Oreodontoides

Oreodontoides
Oreodontoides
Temporal range: Late Oligocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Superfamily: †Merycoidodontoidea
Family: †Merycoidodontidae
Genus: †Oreodontoides
Thorpe (1923)
Species

see text

Oreodontoides is an extinct genus of oreodont of the family Merycoidodontidae, subfamily Merycoidodontinae, endemic to North America during the Late Oligocene-Early Miocene subepochs (24.8—20.6 mya), existing for approximately 4.2 million years.[1]

Contents

Taxonomy

Oreodontoides was named by Thorpe (1923) (named as subgenus of Eporeodon by Thorpe in 1921) and raised to genus level. It was synonymized subjectively with Merychyus by Loomis in 1924 and assigned to Merycoidodontidae by Thorpe in 1923 and 1937, (1923), by Schultz and Falkenbach (1947) and Lander (1998).[2][3]

Morphology

A single specimen was examined by M. Mendoza for body mass and was estimated to have a weight of 34.9 kg (76.9 lbs).[4]

Fossil distribution

Fossils have been uncovered throughout the western U.S. including Wheeler and Grant County, Oregon, Laramie County, Wyoming, Washabaugh County, South Dakota.

Species

Oreodontoides oregonensis (synonymous with Desmatochoerus anthyonyi, Merychyus curtus).

References

  1. ^ PaleoBiology Database: Oreodontoides, basic info
  2. ^ F. B. Loomis. 1920. American Journal of Science
  3. ^ B. Lander. 1998. Oreodontoidea. In C. M. Janis, K. M. Scott, and L. L. Jacobs (eds.), Evolution of Tertiary mammals of North America 402-425
  4. ^ M. Mendoza, C. M. Janis, and P. Palmqvist. 2006. Estimating the body mass of extinct ungulates: a study on the use of multiple regression. Journal of Zoology


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