View source for Carodnia

{{Italic title}}
{{Taxobox
| name = ''Carodnia''<ref>{{Paleodb|43514|Carodnia}}. Retrieved May 2013.</ref>
| fossil_range = [[Paleocene]] - [[Eocene]]
| image = Carodnia_vieirai.JPG
| image_caption = ''Carodnia vieirai''
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
| phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]]
| classis = [[Mammal]]ia
| subclassis = [[Theria]]
| infraclassis = [[Eutheria]]
| superordo = †[[Meridiungulata]]
| ordo = †[[Xenungulata]]
| ordo_authority = {{Harvnb|Paula Couto|1952}}
| familia = †'''Carodniidae'''
| familia_authority = {{Harvnb|Paula Couto|1952}}
| genus = †'''''Carodnia'''''
| genus_authority = {{Harvnb|Simpson|1935}}
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
* †'''''C. vieirai'''''<br /><small>{{Harvnb|Paula Couto|1952}}</small>
* †'''''C. cabrerai'''''<br /><small>{{Harvnb|Simpson|1935}}</small>
* †'''''C. feruglioi'''''<br /><small>{{Harvnb|Simpson|1935}}</small>
* †'''''C. inexpectans'''''<ref>{{Cite journal|author1=Pierre-Olivier Antoine |author2=Guillaume Billet |author3=Rodolfo Salas-Gismondi |author4=Julia Tejada Lara |author5=Patrice Baby |author6=Stéphane Brusset |author7=Nicolas Espurt |year=2015 |title=A New ''Carodnia'' Simpson, 1935 (Mammalia, Xenungulata) from the Early Eocene of Northwestern Peru and a Phylogeny of Xenungulates at Species Level |journal=Journal of Mammalian Evolution |volume=in press |issue= |pages= |doi=10.1007/s10914-014-9278-1 }}</ref>
| synonyms = ''Ctalecarodnia'' <small>{{Harvnb|Simpson|1935}}</small>
}}

'''''Carodnia''''' is an extinct genus of [[Meridiungulata|South American ungulate]] known from the [[Paleocene]] of [[Brazil]] and [[Argentina]], and the [[Eocene]] of [[Peru]].<ref name="Paleo-mamm">{{Cite web
 | title = Pantodonts, uintatheres and xenungulates: The first large herbivorous mammals
 | url = http://www.paleocene-mammals.de/large_herbivores.htm
 | publisher = Paleocene Mammals | date = August 2005 | accessdate = May 2013}}</ref>
''Carodnia'' is placed in the order ''[[Xenungulata]]''  together with ''[[Etayoa]]'' and ''[[Notoetayoa]]''.<ref>{{Cite web
 | title =Xenungulata | publisher = Palaeocritti
 | url = http://www.palaeocritti.com/by-group/eutheria/xenungulata | accessdate = May 2013}}</ref>

''Carodnia'' is the largest mammal known from the Paleocene of South America.  It was heavily built and had large canines and cheek teeth with a crested pattern like the [[Uintatheriidae|uintatheres]] to which it can be related.<ref name="Paleo-mamm" />  In life, it would have been a tapir-sized animal.  It bore strong resemblances to [[dinocerata]]ns, although without tusks or [[ossicone]]s.

==Description==
Simpson noted that ''Carodnia'' resembles the primitive [[Uintatheriidae|uintathere]] ''[[Probathyopsis]]''.  Although Paula Couto also made the same favourable comparison, he placed ''Carodnia'' in the new order Xenungulata.  {{Harvnb|Gingerich|1985}} concluded that ''Probathyopsis'' shares several dental characteristics with ''Carodnia'', but that in the latter the anterior dentition of is more reduced, the second lower and upper premolars are enlarged and pointed, and that the first and second molars are more lophodont.  Gingerich thought the differences could justify a separate family for ''Carodnia'' but proposed that it should be included in ''Probathyopsis''.  {{Harvnb|Cifelli|1983}} grouped ''Carodnia'' with [[Pyrotheria]] but later concluded that this was a mistake.<ref name="Gingerich">{{Harvnb|Gingerich|1985|pp=130–1}}</ref>

