Toxodon-The Daily Ledger

Toxodon (meaning "bow tooth" in reference to the curvature of the teeth) is an extinct genus of South American mammals from the Late Miocene to early Holocene epochs (Mayoan to Lujanian in the SALMA classification) (about 11.6 million to 11,000 years ago). It is a member of Notoungulata, one of several now extinct orders of South American native ungulates distinct from living perissodactyls and artiodactyls. It was among the largest and last members of its order, and was probably the most common large hoofed mammal in South America of its time.

Taxonomy

Toxodon was one of the last members of Notoungulata, a group of ungulates that had been part of the fauna of South America since the Paleocene. Toxodon was a member of Toxodontidae a large bodied group including similar, vaguely rhinoceros like forms.

Toxodon

Charles Darwin was one of the first to collect Toxodon fossils, after paying 18 pence for a T. platensis skull from a farmer in Uruguay. In The Voyage of the Beagle Darwin wrote, "November 26th – I set out on my return in a direct line for Montevideo. Having heard of some giant's bones at a neighbouring farm-house on the Sarandis, a small stream entering the Rio Negro, I rode there accompanied by my host, and purchased for the value of eighteen pence the head of the Toxodon." Since Darwin discovered that the fossils of similar mammals of South America were different from those in Europe, he invoked many debates about the evolution and natural selection of animals.

Toxodon

In his own words, Darwin wrote down in his journal,

Toxodon

Analysis of collagen sequences obtained from Toxodon as well as from Macrauchenia found that South America's native notoungulates and litopterns form a sister group to perissodactyls, making them true ungulates. This finding has been corroborated by an analysis of mitochondrial DNA extracted from a Macrauchenia fossil, which yielded a date of 66 Ma for the time of the split with perissodactyls.

Evolution

The species Toxodon chapalmalensis is known from the Pliocene (Montehermosan-Chapadmalalan) of Argentina, while Toxodon platensis, the type species, is known from the Pleistocene.

In 2014, a study identifying a new species of toxodontid resolved the phylogenetic relations of the toxodontids, including to Toxodon. The below cladogram was found by the study:

Description

Toxodon was about in body length, with an estimated weight up to and about high at the shoulder and resembled a heavy rhinoceros, with a short and vaguely hippopotamus-like head. Because of the position of its nasal openings, it is believed that Toxodon had a well-developed snout. Toxodon possessed a large, barrel shaped body. It had short stout legs with plantigrade feet with three functional relatively short toes. The hind limbs are longer and raised higher than the front limbs, giving a sloped appearance to the body. Like horses, it had a stay apparatus allowing the knees to be passively locked while standing.

The vertebrae were equipped with high apophyses, which most likely supported the massive weight and muscles as well as its powerful head. Toxodon had broad jaws which were filled with bow shaped teeth and incisors. The molar teeth of Toxodon have no roots and are ever-growing (euhypsodont), like the incisors of rodents and lagomorphs, and often exhibit enamel hypoplasia.

Palaeobiology

Toxodon is suggested to have been capable of running at considerable speed.

Toxodon is believed to have been ecologically plastic, with its diet varying according to local conditions, with an almost totally C3 browsing diet in the Amazon rainforest, mixed feeding C3 in Bahia and the Pampas to almost completely C4 dominated grazing diet in the Chaco.

Extinction

Toxodon became extinct at the end of the Late Pleistocene around 12,000 years as part of the Quaternary extinction event, alongside almost all other large animals in South America. Previous mid-Holocene dates are now thought to be in error. Remains from the Arroyo Seco 2 site in the Pampas are associated with butchered megafauna, but it is unclear if the Toxodon itself was actually butchered or the remains were naturally transported to the site.