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Brontotheres
Brontotheriidae is a family of extinct mammals belonging to the order Perissodactyla, the order that includes horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs. Superficially, they looked rather like rhinos with some developing bony nose horns, and were some of the earliest mammals to have evolved large body sizes of several tonnes. They lived around 56–34 million years ago, until the very close of the Eocene. Brontotheres had a Holarctic distribution, with the exception of Western Europe: they occupied North America, Asia, and Eastern Europe. They were the first fossilized mammals to be discovered west of the Mississippi, and were first discovered in South Dakota. Characteristics and evolution This group has also been referred to as "Titanotheres." "Titan" refers to the mythological Greek gods who were symbols of strength and large size, and "theros" is Greek for "wild animal." "Bronto" is Greek for "thunder," which may be how this group got the nickname "thunder beasts." Brontotheres retai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brontothere Model At SD Natural History Museum
Brontotheriidae is a Family (biology), family of extinct mammals belonging to the order Perissodactyla, the order that includes horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs. Superficially, they looked rather like rhinos with some developing bony nose horns, and were some of the earliest mammals to have evolved large body sizes of several tonnes. They lived around 56–34 million years ago, until the very close of the Eocene. Brontotheres had a Holarctic realm, Holarctic distribution, with the exception of Western Europe: they occupied North America, Asia, and Eastern Europe. They were the first fossilized mammals to be discovered west of the Mississippi, and were first discovered in South Dakota. Characteristics and evolution This group has also been referred to as "Titanotheres." "Titans, Titan" refers to the mythological Greek gods who were symbols of strength and large size, and "theros" is Greek for "wild animal." "Bronto" is Greek for "thunder," which may be how this group got the nic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nanotitanops
''Nanotitanops'' is an extinct genus of Brontothere from the middle Eocene of China. It contains a single species, ''N. shanghuangensis''. It is known only from isolated teeth, the smallest of any known Brontothere. Description This genus is currently known only from dental evidence. Described specimens do not exceed 13.55 millimeters in length and 12 millimeters in width. While it retains some basal traits, the teeth possess features which point toward it being relatively derived. It differs from basal designs in having relatively longer and narrower molars with stronger development of buccal shearing crests and only a vestigial paraconule on the upper molars. The dental morphology is most similar to the much larger genera '' Epimanteoceras'' and '' Rhinotitan''.Li, S. (2018). A new species of Brontotheriidae from the Middle Eocene of Junggar Basin, Xinjiang, China. ''Vertebrata PalAsiatica'', ''56''(1), 25-44. Relationships The exact placement of ''Nanotitanops'' within Bronto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhinotitan
''Rhinotitan'' (nose giant) is an extinct genus of brontothere from the Eocene of Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ..., where three species were described from the Shara Murun formation. The genus included medium to large brontotheres which had long skulls with nasal horns. Like other solid-horned brontotheres, ''Rhinotitan'' was sexually dimorphic in horn size. In living mammals, this pattern is found in species that live in groups; males have the larger horns, and use them in ritualized combats with other males to decide control of territories that offer breeding access to females. Most horned brontotheres had dish-shaped skulls assumed to be adapted for such combats. However, the skull of ''Rhinotitan'' was concave only near the front; the top and back of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Embolotherium
''Embolotherium'' (Greek , + , "battering ram beast", or "wedge beast") is an extinct genus of brontothere that lived in Mongolia during the late Eocene epoch. It is most easily recognized by a large bony protuberance emanating from the anterior (front) of the skull. This resembles a battering ram, hence the name ''Embolotherium''. The animal is known from about 12 skulls, several jaws, and a variety of other skeletal elements from the Ulan Gochu formation of Inner Mongolia as well as the Ergilin Dzo Formation of Outer Mongolia. Taxonomy Several species of ''Embolotherium'' have been named, including ''Embolotherium andrewsi'', ''Embolotherium grangeri'', ''Embolotherium louksi'', ''Embolotherium ultimum'', ''Embolotherium ergilensi'', and ''Embolotherium efremovi''. However, only two species, ''Embolotherium andrewsi'' and ''Embolotherium grangeri'', appear to be valid. Other supposed species of ''Embolotherium'' are probably synonymous with these two species and were ori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evolution
Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, resulting in certain characteristics becoming more or less common within a population over successive generations. The process of evolution has given rise to biodiversity at every level of biological organisation. The scientific theory of evolution by natural selection was conceived independently by two British naturalists, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, in the mid-19th century as an explanation for why organisms are adapted to their physical and biological environments. The theory was first set out in detail in Darwin's book ''On the Origin of Species''. Evolution by natural selection is established by observable facts about living organisms: (1) more offspring are often produced than can possibly survive; (2) phenotypic variatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eotitanops
