Pyrotheria

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Pyrotheria
The Pyrotheria Pyrotherium romeroi with Rhynchippus equinus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Subclass: Theria Infraclass: Eutheria Order: Pyrotheria
Families
Pyrotheriidae

Pyrotheria is an order of extinct hoofed mammals. These mastodon-like ungulates include the genera Pyrotherium, Carlozittelia, and Griphodon.

They had the appearance of large, digitigrade, extinct, tapirlike mammals with relatively short, slender limbs and five-toed feet with broad, flat phalanges; restricted to the Paleocene deposits of Brazil and Argentina.

Only one genus (Carodnia) constitutes the single family (Carodniidae) in the order. The dentition is complete with strong, procumbent, chisel-shaped incisors, strong sharp-pointed canines, and low-crowned cheek teeth with bilophodont molars. The affinities of the Xenungulata remain uncertain. Affinities with the Dinocerata are strongly supported by the dental characteristics, but the structure of the tarsus suggests that the xenungulates had common ancestry with the Pyrotheria, to which they were tentatively assigned originally. The Pyrotheria also share some traits with the Embrithopoda. It remains to be seen which of these views will turn out to be right. This means that the Pyrotheria can be members of no less than three major cladistic branches of placential mammals: Atlantogenata (if xenungulates are the closest relatives), Laurasiatheria (if dinoceratans are the closest relatives) and Afrotheria (if embrithopods are the closest relatives, which is unlikely).