Identification of type materials of the species of Protypotherium Ameghino, 1885 and Patriarchus Ameghino, 1889 (Notoungulata: Interatheriidae) erected by Florentino Ameghino

FERNANDES, M.; FERNICOLA, J. C.; CERDEÑO, E.; REGUERO, M. A.

ZOOTAXA

MAGNOLIA PRESS

Lugar: Auckland; Año: 2018

1175-5326

The first collections of Interatheriinae(Interatheriidae, Notoungulata) were created by the brothers Florentino andCarlos Ameghino, based on fossil specimens collected from diverse outcrops ofArgentina and housed at different national insti-tutions. In order to perform asystematic study of the subfamily, it is essential to revise as much specimensas possible, but first of all those that were used to establish the respectivespecies, that is, the type material. Florentino Ameghino never referred to thecollection number of the type specimens of the species he erected in any of hispublications; this fact added to the occasional absence of illustrations andadequate descriptions, all of which make their identification a complex task.Thus, when studying the species erected by Florentino Ameghino within Protypotheriumand Patriarchus, we recognised a lack of correspondence between some specimensthat appeared labelled as types in the collections and the originalde-scriptions of these species. In this contribution, we identify the typespecimens of the eleven species of Protypotherium and eight of Patriarchus foundedby Florentino Ameghino, housed in the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales?Ber-nardino Rivadavia? (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and the Zoological Museum ofthe University of Copenhagen (Denmark). Three case studies are presented: a)specimens correctly identified; b) specimens erroneously catalogued as typematerial; and c) specimens not established as types in Ameghino?s catalogue,but herein recognised as such. Lectotype and paralec-totype of P. antiquum areherein designated.