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Dinosgacha

Mammal

Pyrotherium

Pyrotherium was a large South American mammal with a heavy body and projecting teeth.

Pyrotherium was a large South American mammal with a heavy body and projecting teeth. Its imposing outline can resemble more familiar large herbivores without making it a true elephant.

Three stages. One companion.

Game artwork
AI-generated Dinosgacha game illustration of Pyrotherium (Pyrotherium romeroi), baby stage.
BabyView full size: Pyrotherium Baby
AI-generated Dinosgacha game illustration of Pyrotherium (Pyrotherium romeroi), juvenile stage.
JuvenileView full size: Pyrotherium Juvenile
AI-generated Dinosgacha game illustration of Pyrotherium (Pyrotherium romeroi), adult stage.
AdultView full size: Pyrotherium Adult

AI-generated, stylized game illustrations. These designs and growth stages are imaginative, not scientific reconstructions.

Pyrotherium at a glance

Diet
Herbivore
Its feeding anatomy is interpreted as adapted to plant food.
When it lived
Oligocene
Group
Pyrotheria
Pyrotheria

Beyond the game

The real Pyrotherium

Pyrotherium was a large South American mammal with a heavy body and projecting teeth. Its imposing outline can resemble more familiar large herbivores without making it a true elephant.

Its projecting teeth and substantial body belonged to an extinct South American mammal lineage. A resemblance to an elephant does not establish a proboscidean identity.

Fossil discoveries

Mendoza, Argentina · approximate locationBolivia · approximate locationChubut, Argentina · approximate locationSanta Cruz, Argentina · approximate locationBolivia · approximate location
Mendoza, ArgentinaBoliviaChubut, ArgentinaSanta Cruz, Argentina

Selected fossil records · present-day map

Map references

Paleobiology Database · E. Cerdeño and B. Vera. 2017. New anatomical data on Pyrotherium (Pyrotheriidae) from the late Oligocene of Mendoza, Argentina. Ameghiniana 54(3):290-306 ↗

Paleobiology Database · B. J. Shockey and F. Anaya-Daza. 2004. Pyrotherium macfaddeni, sp. nov. (late Oligocene, Bolivia) and the pedal morphology of pyrotheres. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24(2):481-488 ↗

Paleobiology Database · R. D. E. MacPhee, S. Hernández del Pino, and A. Kramarz, A. M. Forasiepi, M. Bond, R. B. Sulser. 2021. Cranial morphology and phylogenetic relationships of Trigonostylops wortmani, an Eocene South American native ungulate. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 449(1):1-183 ↗

Paleobiology Database · R. D. E. MacPhee, S. Hernández del Pino, and A. Kramarz, A. M. Forasiepi, M. Bond, R. B. Sulser. 2021. Cranial morphology and phylogenetic relationships of Trigonostylops wortmani, an Eocene South American native ungulate. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 449(1):1-183 ↗

Paleobiology Database · B. J. Shockey and F. Anaya-Daza. 2004. Pyrotherium macfaddeni, sp. nov. (late Oligocene, Bolivia) and the pedal morphology of pyrotheres. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24(2):481-488 ↗

Map: Natural Earth, public domain. Fossil records: Paleobiology Database and linked collections and publications.

Sources & text credits

Explore the references behind this profile.

  1. MNHN figured Pyrotherium romeroi specimen

Original English Dinosgacha summaries informed by the linked scientific and museum references; source publications retain their own rights.

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