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Chalicotheriidae
Chalicotheriidae (from Ancient Greek ''khálix'', "gravel", and ''theríon'', "beast") is an extinct family of herbivorous, odd-toed ungulate (perissodactyl) mammals that lived in North America, Eurasia, and Africa from the Middle Eocene to the Early Pleistocene. They are often called chalicotheres, a term which is also applied to the broader grouping of Chalicotherioidea. They are noted for their unusual morphology compared to other ungulates, such as their clawed forelimbs. Members of the subfamily Chalicotheriinae developed elongate gorilla-like forelimbs that are thought to have been used to grasp vegetation. They are thought to have been browsers on foliage as well as possibly bark and fruit. History of discovery The first chalicotheres remains discovered were ungual phalanges found near Eppelsheim, Germany in the early 19th century. These remains were considered to belong to gigantic pangolins by Georges Cuvier in 1822 while Johann Jakob Kaup in 1833 alternatively attr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancylotherium
''Ancylotherium'' (from Greek, meaning "hooked beast") is an extinct genus of the family Chalicotheriidae, subfamily Schizotheriinae, endemic to Europe, Asia, and Africa during the Late Miocene-Early Pleistocene (11.6—1.8 mya), existing for approximately . Taxonomy ''Ancylotherium'' was named by Gaudry (1863) and was assigned to Chalicotheriidae by Carroll (1988); and to Schizotheriinae by Geraads et al. (2007). Description With some individuals reaching high at the shoulder and a weight of , ''Ancylotherium'' was relatively large, and was built rather like a goat. Individuals varied considerably in size, and the genus may have been sexually dimorphic, like many other chalicotheres. While it had the typical long forelimbs and short hind limbs of a chalicothere, like other schizotheriines, it did not walk on its knuckles. It was similar to the North American genus '' Moropus''. In at least some individuals of ''A. pentelicum'' the frontal bone of the skull is inflated to fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odd-toed Ungulate
Perissodactyla (, ), or odd-toed ungulates, is an order of ungulates. The order includes about 17 living species divided into three families: Equidae (horses, asses, and zebras), Rhinocerotidae (rhinoceroses), and Tapiridae (tapirs). They typically have reduced the weight-bearing toes to three or one of the five original toes, though tapirs retain four toes on their front feet. The nonweight-bearing toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or positioned posteriorly. By contrast, artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates) bear most of their weight equally on four or two (an even number) of the five toes: their third and fourth toes. Another difference between the two is that perissodactyls digest plant cellulose in their intestines, rather than in one or more stomach chambers as artiodactyls, with the exception of Suina, do. The order was considerably more diverse in the past, with notable extinct groups including the brontotheres, palaeotheres, chalicotheres, and the paracer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moropus
''Moropus'' (meaning "slow foot") is an extinct genus of large perissodactyl mammal in the chalicothere family. They were endemic to North America during the Miocene from ~20.4–13.6 Mya (unit), Mya, existing for approximately . ''Moropus'' belonged to the Schizotheriinae, schizotheriine subfamily of chalicotheres, and has the best fossil record of any member of this group; numbers of individuals, including complete skeletons, have been found. The type species of ''Moropus'', ''M. distans'', was named by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1877, alongside two other species, ''M. elatus'' and ''M. senex''. Three more species have been named since. Others have been named, but have either been invalidated for one reason or another, or reclassified to other genera. Among the largest chalicotheres, some specimens of ''Moropus'' stood at the shoulder. One specimen had an estimated body mass of . Its dental anatomy was similar to Ruminant, ruminants, suggesting a similar method of cropping vegeta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chalicotherium
''Chalicotherium'', from Ancient Greek (''khálix''), meaning "gravel", and (''theríon''), meaning "beast", is a genus of extinct odd-toed ungulates of the order Perissodactyla and family Chalicotheriidae. The genus is known from Europe and Asia, from the Middle Miocene to Late Miocene, 15.9~5.3 million years ago. This animal would look much like other chalicotheriid species: an odd-looking herbivore with long clawed forelimbs and stouter weight-bearing hindlimbs. The type species, ''Chalicotherium goldfussi'', from Late Miocene Europe, was described by Johann Jakob Kaup in 1833. When the French naturalist George Cuvier first received a cleft claw from Eppelheim, Germany, he identified it as the toe bone of a gigantic pangolin. Description ''Chalicotherium'', like many members of Perissodactyla, was adapted to browsing, though the chalicotheres were uniquely adapted to do so among ungulates. Its arms were long and heavily clawed, allowing them to walk on their knuckles o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metaschizotherium
