Anthracotherium

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Anthracotherium
Anthracotherium magnus
Conservation status
Extinct (fossil)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Artiodactyla Family: Anthracotheriidae † Genus: Anthracotherium

Anthracotherium ("coal-animal," so called from the fact of the remains first described having been obtained from the Tertiary lignite-beds of Europe), a genus of extinct artiodactyl ungulate mammals, characterized by having 44 teeth, with five semi-crescentic cusps on the crowns of the upper molars. The genus ranged throughout the Oligocene period, having a distribution throughout Europe. Asia, and North America, and died out during the Miocene, possibly due to competition from other artiodactyls, including pigs and hippopotami. The genus typifies the family Anthracotheriidae, if only because it is the most thoroughly studied. In many respects, especially the anatomy of the lower jaw, Anthracotherium, as with the other members of the family, is allied to the hippopotamus, of which it is probably an ancestral form. Recent evidence further suggests that anthracotheres, together with hippos, may be close to the ancestry of the whales.

The European Anthracotherium magnum was approximately as large as a hippo, but there were several smaller species and the genus also occurs in Egypt, India and North America. Members of the genus Anthracotherium, as well as other members of the family Anthracotheriidae, are known colloquially as anthracotheres.

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.