Description
Specimen | Organ | Currently identified as Ferugliotherium? | Length (mm) | Width (mm) | Height (mm) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
MACN Pv-RN 20 | Right mf2 | Yes (holotype) | 1.70 | 1.70 | – |
MACN Pv-RN 174 | Left mf1 | Yes (holotype of Vucetichia gracilis) | 2.20 | 1.60 | – |
MACN Pv-RN 175 | Right mf1 | Yes | 2.10 | 1.40 | – |
MACN Pv-RN 248 | Left MF1 | Yes | 2.50 | 1.70 | – |
MACN Pv-RN 249 | dP2/dP3? | Possibly | 1.50 | 0.70 | – |
MACN Pv-RN 250 | dP2/dP3? | Possibly | – | – | – |
MACN Pv-RN 251 | dp1/dp2/dp3? | Possibly | 0.85 | 0.50 | – |
MACN Pv-RN 252 | Lower premolar? | Not even certainly mammalian | – | – | – |
MACN Pv-RN 253 | Right mf1 | Yes | – | 1.50 | – |
MACN Pv-RN 701A | Left i1 | Yes | – | 1.30 | 2.40 |
MACN Pv-RN 701B | Left i1 | Yes | – | – | – |
MACN Pv-RN 701C | Right i1 | Yes | – | – | – |
MACN Pv-RN 702A | I2 | Yes | – | 1.10 | 1.50 |
MACN Pv-RN 702B | I2 | Yes | – | – | – |
MACN Pv-RN 702C | I2 | Yes | – | 0.90 | 1.20 |
MACN Pv-RN 702D | I2 | Yes | – | – | – |
MACN Pv-RN 970 (or 254) | Right i1 | No (referred to Gondwanatherium) | ~40 (broken) | 3.1 | 6.3 |
MACN Pv-RN 975 | Dentary fragment with p4 | Possibly | 4.8 (p4) | 0.9 (p4) | – |
MLP 88-III-28-1 | Left mf1 | Yes | 2.2 | 1.5 | – |
Ferugliotherium is known from isolated teeth, the assignment of some of which is controversial. The material from the Los Alamitos Formation, which is mostly in the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia (MACN) in Buenos Aires, with one tooth in the Museo de La Plata (MLP) in La Plata, Argentina, has been thoroughly described; while there are additional Ferugliotherium fossils from the La Colonia Formation, they have not been described in detail. Although the fragmentary nature of the known fossils of Ferugliotherium makes it impossible to determine its dental formula with certainty, Gurovich suggested that it had one incisor (possibly two in the upper jaw), no canines, one or two premolars, and two molars on each side of the lower and upper jaws. However, on the basis of comparisons with Sudamerica, which is known to have had four lower molariforms (molar-like teeth, either premolars or molars) in its lower jaw, Pascual and Ortiz-Jaureguizar suggested in 2007 that Ferugliotherium may also have had four lower molars.
Ferugliotherium was much smaller than the sudamericids Gondwanatherium and Sudamerica, and its body mass is estimated to have been about 70 g (2.5 oz). Unlike the hypsodont (high-crowned) sudamericids, Ferugliotherium has brachydont (low-crowned) molariform teeth that are supported by at least two roots, not a single massive root. The direction of wear on the teeth indicates that Ferugliotherium, Gondwanatherium, and Sudamerica all had palinal jaw movement (i.e., the lower jaw moved backwards during the power stroke of chewing)—a feature otherwise only seen in multituberculates among mammals.
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