Top Posts Tagged with #thoatherium

It's time for a little bit more recent PBS Eons work this week:

• The metatherian predator Arctodictis and the litoptern ungulate Thoatherium from "The Mystery of South America's False Horses"

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Pony-ish. Thoatherium was a genus of small odd-toed ungulates which dwelled in Early Miocene Patagonia. In a bit of convergent evolution with horses, they walked on a single hooved digit. Thaotherium took it further, though; horses retain vestigal traces of their lost second and third digits, while these little guys truly just had one long modified toe per-foot. None of their order, the Litopterns, survived to modern day.

I've been on a PBS Eons kick. Based on their bones and vibes, assume no scientific accuracy. Colouration inspired by pudú fawns. 1901 skeletal reconstruction here.

#it's a plump little thing because most modern small deer are plump little things #it has a little mane because i liked the idea of it having a little mane #my ipad keeps showing things much more vibrantly and brightly than it displays on any other device. I need to fiddle with the settings #had to brighten the fuck out of this on my laptop and it's still darker than intended #paleoart #thoatherium #Art #Mine

On the edge of a Miocene South American grassland, a group of Thoatherium is ambushed by a Phorusrhacos. They scatter, but the terror bird catches one of the litopterns, lifts it high up into the air, and SLAMS it down on the ground to kill it. Other nearby animals have mixed feelings about this situation. Tupinambis flees for its life, while Dryornis flies a little closer in case it can have a bit for itself. Hapalops and Astrapotherium are unbothered and have business of their own to take care of.

While this animal might look like some sort of deer or horse, it was actually only distantly related to any modern hoofed mammals.

This is Thoatherium from the Early Miocene (~17-16 mya) of Argentina. About 70cm long (2′3″), it was related to the weird llama-like Macrauchenia and was part of an extinct group of ungulates (the Meridiungulata) which evolved during South America’s time as an isolated island continent.

It was adapted for fast running, with long legs and only a single horse-like hoof on each foot -- but it was even more one-toed than modern horses are, having no remaining “splint bones” from vestigial side toes.

#science illustration #paleontology #paleoart #palaeoblr #thoatherium #litoptern #meridiungulata #mesaxonia #ungulate #mammal #south america #convergent evolution #art #south american weirdness #small cute horse-mimic -- so it's basically a fossil my little pony

The horse-mimic, Thoatherium (1887)

Phylum : Chordata Class : Mammalia Order : Litopterna Family : Proterotheriidae Genus : Thoatherium Species : T. minusculum, T. crepidatum

Early Miocene (20 Ma)

70 cm long (size)

South America (map)

With a length of 70 centimetres, the gazelle-like Thoatherium was the smallest representative of the order Litopterna. Judging from its long legs, it was a fast runner. Thoatherium had remarkably reduced toes; only one horse-like hoof remained. Thoatherium even lacked splint bones, which are remnants of the second and fourth toe found in modern horses. Judging from its generalised teeth, Thoatherium fed on soft leaves rather than on tough grasses.

#thoatherium #animal #mammal #horse #miocene #south america