Megacerops

Megacerops
Megacerops
Temporal range: Late Eocene
Megacerops sp.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Brontotheriidae
Genus: Megacerops
Leidy, 1870
Species
  • M. coloradensis (type)
  • M. aoer
  • M. curtus
  • M. hatcheri
  • M. kuwagatarhinus
  • M. osborni
  • M. platyceras

Megacerops ('large horn face') is an extinct genus of the family Brontotheriidae endemic to North America during the Late Eocene epoch (38—33.9 mya), existing for approximately 4.1 million years.[1]

Contents

Taxonomy

Megacerops was named by Leidy (1870). Its type is Megacerops coloradensis. It was synonymized subjectively with Menodus by Clark and Beerbower (1967). It was assigned to Brontotheriidae by Leidy (1870), Carroll (1988), Mader (1989) and Mader (1998)[2][3]

According to Mihlbachler and others [4][5], Megacerops includes the species of the genera Menodus, Brontotherium, Brontops, Menops, Ateleodon, and Oreinotherium

Morphology

Restoration of a M. coloradensis pair

All of the species had a pair of blunt horns on their snout (the size varying between species), with the horns of males being much larger than those of the females. This could indicate that they were social animals which butted heads for breeding privileges.

A single specimen was examined by M. Mendoza for body mass and was estimated to have a weight of 1000.2 kg (2205 lbs).[6]

Fossil distribution

Skull and model at the AMNH

Fossils were uncovered in the northern plains states. A life-sized model of a Megacerops family (a male, female, and juvenile) is displayed at the Canadian Museum of Nature.

Species

M. coloradensis (type species), M. curtus (syn. Menodus peltoceras), M. hatcheri, M. kuwagatarhinus, M. osborni, M. platyceras (syn. Titanotherium ramosum)

References

  1. ^ PaleoBiology Database: Megacerops, basic info
  2. ^ J. Clark and J. R. Beerbower. 1967. Geology, paleoecology, and paleoclimatology of the Chadron Formation. Fieldiana
  3. ^ R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W. H. Freeman and Company, New York 1-698.
  4. ^ Mihlbachler, M.C. , Lucas, S.G., and Emry, R.J. (2004). "The holotype specimen of Menodus giganteus, and the “insoluble” problem of Chadronian brontothere taxonomy". Paleogene Mammals. Bulletin of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History No. 26. pp. 129–136. 
  5. ^ Mihlbachler, M.C. (2004). "Phylogenetic Systematics of the Brontotheriidae (Mammalia, Perissodactyla)". Ph.D. Dissertation. Columbia University. pp. 757. 
  6. ^ 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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