''Metaschizotherium'' is an extinct genus that belongs to the family Chalicotheriidae, which was a group of herbivorous perissodactyl ("odd-toed") mammals. Though found primarily in Europe, fragmentary remains suggest that their range extended into Asia. Several other species have been described under ''Metaschizotherium'' in the past, including the African ''M. transvaalensis'', but they have been transferred to other genera, such as ''Ancylotherium''. The entire genus has been considered synonymous with ''Ancylotherium'' in the past, but nowadays the two are generally found to be distinct. This genus is typically associated with areas of closed, moist forest, where it fed on relatively soft leaves and shoots compared to a more abrasive diet of twigs and bark. See also *''Moropus'' *''Ancylotherium ''Ancylotherium'' (from Greek, meaning "hooked beast") is an extinct genus of the family Chalicotheriidae, subfamily Schizotheriinae, endemic to Europe, Asia, and Africa during ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemositia
''Chemositia'' is an extinct genus of chalicothere, a group of herbivorous, odd-toed ungulate ''(perissodactyl)'' mammals. They lived in Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ..., and had claws that were likely used in a hook-like manner to pull down branches, suggesting they lived as Bipedalism, bipedal Browsing (predation), browsers. Many authorities do not believe that ''Chemositia'' is a valid genus and synonymize it with ''Ancylotherium'' or ''Metaschizotherium''. References Sources * Classification of Mammals by Malcolm C. McKenna and Susan K. Bell Schizotheriinae Miocene mammals of Africa Miocene Perissodactyla Fossil taxa described in 1979 {{paleo-oddtoedungulate-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chalicotherioidea
Chalicotherioidea is an extinct superfamily of clawed perissodactyls (odd-toed ungulates) that lived from the early Eocene to the early Pleistocene subepochs. Based on the fossil record they emerged and thrived largely in Eurasia, although specimens have been found in both Africa and North America. They were likely browsers that fed mainly on leaves, twigs, and other nonresistant vegetation. Many of the contained genera had derived specializations of the forelimb and manus that allowed the claws to be used as hooks for browsing and to be kept off of the ground while walking. Chalicotheres lived primarily in forested areas. Size sexual dimorphism and morphological structures such as the domed skulls of '' Tylocephalonyx'' suggest agonistic behaviour in some sort of social setting. They are related to modern day horses, rhinoceroses, and tapir Tapirs ( ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Tapiridae. They are similar in shape to a Suidae, pig, with a short, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schizotherium
''Schizotherium'' is an extinct genus of schizotheriine chalicothere known from the Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ... of Europe and Asia. References Schizotheriinae Fossil taxa described in 1876 {{paleo-oddtoedungulate-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Borissiakia
''Borissiakia'' is an extinct genus of chalicothere, a group of herbivorous, odd-toed ungulate (perissodactyl) mammals, that lived during the late Oligocene in Kazakhstan. They had claws that were likely used in a hook-like manner to pull down branches, suggesting they lived as bipedal browsers Browse, browser, or browsing may refer to: Computing *Browser service, a feature of Microsoft Windows to browse shared network resources *Code browser, a program for navigating source code *File browser or file manager, a program used to manage f .... References Sources * Classification of Mammals by Malcolm C. McKenna and Susan K. Bell Schizotheriinae Oligocene mammals of Asia Fossil taxa described in 1938 {{paleo-oddtoedungulate-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tylocephalonyx
''Tylocephalonyx'', from Ancient Greek (''túlos''), meaning "knob", (''képhalos''), meaning "head", and (''ónux''), meaning "claw/hoof", is an extinct chalicothere from the Miocene of North America. Description ''Tylocephalonyx'' specimens are notable for a dome-shaped skull, a feature found in some other schizotheriine chalicotheres but most developed in this genus. Adequate fossil material is lacking to tell whether both sexes had domed heads, but sexual dimorphism was common in the group. ''Tylocephalonyx'' may have used its "dome" in the same way as the pachycephalosaurs, though there is no clear evidence to link either pachycephalosaurs nor ''Tylocephalonyx'' to using their domes to crash together in high-impact head-to-head contests, as in modern bighorn sheep. Such contests require special cranial adaptations to protect the brain and cervical spine, not shown in chalicotheres. The dome of ''Tylocephalonyx'' may have been used for visual display or in butting or head-t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Pleistocene
The Early Pleistocene is an unofficial epoch (geology), sub-epoch in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, representing the earliest division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently estimated to span the time between 2.580 ± 0.005 annum, Ma (million years ago) and 0.773 ± 0.005 Ma. The term Early Pleistocene applies to both the Gelasian, Gelasian Age and the Calabrian (stage), Calabrian Age. While the Gelasian and the Calabrian have officially been defined by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) to effectively constitute the Early Pleistocene, the succeeding Chibanian and Tarantian ages have yet to be ratified. These proposed ages are unofficially termed the Middle Pleistocene and Late Pleistocene respectively. The Chibanian provisionally spans time from 773 ka to 126 ka, and the Tarantian from then until the definitive end of the whole Pleistocene, c. 9700 BC in the 10th millennium BC. Notes {{Ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
