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LITOPTERNA

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 792 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LITOPTERNA , a suborder of See also:

South See also:American See also:Tertiary ungulate mammals typified by See also:Macrauchenia, and taking their name (" smooth-See also:heel ") from the presence of a See also:flat facet on the heel-See also:bone, or calcaneum for the See also:articulation of the fibula. The more typical members of the See also:group were digitigrade animals, recalling in See also:general build the llamas and horses; they have small brains, and a facet on the calcaneum for the fibula. The cheek-dentition approximates more or less to the perissodactyle type. Both the terminal faces of the cervical vertebrae are flat, the femur carries a third trochanter, the bones of both the carpus and See also:tarsus are arranged in linear See also:series, and the number of toes, although commonly three, varies between one and five, the third or See also:middle See also:digit being invariably the largest. Of the two families, the first is the Proterotheriidae, which exhibits, in respect of the reduction of the digits, a curious See also:parallelism to the equine See also:line among the See also:Perissodactyla; in this feature, as well as in the reduction of the See also:teeth, it is more specialized than the second See also:family. The molar teeth approximate to the See also:Palaeotherium type, but have a more or less strongly See also:developed median See also:longitudinal cleft. The three-toed type is represented by Diadiaphorus, in which the dental See also:formula is i.i,c.?, p m.l,and the feet are very like those of Hipparion. The cervical vertebrae are of normal See also:form, the See also:orbit (as in the second pair of upper incisors are somewhat elongated, and have a See also:gap between and behind them, while the See also:outer See also:lower incisors are larger than the inner pair, the canines being small. The See also:skull has a See also:short muzzle, with elongated nasals. Remains of this and the other representatives of the group are found in the Patagonian See also:Miocene. In Proterotherium, which includes smaller forms having the same, or nearly the same, dental formula, the molar teeth differ from those of Diadiaphorus by the deeper median longitudinal cleft, which completely divides the See also:crown into an inner and an outer moiety, the two cones of the inner See also:half being See also:united. According to the description given by See also:Argentine palaeontologists, this genus is also three-toed, the single-toed representative of the family being Thoatherium, in which the lateral metapodials, or splint-bones, are even more reduced than in the See also:Equidae.

In the second family—Macraucheniidae—the dentition is See also:

complete (See also:forty-four) and without a gap, the crowns of nearly all the teeth being of nearly See also:uniform height, while the upper molars are distinguished from those of the Proterotheriidae by a See also:peculiar arrangement of their two inner cones, and the See also:elevation of the antero-posterior portion of the cingu]um so as to form an extra See also:pit on the crown. To describe this arrangement in detail is impossible.here, but it may be stated that the two inner cones are closely approximated, and separated by a narrow V-shaped notch on the inner See also:side of the crown. The elongated cervical vertebrae are peculiar in that the See also:arch is perforated by the artery in the same manner as in the llamas. In the See also:Santa Cruz beds of See also:Patagonia the family is represented by the generalized genus Oxyodontotherium (in which Theosodon may apparently be included). It comprises animals ranging up to the See also:size of a See also:tapir, in which the nostrils were more or less in the normal anterior position, and the cheek-teeth short-crowned, with the inner cones of the upper molars well developed and separated by a notch, and the pits of moderate See also:depth. The last upper premolar is simpler than the molars, and the canine, which may be See also:double-rooted, is like the earlier premolars. The See also:radius and ulna, like the See also:tibia and fibula, are distinct, and the metapodials rudimentary. On the other See also:hand, in Macrauchenia, which was a much larger See also:llama-like See also:animal, the skull is elongated and narrow, with rudimentary nasals, and the See also:aperture of the See also:nose placed nearly on the line of the eyes and directed up-wards, the muzzle not improbably terminating in a short See also:trunk. Deep pits on the forehead probably served for the See also:attachment of See also:special muscles connected with the latter. Very curious is the structure of the cheek-teeth, which are high-crowned, with the two inner cones reduced to See also:mere points, and the pits on the crown-See also:surface large and See also:funnel-shaped. In fact, the perissodactyle type is almost lost. The cervical vertebrae and See also:limb-bones are very See also:long, the radius and ulna being completely, and the tibia and fibula partially, united.

The typical M. patagonica is a See also:

Pleistocene form as large as a See also:camel, ranging from Patagonia to See also:Brazil, but remains of smaller See also:species have been found in the See also:Pliocene (?) of See also:Bolivia and See also:Argentina. The imperfectly known Scalabrinia of the Argentine Pliocene appears to occupy a position intermediate between Oxyodontotherium and Macrauchenia, having the nasal aperture situated in the middle of the length of the skull, and the crowns of the cheek-teeth nearly as tall as in the latter, but the lower molars furnished with a projecting See also:process in the hinder valley, similar to one occurring in those of the former. In this See also:place may be mentioned another See also:strange ungulate from the Santa Cruz beds of Patagonia, namely, Astrapotherium, sometimes regarded as typifying a suborder by itself. This huge ungulate had cheek-teeth singularly like those of a See also:rhinoceros, and an enormous pair of tusk-like upper incisors, recalling the upper canines of See also:Machaerodus on an enlarged See also:scale. In the lower See also:jaw are two large tusk-like canines, between which are three pairs of curiously-formed spatulate incisors, and in both jaws there is a long diastema. The dental formula appears to be i.3i c.9, p., m.3. Next Astrapotherium may be provisionally placed the genus Homalodontotherium, of which the teeth have much lower crowns, and are of a less decidedly rhinocerotic type than in Astrapotherium, and the whole dentition forms an even and unbroken series. The bodies of the cervical vertebrae are short, with flattened articular 792 surfaces, the humerus has an enormous deltoid See also:crest, suggestive of fossorial See also:powers, and the femur is flattened, with a third trochanter. According to the Argentine palaeontologists, the carpus is of the alternating type, and the terminal phalanges of the pentedactyle feet are bifid, and very like those of See also:Edentata. Indeed, this type of See also:foot shows many edentate resemblances. The astragalus is square and flattened, articulating directly with the navicular, although not with the cuboid, and having a slightly See also:convex facet for the tibia. From the structure of the above-mentioned type of foot, which is stated to have been found in association with the skull, it has been suggested that Homalodontotherium should be placed in the See also:Ancylopoda (q.v.), but, to say nothing of the different form of the cheek-teeth, all the other South American Santa Cruz ungulates are so distinct from those of other countries that this seems unlikely.

It may be suggested that we have rather to See also:

deal with an instance of parallelism—a view supported by the parallelism to the Equidae presented by certain members of the Proterotheriidae. (R.

End of Article: LITOPTERNA

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