Interatheriidae

Interatheriidae is an extinct family of notoungulate mammals from South America. Interatheriids are known from the Late Paleocene or Eocene (Mustersan) to the Late Miocene (Huayquerian).[1][2] These animals were principally small-sized, occupying a habitat like hares, marmots and vizcachas. The majority were very small, like rodents. This was a group that lasted a long time, from the Paleocene to the last of the Miocene.

Interatheriidae Temporal range: Early Eocene-Late Miocene (Mustersan-Huayquerian) ~48–6.8 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	†Notoungulata
Suborder:	†Typotheria
Family:	†Interatheriidae Ameghino 1887
Subfamilies and Genera
†Interatheriinae †Archaeophylus †Argyrohyrax †Caenophilus †Cochilius †Epipatriarchus †Interatherium †Juchuysillu †Medistylus †Miocochilius †Paracochilius †Plagiarthrus †Protypotherium †Munyiziinae †Munyizia †Notopithecinae †Antepithecus †Guilielmoscottia †Notopithecus †Transpithecus

Interatheriidae is one of the mammal groups that best represent the fauna from the Santa Cruz Formation. Particularly Protypotherium with three species is characteristic of the formation: Protypotherium australe, P. praerutilum and P. attenuatum. Another well-known genus is Interatherium, particularly well represented by I. robustum.

References

1. McKenna & Bell, 1997
2. Linares, 2004

Bibliography

• Linares, Omar J. 2004. Bioestratigrafía de la fauna de mamíferos de las formaciones Socorro, Urumaco y Codore (Mioceno Medio-Plioceno Temprano) de la región de Urumaco, Falcón, Venezuela. Paleobiología Neotropical 1. 1–26. Accessed 2017-08-15.
• McKenna, Malcolm C., and Bell, Susan K. 1997. Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press, New York, 631 pp. ISBN 0-231-11013-8

Further reading

• C. Villarroel and L. G. Marshall. 1989. A new fossil land mammal locality of late Miocene (Huayquerian) age from Muyu Huasi, southcentral Bolivia. Boletin del Servicio Geológico de Bolivia, Serie A IV(1):27-40