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

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

ZOOTAXA

MAGNOLIA PRESS

Lugar: Auckland; Año: 2018 vol. 83 p. 473 - 498

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 institutions. In order to perform asystematic study of the subfamily, it is essential to revise as much specimens aspossible, 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 makes their identification a complex task. Thus, when studying the species erected by Florentino Ameghinowithin Protypotherium and Patriarchus, we recognised a lack ofcorrespondence between some specimens that appeared labelled as types in thecollections and the original descriptions of these species. In this contribution,we identify the type specimens of the eleven species of Protypotherium and eight of Patriarchusfounded by Florentino Ameghino, housed in the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales?Bernardino Rivadavia? (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and the Zoological Museum ofthe University of Copenhagen (Denmark). Three case studies are presented: a) specimenscorrectly identified; b) specimens erroneously catalogued as type material; andc) specimens not established as types in Ameghino?s catalogue, but herein recognisedas such. Lectotype and paralectotype of P.antiquum are herein designated.