Protaceratherium

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Protaceratherium
Temporal range: Late Oligocene - Early Miocene
Protaceratherium minutum restoration.jpg
P. minutum skeleton
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Rhinocerotidae
Genus: Protaceratherium
Abel, 1910 [1]
Species
  • Protaceratherium albigense
  • Protaceratherium minutum

Protaceratherium is an extinct genus of rhinocerotid from the Oligocene and Miocene of Eurasia. [2]

It was a primitive, lightly built rhinoceros that was adapted to running. [3]

Jaw Protaceratherium.JPG
Jaw

Palaeoecology

Analysis of dental δ13C values combined with dental mesowear and microwear show that P. minutum fed primarily on C3 plants and that it consumed less abrasive plants than the contemporary Mesaceratherium paulhiacense . [4]

References

  1. "Protaceratherium". Fossilworks.
  2. Lihoreau, F.; Ducrocq, S. P.; Antoine, P. O.; Vianey-Liaud, M.; Rafaÿ, S. B.; Garcia, G. R.; Valentin, X. (2009). "First complete skulls of Elomeryx crispus (Gervais, 1849) and of Protaceratherium albigense (Roman, 1912) from a new Oligocene locality near Moissac (SW France)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 29 (1): 242–253. Bibcode:2009JVPal..29..242L. doi:10.1671/039.029.0114. S2CID   86632471.
  3. Agustí, Jordi; Antón, Mauricio (2002). Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids: 65 Million Years of Mammalian Evolution in Europe. Columbia University Press. p. 96. ISBN   9780231116411.
  4. Hullot, Manon; Martin, Céline; Blondel, Cécile; Rössner, Gertrud E. (14 February 2024). "Life in a Central European warm-temperate to subtropical open forest: Paleoecology of the rhinocerotids from Ulm-Westtangente (Aquitanian, Early Miocene, Germany)". The Science of Nature . 111 (1) 10. Bibcode:2024SciNa.111...10H. doi:10.1007/s00114-024-01893-w. ISSN   0028-1042. PMC   11401789 . PMID   38353735.