Macraucheniidae Temporal range:Oligocene–Holocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N (Deseadan-Lujanian)
Skeleton ofMacrauchenia patachonica
Skeleton ofThesodon
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	†Litopterna
Superfamily:	†Macrauchenioidea
Family:	†Macraucheniidae Gill, 1872
Subfamilies and genera
†Amilnedwardsia †Llullataruca †Polymorphis †Cramaucheniinae †Macraucheniinae †Cullinia †Huayqueriana †Macrauchenia †Macraucheniopsis †Micrauchenia[1] †Oxyodontherium †Paranauchenia †Promacrauchenia †Scalabrinitherium †Windhausenia †Xenorhinotherium

Macraucheniidae is a family in the extinctSouth American ungulateorderLitopterna, that resembledcamelids. They had three functional digits on the fore and hind feet, as well as elongate necks. The family is generally divided up into two subfamilies, Cramaucheniinae (which may be paraphyletic) and Macraucheniinae. The family shows retraction of the nasal region, most extremely to the top of the skull in derived macraucheniine taxa likeMacrauchenia.^[2] which has been interpreted to have supported a probsocis, perhaps like that of asaiga antelope to filter dust, or a moose-like prehensile lip.^[3] The earliest unambiguous members of the family date to the lateOligocene around 30 million years ago.Polymorphis from the Eocene has historically been placed as a macraucheniid, but this has been doubted.^[2] Most early representatives had a body masses in the range of 80–120 kilograms (180–260 lb), though some likeLlullataruca were as small as 35–55 kilograms (77–121 lb), and the last representatives of the family from the Pleistocene likeMacrauchenia were over 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb).^[4] The family reached its apex of diversity during the late Miocene around 10-6 million years ago, before declining to only a few species belong to the generaMacrauchenia andXenorhinotherium by the Late Pleistocene.^[2]

(A)Theosodon, (B)Scalabrinitherium, (C)Macrauchenia, portraying how the nasal bones shifted backwards on the skull, with the nasal opening following suit.

Below is a phylogenetic tree of theMacraucheniidae, after McGrathet al. 2018:.^[5]

Cladogram of Macraucheniidae after Lobo, Gelfo & Azevedo (2024)^[2]:

• Forasiepi, Analía M.; MacPhee, Ross D.E.; Hernández del Pino, Santiago; Schmidt, Gabriela I.; Amson, Eli; Grohé, Camille (2016)."Exceptional skull ofHuayqueriana (Mammalia, Litopterna, Macraucheniidae) from the Late Miocene of Argentina: anatomy, systematics and paleobiological implications"(PDF).Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History.404:1–76.doi:10.1206/0003-0090-404.1.1.S2CID 89219979. Retrieved2018-10-01.

• Phylogeny of Macraucheniidae

• Macraucheniids
• Litopterns
• Prehistoric mammal families
• Quaternary mammals of South America
• Neogene mammals of South America
• Paleogene mammals of South America
• Ypresian first appearances
• Holocene extinctions

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• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with 'species' microformats
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