur des ongulés nouveaux des terrains crétacés de Patagonie [Preliminary notes on new ungulates from the Cretaceous terrains of Patagonia]. Boletin de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Córdoba 16:349-429

*G. G. Simpson. 1967. The beginning of the age of mammals in South America. Part II. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 137:1-260

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[[Category:Eocene mammals of South America]]