Eomakhaira is an extinct genus of thylacosmilid sparassodont known from the Oligocene Abanico Formation of Chile. It contains a single species, Eomakhaira molossus.
| Eomakhaira | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | †Sparassodonta |
| Family: | †Thylacosmilidae |
| Genus: | †Eomakhaira
Engelman et al, 2020 |
| Species: | †E. molossus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Eomakhaira molossus
Engelman et al, 2020 | |
Description[]
Thylacosmiline sparassodonts (previously described as thylacosmilids) are among the most iconic groups of endemic South American Cenozoic mammals due to their distinctive morphology and convergent resemblance to saber-toothed placental carnivores. However, the early evolution of this group and its relationship to other sparassodonts remains poorly understood, primarily because only highly specialized Neogene taxa such as Thylacosmilus, Anachlysictis, and Patagosmilus are well known. Here, we describe a new Paleogene sparassodont, Eomakhaira molossus, from the Cachapoal locality of central Chile, the first sparassodont reported from early Oligocene strata of the Abanico Formation. Eomakhaira shares features with both Neogene thylacosmilines and Paleogene “proborhyaenids,” and phylogenetic analyses recover this taxon as sister to the clade of Patagosmilus and Thylacosmilus. This broader clade, in turn, is nested within the group conventionally termed Proborhyaenidae. [1]
Proborhyaenidae is an extinct family of metatherian mammals of the order Sparassodonta, which lived in South America from the Eocene (Mustersan) until the Oligocene (Deseadan). Sometimes it has been included as a subfamily of their relatives, the borhyaenids (as Proborhyaeninae). Body mass estimates suggest that proborhyaenids could weigh up to 150 kilograms (330 lb), making them some of the largest known metatherians. Proborhyaenid remains have been found in western Bolivia, Uruguay, southern Brazil, and the provinces of Mendoza, Salta, and Chubut, in Argentina.