''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 tall at the shoulder. It probably resembled a larger, bulkier version of its contemporary, the horse-like palaeothere ''Hyracotherium ''Hyracotherium'' ( ; "hyrax-like beast") is an extinction, extinct genus of small (about 60 cm in length) perissodactyl ungulates that was found in the London Clay formation. This small, fox-sized animal is (for some scientists) considered t ...''. Like ''Hyracotherium'', it ate leaves and had five-toed front legs and three-toed hind legs. References * Brontotheres Eocene Perissodactyla Eocene mammals of North America {{paleo-oddtoedungulate-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dolichorhinus
''Sphenocoelus'' is an extinct genus of brontothere endemic to North America during the Middle Eocene 46.2—40.4 mya), existing for approximately . Fossils have been found only in southern Wyoming and eastern Utah. In life, it would have resembled a hornless rhinoceros A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ..., to which it was distantly related. However, it was smaller than modern rhinos, standing about high at the shoulders, and had a much longer head. Its teeth were adapted to eating soft vegetation, such as forest leaves. Like other brontotheres, it had four toes on the front feet, and three on the hind feet, and the animal is unlikely to have been able to run fast. Species * ''S. blairi'' * ''S. bridgeri'' * ''S. harundivoras'' * ''S. hyognathus'' (syn. ''Dolichor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protitanops
''Protitanops curryi'' is an extinct species of brontothere that lived during the Eocene, in the Western United States, especially in Death Valley, California, where the best specimens of the species ''P. curryi'' have been found. It bore a strong resemblance to ''Megacerops'' brontothere Brontotheriidae is a family of extinct mammals belonging to the order Perissodactyla, the order that includes horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs. Superficially, they looked rather like rhinos with some developing bony nose horns, and were some of ...s with its knob-shaped horns. However, the position of the horns differed in ''Protitanops'', in that they pointed straight up, rather than more forwards like in ''Megacerops''. References Brontotheres {{paleo-oddtoedungulate-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megacerops
''Megacerops'' ("large-horned face", from '' méga-'' "large" + '' kéras'' "horn" + '' ōps'' "face") is an extinct genus of the prehistoric odd-toed ungulate (hoofed mammal) family Brontotheriidae, an extinct group of rhinoceros-like browsers related to horses. It was endemic to North America during the Late Eocene epoch (38–33.9 mya), existing for approximately . Taxonomy ''Megacerops'' was named by Leidy (1870). Its type species is ''Megacerops coloradensis''. It was synonymized subjectively with ''Menodus'' by Clark and Beerbower (1967). It was assigned to Brontotheriidae by Leidy (1870), Carroll (1988), Mader (1989), and Mader (1998). According to Mihlbachler and others, ''Megacerops'' includes the species of the genera ''Menodus'', ''Brontotherium'', ''Brontops'', ''Menops'', ''Ateleodon'', and ''Oreinotherium''. Description All of the species had a pair of blunt horns on their snout (the size varying between species), with the horns of males being much longer than ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Othniel Charles Marsh
Othniel Charles Marsh (October 29, 1831 – March 18, 1899) was an American professor of paleontology. A prolific fossil collector, Marsh was one of the preeminent paleontologists of the nineteenth century. Among his legacies are the discovery or description of dozens of new species—including the stegosaurus and triceratops—and theories on the origins of birds. He spent his academic career at Yale College and was president of the National Academy of Sciences. Born into a modest family, Marsh was able to afford higher education thanks to the generosity of his wealthy uncle George Peabody. After graduating from Yale College in 1860 he traveled the world, studying anatomy, mineralogy and geology. He obtained a teaching position at Yale upon his return. From the 1870s to 1890s, he competed with rival paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in a period of frenzied Western American expeditions known as the Bone Wars. Marsh's greatest legacy is the collection of Mesozoic reptiles, Creta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sexual Dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, dioecious species, which consist of most animals and some plants. Differences may include secondary sex characteristics, size, weight, color, markings, or behavioral or cognitive traits. Male-male reproductive competition has evolved a diverse array of sexually dimorphic traits. Aggressive utility traits such as "battle" teeth and blunt heads reinforced as battering rams are used as weapons in aggressive interactions between rivals. Passive displays such as ornamental feathering or song-calling have also evolved mainly through sexual selection. These differences may be subtle or exaggerated and may be subjected to sexual selection and natural selection. The opposite of dimorphism is ''monomorphism'', when both biological sexes are phenotype, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean. The region includes Middle America (Americas), Middle America (comprising the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico) and Northern America. North America covers an area of about , representing approximately 16.5% of Earth's land area and 4.8% of its total surface area. It is the third-largest continent by size after Asia and Africa, and the list of continents and continental subregions by population, fourth-largest continent by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. , North America's population was estimated as over 592 million people in list of sovereign states and dependent territories in North America, 23 independent states, or about 7.5% of the world's popula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
