''Ignigena'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

notoungulate Notoungulata is an extinct order of ungulates that inhabited South America from the early Paleocene to the end of the Pleistocene, living from approximately 61 million to 11,000 years ago. Notoungulates were morphologically diverse, with forms re ...

belonging to the family

Interatheriidae Interatheriidae is an extinct family of notoungulate mammals from South America. Interatheriids are known from the Middle Eocene (Mustersan) to the Early Pleistocene (Uquian).McKenna & Bell, 1997Linares, 2004 These animals were principally small- ...

. The only known species of this genus is ''Ignigena minisculus''. The genus name means ''born from the fire'', referencing the volcanic deposits in which its fossils were found, while the type species name ''minisculus'' means "minuscule", referencing the small size of the animal. It was related to ''

Johnbell ''Johnbell'' is an extinct genus of ungulates in the Family (biology), family Interatheriidae. The only known species belonging to the genus is ''Johnbell hatcheri''. This animal was named after American paleontologist John Bell Hatcher. This ge ...

''. ''I. minisculus'' was a small animal with elongated teeth. Its fossilized remains were found in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, in deposited dating to the Early

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

.Hitz, R.B., Flynn, J.J. & Wyss, A.R. 2006
New basal Interatheriidae (Typotheria, Notoungulata, Mammalia) from the Paleogene of central Chile
American Museum Novitates 3520:1-32.

References

Typotheres Eocene mammals of South America Paleogene Chile Fossils of Chile Fossil taxa described in 2006 Prehistoric placental genera {{notoungulate-stub