Hyracodon

Last updated

Hyracodon
Temporal range: Middle Eocene–Late Oligocene
Hyracodon nebraskensis LACM.jpg
Skeleton in Natural History Museum of Los Angeles
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Hyracodontidae
Genus: Hyracodon
Leidy, 1856 [1]
Species
  • H. browni
  • H. leidyanus
  • H. medius
  • H. nebraskensis
  • H. petersoni
  • H. affinis
  • H. eximus
  • H. modestus
  • H. primus
  • H. princeps
  • H. priscidens

Hyracodon ('hyrax tooth') is an extinct genus of perissodactyl mammal.

Restoration by Charles R. Knight. Knight Hyracodon.jpg
Restoration by Charles R. Knight.

It was a lightly built, pony-like mammal of about 1.5 m (5 ft) long. Hyracodon's skull was large in comparison to the rest of the body. Hyracodon's dentition resembled that of later rhinocerotoids, but it was a much smaller animal and differed very little in appearance from the primitive horses of which it was a contemporary (32–26 million years ago). It had a short, broad snout and its long, slender limbs had three digits. [2]

Restoration by Heinrich Harder. Hyracodon.jpg
Restoration by Heinrich Harder.

Like the primitive horses, hyracodonts inhabited open forests and wooded steppes and turned from browsing foliage to grazing grass. They died out without leaving any descendants and they mark the end of the phylogenetic branch of hornless, running rhinocerotoids.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ungulate</span> Group of animals that walk on the tips of their toes or hooves

Ungulates are members of the diverse clade Euungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. Once part of the clade "Ungulata" along with the clade Paenungulata, "Ungulata" has since been determined to be a polyphyletic and thereby invalid clade based on molecular data. As a result, true ungulates had since been reclassified to the newer clade Euungulata in 2001 within the clade Laurasiatheria while Paenungulata has been reclassified to a distant clade Afrotheria. Living ungulates are divided into two orders: Perissodactyla including equines, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and Artiodactyla including cattle, antelope, pigs, giraffes, camels, sheep, deer, and hippopotamuses, among others. Cetaceans such as whales, dolphins, and porpoises are also classified as artiodactyls, although they do not have hooves. Most terrestrial ungulates use the hoofed tips of their toes to support their body weight while standing or moving. Two other orders of ungulates, Notoungulata and Litopterna, both native to South America, became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, around 12,000 years ago.

<i>Moeritherium</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Moeritherium is an extinct genus of primitive proboscideans. These prehistoric mammals are related to the elephant and, more distantly, sea cows and hyraxes. They lived during the Eocene epoch.

<i>Paraceratherium</i> Extinct genus of hornless rhinocerotoids from Eurasia

Paraceratherium is an extinct genus of hornless rhinocerotoids belonging to the family Paraceratheriidae. It is one of the largest terrestrial mammals that has ever existed and lived from the early to late Oligocene epoch. The first fossils were discovered in what is now Pakistan, and remains have been found across Eurasia between China and the Balkans. Paraceratherium means "near the hornless beast", in reference to Aceratherium, the genus in which the type species P. bugtiense was originally placed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paraceratheriidae</span> Extinct family of mammals

Paraceratheriidae is an extinct family of long-limbed, hornless rhinocerotoids native to Asia and Eastern Europe that originated in the Eocene epoch and lived until the end of the Oligocene.

<i>Lycaenops</i> Extinct genus of therapsids

Lycaenops ("wolf-face") is a genus of carnivorous therapsids. It lived during the Middle Permian to the early Late Permian, about 260 mya, in what is now South Africa.

<i>Phthinosuchus</i> Extinct genus of therapsids

Phthinosuchus is an extinct genus of therapsids from the Middle Permian of Russia. Phthinosuchus is the sole member of the family Phthinosuchidae. Phthinosuchus may have been one of the most primitive therapsids, meaning that its ancestors may have branched off early from the main therapsid line.

<i>Prorastomus</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Prorastomus sirenoides is an extinct species of primitive sirenian that lived during the Eocene Epoch 40 million years ago in Jamaica.

