Nesodon

Nesodon ("island tooth")^[3] is a genus of Miocene mammal belonging to the extinct order Notoungulata which inhabited southern South America during the Late Oligocene to Miocene living from 29.0 to 16.3 Ma and existed for approximately 12.7 million years. ^[4] It had a relatively large size, weighing up to 554 kg (1221 lbs) and reaching 1.5 m in height.^[5]

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Quick Facts Scientific classification, Type species ...

Nesodon Temporal range: Early Miocene (Deseadan-Friasian) ~23.03–15.5 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N

Nesodon imbricatus skeleton

Nesodon imbricatus skull
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	†Notoungulata
Family:	†Toxodontidae
Subfamily:	†Nesodontinae
Genus:	†Nesodon Owen, 1846
Type species
†Nesodon imbricatus
Species^[1]
N. conspurcatus Ameghino 1887 N. cornutus N. imbricatus Owen 1846 N. taweretus Forasiepi et al. 2014
Synonyms^[2]
Lithops Ameghino 1887 Adelphotherium Ameghino 1887 Gronotherium Ameghino 1887 Atryptherium Ameghino 1887 Rhadinotherium Ameghino 1887 Protoxodon Ameghino 1887 Acrotherium Ameghino 1891 Palaeolithops Ameghino 1891 Xotoprodon Ameghino 1891 Nesotherium Mercerat 1891

Taxonomy

Thumb — *N. imbricatus* restoration by Charles R. Knight, 1905

Nesodon was named by Owen (1846). It was assigned to Toxodontidae by Carroll (1988). It was an early member of the family Toxodontidae, which included the well-known Pleistocene genus Toxodon. Like almost all toxodontids, Nesodon was endemic to South America. In particular, fossils of Nesodon are known from late early Miocene (Santacrucian SALMA) deposits of Argentina and Chile.^[6]

Three species of Nesodon are recognized including a larger species, N. imbricatus, and a smaller species, N. conspurcatus.^[7] A poorly known and possibly invalid third species, N. cornutus, was similar to N. imbricatus but may have had a small horn on its head. All species of Nesodon were larger than species of the contemporary toxodontid Adinotherium.

The dentition of Nesodon shows features typical of living grazing (grass-eating) mammals, but a study of wear on the enamel of N. imbricatus suggests that it was a browser (leaf eater) that may have supplemented its diet with fruit or bark.^[8]

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Classification

In 2014, a study identifying a new species of Nesodon, N. taweretus, resolved the families phylogenetic relations, deriving the cladogram shown below:^[9]

Pampahippus arenalesi

Rhynchippus spp.

	Scarritia canquelensis

	Leonitinia gaudri

Toxodontidae

Proadinotherium leptognathum

Adinotherium spp.

	Nesodon taweretus

	Nesodon imbricatus

Palyeidodon obtusum

Hyperoxotodon speciosus

	Nonotherium henningi

	Xotodon spp.

Andinotoxodon bolivariensis

	Dinotoxodon paranensis

	Toxodon platensis

Gyrinodon quassus

	Ocnerotherium intermedium

	Hoffstetterius imperator

Posnanskytherium desaguaderoi

Pisanodon nazari

Pericotoxodon platignathus

	Calchaquitherium mixtum

	Mixotoxodon larensis

	Paratrigodon euguii

	Trigodon gaudri

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Taxonomy

Classification

Distribution

References

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