Palaeotheriidae
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| Palaeotheriidae Temporal range: 60–45 Ma Early Eocene to early Oligocene |
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| Restoration of Hyracotherium | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | Palaeotheriidae |
| Genera | |
Palaeotheres are an extinct group of herbivorous mammals related to tapirs and rhinoceros, and probably ancestral to horses. They ranged across Europe and Asia during the Eocene through Oligocene 55—28 Ma, existing for approximately 27 million years.
Living in dense forests, they ate soft leaves, shoots, berries, and leaf matter picked up from the forest floor.
Contents |
[edit] Morphology
Palaeothere sizes ranged from 20 to 75 cm (8 to 30 in) at the shoulder, and weighed an estimated 10–30 kg (20–70 lb).[1]
[edit] Genera
[edit] Fossil distribution
- Creechbarrow Hill Site, Dorset, England
- Geiseltal, Mittelkohle, Zone III, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany
- Messel MP 11, Hessen, Germany
- Egerkingen, Alpha & Beta fissures, Baselland, Switzerland
- La Debruge, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur Region, France
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ S. Legendre. 1988. Les communautes de mammiferes du Paleogene (Eocene superieur et Oligocene) d'Europe occidentale: structure, milieux et evolution. Ph.D. thesis, Universite des Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc, Montpellier, France. 2 volumes. 1-265
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