Daouitherium
| Daouitherium Temporal range: Early Eocene
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| Genus: | †Daouitherium Gheerbrant et al., 2002
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Daouitherium ("Sidi Daoui beast" from the name of the site where it was discovered) is an extinct genus of early proboscidean that lived during the early Eocene (Ypresian) some 55 million yers ago of North Africa.
Remains of this animal which consist of fragments of jaws and teeth have been found in the Ouled Abdoun Basin in Morocco. Of the size of a tapir weight, 300 kilograms is the earliest large mammal known from Africa and one of the oldest known proboscidean.
References
- Gheerbrant, E., Sudre, J., Cappetta, H., Iarochène, M., Amaghzaz, M., and Bouya, B. 2002. A new large mammal from the Ypresian of Morocco: Evidence of surprising diversity of early proboscideans. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 47 (3): 493–506.