Description

Tapirus rondoniensis is an extinct tapir species that lived during the Late Pleistocene in what is now western Amazonia (Rondônia state, Brazil). The species is diagnosed from a nearly complete skull found in the Madeira River (Araras, Nova Mamoré). Key distinguishing traits include: broad frontal bones with internal pneumatization extending to the frontoparietal suture, a pronounced sagittal crest, and a second premolar (P2) that is weakly molarized. Based on dental and cranial morphometrics, it was smaller than many fossil tapirs but roughly comparable in size to Tapirus terrestris. Its ecology likely paralleled other tapirs: a browser/frugivore in forested or riparian habitats.