| Trogosus Temporal range: | |
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| Trogosus hyracoides skull at the National Museum of Natural History | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | † Tillodontia |
| Family: | † Esthonychidae |
| Subfamily: | † Trogosinae |
| Genus: | † Trogosus Leidy 1871 |
| Species [1] | |
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Trogosus is an extinct genus of tillodont mammal. Fossils have been found in Wyoming, [2] California, [3] and British Columbia, [4] and date from the Eocene between 54.8 and 33.7 million years ago.
Trogosus was a bear-like herbivore with a large, short skull and flat feet, and had a skull 35 cm (14 in) long with an estimated body weight of 150 kg (330 lb). [5] It had large, rodent-like incisors, which continued growing throughout the creature's life. Judging from the heavily worn molar teeth, Trogosus fed on rough plant material, such as roots and tubers. [6] Trogosus possessed an exposed midbrain, a small neocortex, an orbitotemporal canal ventral to rhinal fissure, large olfactory bulbs, and a broad circular fissure. Its tiny neocortex relative to contemporary carnivorans and artiodactyls may have disadvantaged it when escaping predation by the former and competing for resources with the latter. [2]
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