''Proticia'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of mammals belonging to the order

Pyrotheria Pyrotheria is an order of extinct meridiungulate mammals. These mastodon-like ungulates include the genera '' Baguatherium'', '' Carolozittelia'', ''Colombitherium'', '' Griphodon'', '' Propyrotherium'', '' Proticia'', and ''Pyrotherium''. T ...

. It lived during the Early

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

, and its fossilized remains were discovered in South America.

Description

This animal is only known from a fragmentary mandible preserving several teeth, and it is therefore impossible to reconstruct its exact appearance. ''Proticias teeth had a bunodont structure, and their characteristic were similar to its enigmatic relative ''

Colombitherium ''Colombitherium'' is an extinct mammal from Late Eocene Colombia. It has originally been assigned to the order Pyrotheria and the family Colombitheriidae, although a later detailed analysis of the fossil questions that classification. A fossi ...

''; the molars and

premolar The premolars, also called premolar teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant in the permanent set of teeth, making eight premolars total in the mouth ...

s, however, possessed more bulbous cusps and the lophids had disappeared.

Classification

''Proticia venezuelensis'' was first described in 1977 by

Bryan Patterson Bryan Patterson (born 10 March 1909 in London; died 1 December 1979 in Chicago) was an American paleontologist at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Life and career Bryan Patterson was the son of the soldier, engineer and author ...

, based on an incomplete mandible preserving the third premolar and the first molar. It is likely that ''Proticia'' was similar to ''Colombitherium'', another enigmatic large mammal from the South American Eocene, probably more recent. Patterson found the remains of ''Proticia'' in the

Lara State Lara State ( es, Estado Lara, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Barquisimeto. Lara State covers a total surface area of and, in 2015, had a census population of 2,019,211. Toponymy The state is named after a notable ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

, in soils probably belonging to the upper part of the Trujillo Formation (Lower Eocene). It is unclear, however, whether the fossils of ''Proticia'' also date back to the Early Eocene.

Bibliography

*B. Patterson. 1977. A primitive pyrothere (Mammalia, Notoungulata) from the early Tertiary of Northwestern Venezuela. Fieldiana Geology 33(22):397-422 *Billet, G., Orliac, M., Antoine, P.-O., Jaramillo, C. A. 2010. New observations and reinterpretation on the enigmatic taxon Colombitherium (?Pyrotheria, Mammalia) from Colombia. Palaeontology, 53(2): 319-325. {{Taxonbar, from=Q110464899 Meridiungulata Eocene mammals of South America Fossils of Venezuela Fossil taxa described in 1977 Prehistoric placental genera