Anthracobunidae
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Extinct (fossil)
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Anthracobunidae is an extinct family of primitive proboscid who lived in the early to middle Eocene period.
They resemble the later Moeritheriidae in both size and cheek tooth morphology but are lacking their characteristic tusks. They are only known from fragmentary remains (mainly teeth) from Eocene deposits of the North-western part of the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent. These animals were probably amphibious and lived in marshy environments. They were relatively small with size ranging from 1 to 2 m in length. The family may be ancestral to both the Moeritheriidae and the Desmostylians. In their original paper, Wells and Gingerich proposed that the family might also be ancestral to the Sirenia, but this is disputed.
[edit] References
- N.A. Wells and P.D. Gingerich. 1983. Review of Eocene Anthracobunidae (Mammalia, Proboscidea) with a new genus and species, Jozaria palustris, from the Kuldana Formation of Kohat (Pakistan). Contrib. Mus. Pal. Univ. Michigan 26(7): 117-139.
