''Promacrauchenia'' is an extinct genus of macraucheniids that lived during the Late Miocene to Late Pliocene epochs of what is now

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

. It belongs to the subfamily Macraucheniinae, which also includes ''

Huayqueriana ''Huayqueriana'' is an extinct genus of South American litoptern, related to ''Macrauchenia'', and belonging to the same family, Macraucheniidae. It was formerly known as ''Macrauchenidia latidens'', described in 1939 by Cabrera, but redefined as ...

'', ''

Macrauchenia ''Macrauchenia'' ("long llama", based on the now-invalid llama genus, ''Auchenia'', from Greek "big neck") is an extinct genus of large ungulate native to South America from the Pliocene or Middle Pleistocene to the end of the Late Pleistocene. I ...

'', and ''

Xenorhinotherium ''Xenorhinotherium'' is an extinct genus of macraucheniine macraucheniids, native to northern South America during the Pleistocene and Holocene epoch, closely related to ''Macrauchenia'' of Patagonia. The type species is ''X. bahiense''.

.'' Fossils of this genus have been found in the Ituzaingó, Andalhuala, and

Cerro Azul Formation The Cerro Azul Formation (), also described as Epecuén Formation, is a formation (geology), geological formation of Late Miocene (Tortonian, or Huayquerian in the South American land mammal age, SALMA classification) age in the Colorado Basin, Arg ...

s of Argentina.

Classification

The genus ''Promacrauchenia'' was first described by Florentino Ameghino in 1904, on the basis of fossils found in Patagonia in lower Pliocene deposits and which Ameghino himself, years earlier, had described as a species of ''Macrauchenia'', as ''M. antiqua'' . In addition to the type species, ''Promacrauchenia'' ''antiqua'', other species have been assigned to this genus: ''P. calchaquiorum'', ''P. chapadmalense'', ''P. ensenadense'', ''P. kraglievichi'' and ''P. yepesi''. ''Promacrauchenia'' was a member of the Macraucheniidae, a group of litopterns whose evolution led to the development of camel-like forms with strange nasal bones. ''Promacrauchenia'', in particular, was a specialized macraucheniid, perhaps directly ancestral to genera such as ''Macrauchenia'' and ''Windhausenia''. The following cladogram of the Macraucheniidae is based on McGrath ''et al''. 2018, showing the position of ''Promacrauchenia''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6087797 Macraucheniids Prehistoric placental genera Miocene mammals of South America Pliocene mammals of South America Uquian Chapadmalalan Montehermosan Huayquerian Neogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Neogene Bolivia Fossils of Bolivia Taxa named by Florentino Ameghino Fossil taxa described in 1904 Ituzaingó Formation Cerro Azul Formation