''Carodnia'' is characterized by bilophodont<ref name="loph" group="explain">A loph is a crest on the crown of a tooth.  A bilophodont tooth has two parallel lophs running transversally across the tooth.</ref> first and second molars and more complex lophate<ref name="loph" group="explain" /> third molars, which suggests possible links to pyrotheres, uintatheres, and even [[Arctocyonidae|arctocyonids]].  The bones of the foot are short and robust and the digits terminate in broad, flat, and unfissured hoof-like unguals, unlike any other known meridiungulate.<ref>{{Harvnb|Rose|2006|loc=Xenungulata, p. 238}}</ref>

''C. feruglioi'' and ''C. cabrerai'' (from the [[Riochican]] [[South American Land Mammal Age|SALMA]] of [[Patagonia]])<ref name="Gingerich" /> are known from only a few dental remains.  ''C. vieirai'' (from the [[Itaboraian]] SALMA of [[Itaborai]])<ref name="Gingerich" /> is known from much more complete dental, cranial, and postcranial remains including an almost complete mandible, many vertebrae, and several partial leg bones.<ref>{{Harvnb|Paula Couto|1952| pp=371–2}}</ref>

When {{Harvnb|Simpson|1935}} first described ''Carodnia'' and ''Ctalecarodnia'', the former was known only from a left lower molar which was lacking in the latter, making a comparison very difficult.  {{Harvnb|Paula Couto|1952}}, based on considerably more complete remains, concluded that the molars and premolars of both are indistinguishable and therefore reduced ''Ctalecarodnia'' to a synonym.  Paula Couto also noted that the dentition of ''C. cabrerai'' and ''C. feruglioi'' are similar except in size, and that ''C. feruglioi'' can be a juvenile ''C. cabrerai'', but nevertheless left them as two distinct species.<ref>{{Harvnb|Paula Couto|1952| pp=372–3}}</ref>

==Explanations==
{{Reflist|group=explain}}

==Notes==
{{Commons category|Carodnia}}
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite journal
 | last = Cifelli | first = Richard
 | title = Eutherian tarsals from the late Paleocene of Brazil
 | year = 1983 | journal = American Museum Novitates | volume = 2761
 | url = http://hdl.handle.net/2246/5252 | accessdate = May 2013
 | oclc = 10601277 | ref = harv}}<!-- {{Harvnb|Cifelli|1983}} -->
* {{Cite book
 | last = Gingerich | first = Philip D.
 | chapter = South American Mammals in the Paleocene of North America | pages = 123–137
 | title = The Great American Biotic Interchange
 | editor1-last = Stehli | editor1-first = Francis G.
 | editor2-last = Webb | editor2-first = S. David
 | series = Topics in Geobiology | volume = 4
 | year = 1985 | publisher = Springer
 | url = http://www-personal.umich.edu/~gingeric/PDFfiles/PDG168_SAMammPalNA.pdf | accessdate = May 2013
 | isbn = 978-1-4684-9183-8 | doi = 10.1007/978-1-4684-9181-4_5 | oclc = 716806225 | ref = harv}}<!-- {{Harvnb|Gingerich|1985}} -->
* {{Cite book
 | last = Rose | first = Kenneth David
 | title = The beginning of the age of mammals
 | year = 2006 | publisher = JHU Press | location = Baltimore
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3bs0D5ix4VAC
 | isbn = 0801884721 | ref = harv}}<!-- {{Harvnb|Rose|2006}} -->
* {{Cite journal
 | last = Paula Couto | first = Carlos, de
 | title = Fossil mammals from the beginning of the Cenozoic in Brazil. Condylarthra, Litopterna, Xenungulata, and Astrapotheria
 | year = 1952 | journal = Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History | volume = 99 | pages = 355–394
 | url =  http://hdl.handle.net/2246/417 | accessdate = May 2013
 | oclc = 18189741 | ref = harv}}<!-- {{Harvnb|Paula Couto|1952}} -->
* {{Cite journal
 | last = Simpson | first = George Gaylord
 | title = Descriptions of the oldest known South American mammals, from the Río Chico Formation
 | year = 1935 | journal = American Museum Novitates | volume = 793
 | series = Publications of the Scarritt Expeditions, no. 24
 | url = http://hdl.handle.net/2246/2125 | accessdate = May 2013
 | oclc = 44083494 | ref = harv}}<!-- {{Harvnb|Simpson|1935}} -->
{{Refend}}

[[Category:Paleocene mammals]]
[[Category:Meridiungulata]]
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1935]]