Eotitanops

Eotitanops
Temporal range: Early Eocene–Mid Eocene
Eotitanops borealis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Brontotheriidae
Genus: Eotitanops
Osborn, 1907
Species
  • E. borealis
  • E. dayi
  • E. minimus
  • E. pakistanensis[1]

Eotitanops ('dawn titan-face') is an extinct genus of brontothere native to North America and Asia.

Eotitanops is the earliest known genus of brontothere. While brontotheres generally known as very large animals, Eotitanops was only 45 centimetres (1.48 ft) tall at the shoulder. It probably resembled a larger, bulkier version of its contemporary, the horse-like palaeothere Hyracotherium. Like Hyracotherium, it ate leaves and had five-toed front legs and three-toed hind legs.[2]

Model of Eotitanops (bottom) in comparison with various species of Megacerops

References

  1. Pieter Missiaen, Gregg F. Gunnell and Philip D. Gingerich (2011). "New Brontotheriidae (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) from the Early and Middle Eocene of Pakistan with Implications for Mammalian Paleobiogeography". Journal of Paleontology. 85 (4): 665–677. doi:10.1666/10-087.1.
  2. Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 258. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/22/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.