Hegetotheriidae
Extinct family of mammals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hegetotheriidae is an extinct family of notoungulate mammals known from the Oligocene through the Pliocene of South America.[1][2] The family underwent many sequential radiation events throughout the Cenozoic, which led to Hegetotheriids being among the most diverse of the Typotheria.[3]
| Hegetotheriidae Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| |
| Prosotherium garzoni (=Propachyrucos ameghinorum). | |
 | |
| Life restoration of Hegetotherium | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Placentalia |
| Order: | †Notoungulata |
| Suborder: | †Typotheria |
| Family: | †Hegetotheriidae Ameghino, 1894 |
| Subfamilies and genera | |
| |
Description
Hegetotheriids are anatomically convergent with caviomorph rodents, possessing hypertrophied (enlarged) incisors. The incisors of Hegetotheriids are also hypsodont, scalpriform and procumbent, indicating a diet of abrasive plants. This is due to the fact that Hegetotheriids, living in the southernmost portions of South America, had a diet consisting of both Neotropical and Andean flora.[3]
