Notostylops

{{Short description|Extinct genus of mammals}}

{{Automatic taxobox

|fossil_range = Early-Late Eocene (Casamayoran-Divisaderan)
~{{fossil range|48.6|37.2}}

|image = Notostylops.JPG

|image_caption = Notostylops

|taxon = Notostylops

|authority = Ameghino, 1897

|subdivision_ranks = Species

|subdivision =

| synonyms =

}}

Notostylops ("south pillar face") is a genus of extinct South American ungulates from Eocene Argentina. Fossils of the genus have been found in the Sarmiento, Casamayor, Andesitas Huancache and Koluel Kaike Formations.[https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=43339 Notostylops] at Fossilworks.org

Image:Notostylopss.png|Size comparison of Notostylops murinus with a human.

Image:Notostylops murinus Wikipedia Juandertal.jpg|Life reconstruction.

Description

Notostylops was a very generalized animal, very similar to first eutherians and ungulates. It would have superficially resembled a marmot or a wombat and is suspected to have browsed on low-growing plants. It was probably adapted to a fairly wide range of ecological niches, but its robustness indicates it had some digging adaptations.{{cite book |last1=Croft |first1=Darin |title=Horned Armadillos and Rafting Monkeys |publisher=Indiana University Press}}{{cite journal |last1=Lorente |first1=Malena |last2=Gelfo |first2=Javier |last3=Lopez |first3=Guillermo |title=First skeleton of the notoungulate mammal Notostylops murinus and palaeobiology of Eocene Notostylopidae |journal=Lethaia |doi=10.1111/let.12310 |year=2018 |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=244–259 |s2cid=135127572 }} Its tall skull housed rodent-like incisor teeth. Notostylops was about {{convert|75|cm|in}} long.{{cite book |editor=Palmer, D.|year=1999 |title= The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals|publisher= Marshall Editions|location=London|page= 250|isbn= 978-1-84028-152-1}}

References