The analysis of extinct fauna, even in South America, is something complex and beyond the scope of this blog. On this page we give general notes about the already extinct fauna on the continent.
MEGAFAUNA
A very beauty (strongly beauty) sources of ilustrations at megafauna is found in Prehistoric Fauna (SEE, by Roman Uchytel). In South America there were about 37 native species of these animals weighing about one ton, and today our largest land mammal is the tapir (Tapirus terrestris), which weighs about 300 kg at most. This fascinating (and large!) fauna disappeared from the continent between the Pleistocene and the Holocene (about 11,500 years ago); for more details, see Eureka Brasil (Megafauna brasileira: animais fantásticos).
PALEONTOLOGY
The PaleoZoo (link in banner below) page does an excellent job on Brazilian paleontology, with beautiful cards about a large number of vertebrate fossil species, whose organization is shown below. As of June 18, the site listed 731 fossil species on cards.
1 AMPHIBIANS (22 taxa in cards; non amniothic)
1.1 Temnospondyls (12)
1.2 Lissamphibians (10)
2 FISHES (non Tetrapoda)
2.1 Osteichthyans (119 in cards)
Actinopterygians (100 in cards)
Tetraodontiforms (3)
Perciforms (4)
Istiophoriforms (3)
Beryciforms (1)
Myctophiforms (3)
Aulopiforms (8)
Stomiiforms (1)
Salmoniforms (1)
Argentiniforms (1)
Gonorynchiforms (4)
Characiforms (0)
Siluriforms (3)
Ellimmicchthyiforms (0)
Clupeiforms (0)
Osteoglossiforms (1)
Aubuliforms (4)
Elopiforms (3)
Acregoliforms (1)
Ichthyodecthyforms (6)
Crossognathiforms (1)
Aspidorhinchiforms (5)
Pholidophoriforms (1)
Picnodontiformes (10)
Ionoscopiforms (5)
Amiiforms (3)
Semionotiforms (10)
Lepisosteiformes (4)
Paleonisciforms (11)
Cladistians (2)
Tegeolepiforms (1)
Sarcopterygians (19 in cards)
Dipnoi (11)
Actinistians (8)
2.2 Chondrichthyas (73 taxa in cards)
Selachians (29)Batoids (12)Hybodonts (0)Antarctilamniforms (1)Ctenacanthiforms (11)Xenacanthiforms (13)Cladoselachians (1)Petalodontiforms (2)Orodontiforms (2)Eugeneodontiforms (2)
2.3 Acanthodians (2)
2.4 Telodonts (1)
2.5 Conodonts (24)
3 SYNAPSIDS (218 taxa in cards)
3.1 Cynodonts (29)
3.3. Mammals (180 in cards)
Sirenia (5)
Chiroptera (4)
Rodentia (33)
Proboscidea (1)
Xenarthra (44)
Meridiumgulates (23)
Notoungulates (6)
Perisodactyls (4)
Cetacea (5)
Artyodactyls (5)
Carnivora (8)
Primates (7)
4 SAUROPSIDS (272 in cards)
4.1 Arcosauromorphs (226 in cards)
Rhynchosaurs (6)Testudines (29)Tanystropheiforms (1)
Pseudosuchians (69 in cards)
Ornitosuchians (1)Suchians
Aetosaurs (3)Non-Aetosaurian
Crocodylomorphians (59)Erpetosuchians (1)Rauisychians (5)
Avemetatarsalians (115 in cards)
Aphanosaurs (1)Ornithodira (114 in cards)
Pterosauromorpha
Pterosaurimorphs non-Pterosaurs (3)Pterosaurs (36)
Dinosauromorpha
Dinosauromorphs non-Dinosauria (2)Dinosauria (47 non-avian, 73 total)
Sauropodomorpha
Sauropodomorpha non-Sauropoda (7)Sauropoda (19)
Theropoda
Theropoda non-Avian (19)Aves (26)
Herrerosaurids (2)
4.2 Lepidosaurids (38 taxa in cards)
Lepidosaurs (1)Lacertilians (9)Serpents (15)
Mosauars (9)
4.3 Parareptiles (8 taxa in cards)
Acleistorhinids (1)
Mesosaurids (1)
Captorhinids (1)
Procolophonids (4)
Pareiasaurids (1)
PaleoZoo lista 47 non-Avian dinossaurs in Brazil. In Dinochecker there are 870 described dinosaurs in 43 countries or regions. In the New World there are 7: Canada, USA, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay (mentioned in the list, but with an empty list) and Argentina. The greatest diversities are:
1. U.S.A.: 1812. China: 1733. Argentina: 1014. Mongolia: 715. Canada: 636. UK: 517. South Africa: 198. Spain, Germany: 179. Australia, France: 15
11. Niger, Portugal, Tanzania: 12
12. Russia: 11
Also by Dinochecker, there are 8 categories of dinosaurs, four of them in Braszil: Theropoda, with Irritator (CE), Pycnonemosaurus, (MT), Spectrovenator (MG); Sauropodomorpha with Buriolestes (RS), Guaibasarus (RS), Saturnalia (RS), Pampadromaeus (RS); Saurischia, with Teyuwasu (RS); and Sauropoda, with Amazonsaurus (MA), Austroposeidon (SP), Gondwanatitan (SP), Tapuiasaurus (MG), Triunfosaurus (PB).
Other soruce is Mundo Pré-Histórico blog (link in banner below), who lists 39 Dinosauria in Brazil, well illustrated and with a lot of interesting information about each species mentioned.
By Wang & Dodson (PNAS, 2006), there were already 527 genera of non-avian dinosaurs cataloged at the time, and c. 1,850 estimated.
Remarkable news: Venetoraptor gassenae (Pterosauromorpha: Lagerpetidae, Novataxa, 2023).