<i>Protocetus</i> Species of mammal (fossil)

Protocetus atavus is an extinct species of primitive cetacean from Egypt. It lived during the middle Eocene period 45 million years ago. The first discovered protocetid, Protocetus atavus was described by Fraas 1904 based on a cranium and a number of associated vertebrae and ribs found in middle Lutetian Tethyan marine limestone from Gebel Mokattam near Cairo, Egypt.

<i>Diadiaphorus</i> Extinct genus of litopterns

Diadiaphorus is an extinct genus of litoptern mammal from the Miocene of Argentina and Bolivia, South America.

<i>Thoatherium</i> Extinct genus of litopterns

Thoatherium is an extinct genus of litoptern mammals from the Early Miocene of Argentina. Fossils of the genus have been found in the Santa Cruz Formation in Argentina.

<i>Theosodon</i> Extinct genus of litopterns

Theosodon is an extinct genus of litoptern mammal from the Early to Middle Miocene of South America.

<i>Adinotherium</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Adinotherium is an extinct genus of Toxodontidae, large bodied hoofed ungulates which inhabited South America during the Middle to Late Miocene, from 17.5 to 6.8 Ma and existed for approximately 10.7 million years, Santacrucian to Huayquerian in the South American land mammal ages (SALMA). Fossils of Adinotherium have been found in the Santa Cruz and Ituzaingó Formations of Argentina and the Chucal and Río Frías Formations of Chile.

<i>Metamynodon</i> Extinct aquatic rhino

Metamynodon is an extinct genus of amynodont that lived in North America and Asia from the late Eocene until early Oligocene, although the questionable inclusion of M. mckinneyi could extend their range to the Middle Eocene. The various species were large, displaying a suit of semiaquatic adaptations more similar to those of the modern hippopotamus, despite their closer affinities with rhinoceroses.

<i>Megacerops</i> Extinct Perissodactyl ungulate genus from Late Eocene epoch

Megacerops is an extinct genus of the prehistoric odd-toed ungulate family Brontotheriidae, an extinct group of rhinoceros-like browsers related to horses. It was endemic to North America during the Late Eocene epoch, existing for approximately 4.1 million years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dichobunidae</span> Extinct family of mammals

Dichobunidae is an extinct family of basal artiodactyl mammals from the early Eocene to late Oligocene of North America, Europe, and Asia. The Dichobunidae include some of the earliest known artiodactyls, such as Diacodexis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amynodontidae</span> Extinct family of mammals

Amynodontidae is a family of extinct average-sized rhinocerotoids. They are commonly portrayed as semiaquatic hippo-like rhinos but this description only fits members of the Metamynodontini; other groups of amynodonts like the cadurcodontines had more typical ungulate proportions and convergently evolved a tapir-like proboscis.

<i>Forstercooperia</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Forstercooperia is an extinct genus of forstercooperiine paraceratheriid rhinocerotoids from the Middle Eocene of Asia.

<i>Pappaceras</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Pappaceras is an extinct genus of rhinocerotoids from the Early Eocene of Asia belonging to Paraceratheriidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homacodontidae</span> Extinct family of mammals

Homacodontidae is an extinct family of basal artiodactyl mammals from the early Eocene to late Oligocene of North America, Europe, and Asia.

<i>Uintaceras</i> Extinct genus of rhinoceros

Uintaceras is an extinct genus of medium-sized early rhinocerotoids that lived in North America during the Middle Eocene, with only the type species U. radinskyi, named in 1997, currently contained within the genus. Traditionally considered the oldest and most primitive species of the Rhinocerotidae, it may instead have been a close relative of the Asian Paraceratheriidae. The dubious species Forstercooperia (Hyrachyus) grandis is also possibly the same animal as Uintaceras, although the Asian material of F. grandis was assignable to Forstercooperia confluens.

References

  1. McKenna, M. C; Bell, S. K. (1997). Classification of Mammals above the Species Level. Columbia University Press. ISBN   0-231-11012-X.
  2. Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. pp. 283–284. ISBN   1-84028-152-9.

Sources