Description
Plesiorycteropus is known from a number of subfossil bones, comparable to coverage of some of the poorly known subfossil lemurs, such as Daubentonia robusta. The material includes several skulls, all of which are missing the facial bones, complete long bones such as the femur and humerus (upper arm bone), and other bones, but some elements are still unknown, including most of the skeleton of the hand and foot. There is little reason to assume it was similar in general form to the aardvark. No teeth or jaws referable to Plesiorycteropus have been found, and it is generally assumed that the animal was toothless.
Based on the area of a femur cross-section, MacPhee calculated estimates of body mass. The lowest estimate, based on comparative data from armadillos and pangolins, was 6 kilograms (13 lb) for the smallest femur he had (referable to P. germainepetterae) and the highest estimate, based on comparative data from caviomorph rodents, was 18 kilograms (40 lb) for the largest available femur (P. madagascariensis); estimates from primates fell between those extremes. MacPhee favored the lower estimates, because those were based on armadillos, which have femora similar to those of Plesiorycteropus. On the other hand, the caviomorph model produced a better estimate of brain size in Plesiorycteropus.
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