Santiago Roth (14 June 1850 – 4 August 1924)[1] was a Swiss Argentine paleontologist and academic known for his fossil collections and Patagonian expeditions.
Kaspar Jakob (Spanish: Santiago) was born and raised in Herisau,[1] Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Switzerland, as the oldest of 12 children.
He attended school in the nearby town of St. Gallen, where his teacher Bernhard Wartmann raised his interest in the science of nature.
[2] For economic reasons the Roth family emigrated to Argentina in 1866, where they initially settled in the Colonia Baradero (Buenos Aires Province).
After his return to Argentina, he continued his search in the basin of the Paraná River and in the Entre Ríos Province belonging to the Pampas.
[2] Today, this collection is held by the Museum of Zoology at the University of Zurich and includes a huge, extinct ground sloth (Megatherium) as well as a large armored mammal (Glyptodon).
[5] During his stay in Switzerland he joined Albert Heim on his hydrogeological excursions to study subterranean water flows.
[2] In a publication dated 1903[6] Roth defined the order of Notoungulata as a category of prehistoric hoofed mammals found only in South America.