Tapirus mesopotamicus

Tapirus mesopotamicus Temporal range: Pleistocene
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Tapiridae
Genus:	Tapirus
Species:	†T. mesopotamicus
Binomial name
†Tapirus mesopotamicus Ferrero & Noriega, 2007

Tapirus mesopotamicus is an extinct species of tapir that lived in South America during the Pleistocene. It is considered a possible ancestor of all extant South American tapirs. ^{[citation needed]}

Description

This species was originally described by B. S. Ferrero and J. I. Noriega in 2007. Their description was based on quite complete cranial pieces exhumed from sediments of the Luján River in the Diamante department, in the province of Entre Ríos, in central-eastern Argentina.

The type specimen is CICYTTP-PV-M-1-23, a skull and proximal fragment of the right jaw. Its type locality is the north bank of the Ensenada stream, on a Pleistocene lake-fluvial horizon in the "Arroyo Feliciano formation" of Argentina.

It is described as having a long and robust skull, with a short rostrum with respect to the total length of the skull. The skull has a single, non-arched

An extensive study of all the Tapirus materials collected in the fossil deposits of South America concluded that this is a valid species.^[5]

On the basis of morphometric analysis of its teeth, it is concluded that Tapirus mesopotamicus is significantly smaller than the larger fossil or living tapirs, such as