Macrauchenia ✝

Macrauchenia ("long llama", based on the now superseded Latin term for llamas, Auchenia, from Greek "big neck") was a large, long-necked and long-limbed, three-toed native South American mammal in the order Litopterna. The genus gives its name to its family, the Macraucheniidae or "robust litopterns." Like other litopterns, it is not closely related to any living mammal. The oldest fossils in the genus date to the late Miocene, around seven million years ago, and M. patachonica disappears from the fossil record during the late Pleistocene, around 20,000-10,000 years ago. M. patachonica is the last and best known member of the family and is known primarily from the Luján Formation in Argentina. The type specimen was discovered by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle. In life, Macrauchenia may have resembled a huge humpless camel even though it is not closely related to camels. It fed on plants in a variety of environments across what is now South America. Four species have been described: M. patachonica, M. formosa, M. intermedia, and M. ullomensis.