Palaeotheriidae
| Palaeotheriidae | ||||||||||||
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Eocene to Lower Oligocene | ||||||||||||
| 50 to 30 million years | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Palaeotheriidae | ||||||||||||
| Bonaparte , 1850 | ||||||||||||
The Palaeotheriidae (Germanized also Palaeotheria ) are an extinct family of mammals . They are related to the horses (Equidae) and are classified with them in the subordination of the Hippomorpha (horse relatives) within the odd ungulates (Perissodactyla).
Most Palaeotheriids were rather small animals, early representatives only reached shoulder heights of 20 centimeters, while later representatives reached the size of pigs or ponies. At least one genus ( Palaeotherium ) even reached the size of a rhinoceros. They had four toes on the front legs and three toes on the hind legs; in contrast to horses, there was no reduction in the number of toes. The molars were low-crowned and adapted to a soft plant food such as leaves. Presumably these animals lived primarily in groups, their habitat was primarily swampy forests.
Hyracotherium is considered to be one of the earliest representatives, but its systematic status is controversial - sometimes it is also regarded as a basic representative of the Hippomorpha. Later representatives included the genus Propalaeotherium , Pachynolophus , Plagiolophus and Palaeotherium , which was also found in Germany and which probably had a short trunk similar to the tapirs .
In contrast to the horses, the Palaeotheriidae were largely restricted to Eurasia , with most of the fossils found in Europe. In Oligocene these animals are extinct.
literature
- Thomas S. Kemp: The Origin & Evolution of Mammals. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2005, ISBN 0-19-850761-5 .
- Arno Hermann Müller : Textbook of paleozoology. Volume 3: Vertebrates. Part 3: Mammalia. 2nd, revised and expanded edition. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena 1989, ISBN 3-334-00223-3 .
