Named By: | Florentino Ameghino in 1888 |
Time Period: | Oligocene (Deseadan)~28.4-23 Ma |
Location: | South America |
Size: | Around 3 meters long, 1.5 meters tall at the shoulder |
Diet: | Herbivore |
Fossil(s): | Several specimens |
Classification: | | Chordata | Mammalia | Pyrotheria | Pyrotheriidae | |
Pyrotherium ('fire beast') is an extinct genus of South American ungulate, of the order Pyrotheria, that lived in what is now Argentina and Bolivia, during the Early Oligocene. It was named Pyrotherium, meaning "Fire Beast", because the first specimens were excavated from an ancient volcanic ash deposit.