Toxodon - fragment of left side of lower jaw...
Specimen number: NHMUK PV M 16564
Specimen Link: http://data.nhm.ac.uk/object/8616654e-ebcb-4007-9f69-d2b9df49dbc3
Taxon: Toxodon
Description: Fragment of left side of lower jaw with 5 cheek teeth (partial p2-3 and m1-3)
Site: Punta Alta, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
Age: Late Pleistocene i.e., between 126,000 and 11,700 years old
Collection: September or October 1832 by Charles Darwin (specific date was not recorded)
Comments: When describing this jaw in 1838-1840, Richard Owen was unsure whether to allocate this to the same species as the cranium found in Uruguay (specimen number NHMUK PV M 16560). He assumed that this jaw fragment was from the same animal as a fragment from the right side of the jaw found at the same site (specimen number NHMUK PV M 16566). It is not clear whether this decision was based on the circumstances of its discovery (e.g., information passed on from Darwin) or whether it was based on the similarity in size of the two specimens.
Toxodon is an extinct herbivorous (plant eating) mammal from South America. It is often reconstructed to look like a cross between a hippopotamus and a rhinoceros, although it is not closely related to either. It was first described by Richard Owen based on specimens collected by Charles Darwin on the Voyage of the Beagle.
Resources
Cite this as
Pip Brewer; Kaitlyn Burton; Adrian Lister (2018). Dataset: Darwin's Fossil Mammals. Resource: Toxodon - fragment of left side of lower jaw with 5 cheek teeth. Natural History Museum Data Portal (data.nhm.ac.uk). https://doi.org/10.5519/0086786
Retrieved: 00:25 09 Oct 2021 (GMT)
Additional Information
| Last updated | unknown |
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| License | Creative Commons Non-Commercial (Any) |
| Created | 4 years ago |
| id | a911dc26-0c26-4267-97bb-54f0e1fda26b |
| metadata modified | 4 years ago |
| package id | ffd2d455-c0e5-4eb6-85c3-da8ed1e088d3 |
| position | 4 |
| state | active |