Post by Melanie on Mar 3, 2011 4:30:45 GMT
There were much more tapir species in the Pleistocene than in the Holocene. One of them was the Rondonia tapir.
A new species of Tapirus (Perissodactyla: Tapiridae) is described from the upper Pleistocene of the Rio
Madeira Formation in Araras, Nova Mamore´ Municipality, Rondonia State, Brazil. Tapirus rondoniensis sp.
nov. is represented by a nearly complete skull with a unique combination of characters that differ from those of
extant and fossil species of Tapirus described from South America. It is diagnosed mainly by its broad frontals
that bear a pneumatization extending to the frontoparietal suture, a high sagittal crest, a weakly molarized P2
lacking a protoloph, and a metaloph that merely reaches the base of the ectoloph. T. rondoniensis sp. nov. is
similar in some respects to T. terrestris, but it retains some primitive dental and cranial character states in
common with T. pinchaque, such as broad frontals and a weakly molarized P2.
www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.1644/10-MAMM-A-144.1
A new species of Tapirus (Perissodactyla: Tapiridae) is described from the upper Pleistocene of the Rio
Madeira Formation in Araras, Nova Mamore´ Municipality, Rondonia State, Brazil. Tapirus rondoniensis sp.
nov. is represented by a nearly complete skull with a unique combination of characters that differ from those of
extant and fossil species of Tapirus described from South America. It is diagnosed mainly by its broad frontals
that bear a pneumatization extending to the frontoparietal suture, a high sagittal crest, a weakly molarized P2
lacking a protoloph, and a metaloph that merely reaches the base of the ectoloph. T. rondoniensis sp. nov. is
similar in some respects to T. terrestris, but it retains some primitive dental and cranial character states in
common with T. pinchaque, such as broad frontals and a weakly molarized P2.
www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.1644/10-MAMM-A-144.1