The South American false horse, Thoatherium, enters the LRT
Today’s taxon looks like a little horse.
Widely recognized as a liptotern, Thoatherium minusculum (Figs 1, 2) is closer to the extant rock hyrax, Procavia, and even closer to traditional liptoterns, like Theosodon and Macrauchenia in the LRT.
Here’s the PBS video on Thoatherium (Fig 1) that inspiried this post.
A single finger or toe terminates each limb,
as in Equus, the extant horse. That’s a convergent trait the LRT was able to handle.
Figure 1. Thoatherium skeleton from Hatcher 1901.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/thoatherium.skeleton588.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/thoatherium.skeleton588.jpg?w=584″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” class=”size-full wp-image-88348″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/thoatherium.skeleton588.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Thoatherium skeleton from Hatcher 1901. ” width=”584″ height=”436″ />
Figure 1. Thoatherium skeleton from Hatcher 1901.
Thaotherium is primitive for Liptoterna in the LRT,
despite the highly derived single finger and toe. That means there is a more primitive three-toed version of Thaotherium waiting to be described.
Dorcatherium is the outgroup taxon. Too few fingers and toe parts were preserved on Dorcatherium to count the digits.
Figure 2. Thoatherium skull in two views. Colors added here.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/thoatherium.skull588.jpg?w=251″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/thoatherium.skull588.jpg?w=584″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” class=”size-full wp-image-88350″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/thoatherium.skull588.jpg” alt=”Figure 2. Thoatherium skull in two views. Colors added here. ” width=”584″ height=”697″ />
Figure 2. Thoatherium skull in two views. Colors added here.
The skull of Thoatherium
(Fig 2) shows the genesis of the dorsal naris found in Macrauchenia and Theosodon. Both taxa have three fingers and three toes.
References
Ameghino F 1887. Enumeracion sistematica de las especias de mamiferos fosiles coleccionados por Carlos Ameghino en los terrenos eocenos de la Patagonia austral. La Plata.
Hatcher JB 1901. Reports of the Princeton University Expeditions to Patagonia, 1896-1899. J. B. Hatcher in charge. Princeton, The University.
Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2024/08/21/the-south-american-false-horse-thoatherium-enters-the-lrt/
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