 | This article includes alist of references,related reading, orexternal links,but its sources remain unclear because it lacksinline citations. Please helpimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(May 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Notoetayoa | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | †Xenungulata |
| Family: | †Carodniidae |
| Genus: | †Notoetayoa Gelfo, López & Bond 2008 |
| Type species | |
| Notoetayoa gargantuai Gelfo, López & Bond, 2008 | |
| Species | |
| |
Notoetayoa is anextinctgenus ofmammal, from the orderXenungulata. It contains a single species,Notoetayoa gargantuai, which lived during the MiddlePaleocene. Its fossilized remains were discovered inSouth America.
This animal is only known from a fragment of its jaw, and it is therefore impossible to precisely reconstruct its appearance. From a comparison with a similar but better known animal,Carodnia, it is possible thatNotoetayoa was an animal with heavy shapes and a powerful body. The size ofNotoetayoa was in any cases smaller than that ofCarodnia, and it is possible that it was as large as a smalltapir.
The lower third molar had a higher trigonid than the thalonid, and the paraconid was well defined, and not fused with the metaconid. Compared to its relativeEtayoa, its metachristid was short, and the precingulid was more robust than inEtayoa andCarodnia. The talonid basin wasn't open lingually as inCarodnia, but closed as inEtayoa. The hypoconid and the hypoconulid were distinct and united by a low and rounded postmetacristid. The entoconid was crenulated and mesially projected towards the distal-lingual side of the metoconid. The distal root under the talonid was not vertical as inCarodnia but oblique to the mesial one.
Notoetayoa gargantuai was first described in 2008, based on fossilized remains found in theChubut Province ofArgentina, inPatagonia, in rocks dated from the Middle Paleocene.Notoetayoa is considered to be a member of theXenungulates, an enigmatic group of South Americanungulates of uncertain affinities. In particular,Notoetayoa is considered very similar toEtayoa, and both genus are sometimes placed within theEtayoidae family. However, compared to its relative,Notoetayoa was of much larger dimensions. The discovery ofNotoetayoa has expanded the knowledge on Etayoiids both geographically and stratigraphically, as until the description ofNotoetayoa they had only been found further north inColombia, in more recent soils from the Late Paleocene to the Early Eocene.
