Equus neogeus – tooth
Specimen number: PV M 16558 a
Specimen link: https://data.nhm.ac.uk/object/d509c00f-4404-4202-98d3-99d52cdbafc8
Taxon: Equus neogeus
Description: Upper molar tooth in 2 parts
Site: Punta Alta, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
Age: Late Pleistocene (between 129,000 and 11,700 years old)
Collection: Collected in 1832 or 1833 by Charles Darwin
Comments: Darwin and his servant, Syms Covington, spent many hours collecting fossils and matrix at Puta Alta in 1832 and 1833. The material they collected was shipped back to England and prepared at the Royal College of Surgeons. It was whilst preparing the collected rocks that this horse tooth was found embedded in the gravel matrix. …it [the specimen] was embedded in the quartz shingle, formed of pebbles strongly cemented together with calcareous matter, which adhered as closely to the tooth in question, as the corresponding matrix did to the associated fossil remains. The tooth was as completely fossilized as the remains of the Mylodon, Megatherium, and Scelidothere; and was so far decomposed, that in the attempt to detach the adherent matrix, it became partially resolved into its component curved lamellae. -- Owen, R. 1838-1840. Part I. Fossil Mammalia. In Darwin, C. R. (ed.), The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, under the command of Captain Fitzroy, R.N. during the years 1832-1836. Smith Elder and Co., London. Pages 108-109*. This specimen is one of two fossil horse teeth found by Darwin on his voyage and belong to the extinct species, Equus neogeus, which was widespread in South America during the Late Pleistocene.
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| Last updated | unknown |
|---|---|
| Created | unknown |
| Format | unknown |
| License | Creative Commons Non-Commercial (Any) |
| Created | 4 years ago |
| id | eb74c5af-cfac-4064-a0f5-5d1afc9f1b21 |
| linked specimen | d509c00f-4404-4202-98d3-99d52cdbafc8 |
| metadata modified | 4 years ago |
| package id | ffd2d455-c0e5-4eb6-85c3-da8ed1e088d3 |
| position | 22 |
| resource group | $genus |
| state | active |