Numidotherium
| Numidotherium Temporal range: Middle Eocene | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Proboscidea |
| Family: | Numidotheriidae |
| Genus: | Numidotherium Jaeger, 1986 |
| Species | |
| |
Numidotherium ("Numidia beast") is an extinct genus of early proboscidean, discovered in 1984, that lived during the middle Eocene of North Africa some 46 million years ago. It was about 90-100 centimetres tall at the shoulder and weighed about 250-300 kilograms.[1]
The type species, N. koholense, is known from an almost complete skeleton from the site of El Kohol, southern Algeria, dating from the early/middle Eocene period. The animal had the size and the appearance of a modern tapir. In appearance, it was more slender and more plantigrade than an elephant, its closest modern relative.[2]
A new species, N. savagei was discovered in 1995 in late Eocene deposits at Dor el Talha, Libya, together with another primitive proboscidean, Barytherium grave. N. savagei may be a synonym of N. koholense.[3]
Notes
- ↑ Larramendi, A. (2016). "Shoulder height, body mass and shape of proboscideans" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 61. doi:10.4202/app.00136.2014.
- ↑ Mahboubi et al. 1986
- ↑ Court 1995
References
- Mahboubi, M.; Ameur, R.; Crochet, J.−Y.; Jaeger, J.−J. (1986). "El Kohol (Saharan Atlas, Algeria): A new Eocene mammals locality in North Western Africa". Palaeontographica. 192 (1–3): 15–49. Retrieved May 2013. Check date values in:
|access-date=(help) - Court, N. (1995). "A new species of Numidotherium (Mammalia: Proboscidea) from the Eocene of Libya and the early phylogeny of the Proboscidea". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 15 (3): 650–71. doi:10.1080/02724634.1995.10011254. JSTOR 4523657. OCLC 4908959335.