Pyrotheria

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Pyrotheria (superorder Paenungulata, order Amblypoda) An extinct suborder of elephant-like ungulates which lived in S. America during the Oligocene. They were the size of modern elephants, had trunks and chisel-like tusks developed from the incisors, and their molar teeth were similar to those of early proboscideans. The skull and skeleton were similar to that of elephants. They arose independently of the true elephants, from an early ungulate stock apparently confined to S. America, and their resemblance to elephants arises from convergence.

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