Subhyracodon

Subhyracodon
Temporal range: Late Eocene–Late Oligocene

[1]

Subhyracodon occidentalis skeleton
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Rhinocerotidae
Genus: Subhyracodon
(Brandt, 1878)
Type species
Rhinoceros occidentalis
Species[2]
  • S. kewi
  • S. mitis
  • S. occidentalis
Synonyms
  • Anchirodon Forbes, 1881[3]
  • Anchisodon Cope, 1879[4]

Subhyracodon is an extinct genus of cow-sized rhinoceroses. With a length of 2.4 m (8 ft) and a weight estimated of 381.3 kg (in S. mitis), it was a tapir-sized herbivore on the plains of early Oligocene South Dakota 33 million years ago (White River Fauna), smaller than only the Brontops and the chalicotheres.[5] Subhyracodon had no horns, relying more on its speed to escape, but a species found at Wind Cave National Park had a pair of bony nasal ridges. The genera Caenopus and Aceratherium were both synonymized with Subhyracodon[6]

Life restoration by Charles R. Knight
Skull

See also

References

  1. Prothero, 2005, p. 41.
  2. Prothero, 2005, pp. 40-47.
  3. McKenna & Bell, 1997, p. 481.
  4. 1 2 3 Prothero, 2005, p. 43.
  5. http://museumu03.museumwww.naturkundemuseum-berlin.de/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=basicTaxonInfo&taxon_no=51872
  6. C.C. O'Harra (1920). The White River Badlands. Rapid City, SD: South Dakota School of Mines. p. 181.

External links

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