Thomashuxleya

Thomashuxleya Temporal range: Early Eocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	†Notoungulata
Suborder:	†Toxodonta
Family:	†Isotemnidae
Genus:	†Thomashuxleya Ameghino, 1901
Species
†T. rostrata Ameghino, 1901 (type species) †T. externa Ameghino, 1901

Thomashuxleya is an extinct genus of notoungulate mammal, named after famous 19th-century biologist Thomas Huxley.

Thomashuxleya was about 1.3 metres (4.3 ft) in length and weighted an estimated 113 kg, with a heavy body and strong limbs.^[1] Its large skull had 44 teeth in its jaws, including large tusks which may have been used to dig around in earth. It had four toes on each foot, and probably walked somewhat like a modern peccary. It was a relatively generalised animal, not specialised for any particular way of life.^[2] There's an almost complete skeleton of this animal in exhibition in the American Museum of Natural History. This skeleton was discovered during the Scarrit expedition to Patagonia, Argentina, that was led by the paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson.

References

1. D. Patterson, Bruce (€2012) Bones, Clones, and Biomes: The History and Geography of Recent Neotropical Mammals p.83
2. Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 251. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.