Lophiodontidae
| Lophiodontidae | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Skeleton of Lophiodon |
||||||||||||
| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Eocene | ||||||||||||
| 55.8 to 33.9 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Lophiodontidae | ||||||||||||
| Gill , 1872 | ||||||||||||
The Lophiodontidae ( Gr .: lophos = hill; odóntes = teeth) are a family of extinct, tapir-like mammals that occurred in Europe and China in the Eocene . Fossils have been found in the Geiseltal in Saxony-Anhalt and, a single young animal, in the Messel Pit in Hesse . The animals were probably particularly frequent in moist places. Described genera are Lophiodon and Lophiaspis and Eolophiodon .
features
The Lophiodontiden had a stocky body and a massive, large skull. In contrast to the tapirs, they did not have a reduced nasal bone and their nasal area was not deeply cut. From this it is concluded that the Lophiodontiden had no proboscis. Their teeth were low, the tooth surface was provided with hill-like yokes. They resembled those of the tapirs and earlier rhino relatives. The largest Lophiodontid, Lophiodon rhinocerodes , reached the size of today's horse. Possibly the family goes back to the genus Homogalax and thus would have a North American origin.
literature
- Jens Lorenz Franzen : The primeval horses of the dawn. Origin and evolution of horses. Elsevier / Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Munich et al. 2007, ISBN 978-3-8274-1680-3 .
- Céline Robinet, Jean Albert Remy, Yves Laurent, Laure Danilo and Fabrice Lihoreau: A new genus of Lophiodontidae (Perissodactyla, Mammalia) from the early Eocene of La Borie (Southern France) and the origin of the genus Lophiodon Cuvier, 1822. Geobios 48 , 2015, pp. 25–38
Web links
- The Paleobiology Database Lophioontidae