Macrauchenia

Macrauchenia was an extinct genus of large, long-necked South American ungulates that lived from the Miocene until the end of the Pleistocene. Its skull had nostrils set high and far back, possibly supporting a short trunk-like snout.

Litopterna: Litopterna was an extinct order of hoofed mammals that evolved in South America. Macrauchenia belonged to this endemic order of South American ungulates.
Macrauchenia patachonica: Macrauchenia patachonica is the best-known species of the extinct genus Macrauchenia. Fossils of this species supply much of the anatomical evidence used to reconstruct the genus.
Charles Darwin: Charles Darwin was an English naturalist whose observations helped establish evolutionary theory. Darwin collected a Macrauchenia fossil in Patagonia during the voyage of the Beagle.
Luján Formation: The Luján Formation is a sequence of late Pleistocene sediments in Argentina rich in vertebrate fossils. Its deposits preserve remains of Macrauchenia from the genus’s final millennia.
Perissodactyl–litoptern relationship: The perissodactyl–litoptern relationship is the proposed evolutionary affinity between living odd-toed ungulates and extinct litopterns. Protein-based evidence supports this relationship, revising older ideas about Macrauchenia’s ancestry.
Meridiungulata: Meridiungulata is a proposed grouping of South America’s extinct native ungulate orders. This broader grouping places litopterns among South America’s distinctive ungulate radiation.
Macrauchenia postcranial skeleton: The postcranial skeleton of Macrauchenia comprises its bones apart from the skull. Its limb and vertebral anatomy informs estimates of body size, posture, and locomotion.
Richard Owen: Richard Owen was a British comparative anatomist who described many fossil vertebrates. Owen named Macrauchenia from Darwin’s fossil and compared it with living mammals.
Patagonia: Patagonia is a large region in southern South America, shared by Argentina and Chile. Darwin found early Macrauchenia remains in Patagonia, where the genus is well represented.
Ancient protein sequencing: Ancient protein sequencing recovers and compares protein fragments from archaeological or fossil remains. Collagen sequences from Macrauchenia fossils have informed its placement among living mammal groups.

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NotoungulataCompared with: It is a familiar South American ungulate relative, but belongs to Litopterna rather than Notoungulata.