Chalicotheres

Chalicotheriidae (from Ancient Greek χάλιξ (khálix), meaning "gravel", and θηρίον (theríon), meaning "beast") is an extinct family of herbivorous, perissodactyl mammals. Unlike living odd-toed ungulates, chalicotheriids bore large claws rather than hooves, although their dentition was adapted for browsing. The family is known from the Oligocene to the Pleistocene, reached its greatest diversity in the Miocene, and is known from Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. Asia appears to have been the main centre of diversification for the group.

Isectolophidae is a possibly paraphyletic extinct family of browsing, herbivorous, mammals in the order Perissodactyla. It forms a sister group to the rest of the Tapiromorpha, which includes the Ancylopoda (lophiodontids and Chalicotherioidea) and the Ceratomorpha (tapirs, rhinoceroses and their extinct relatives).

thumb | right | Eomoropus anarsius Gazin, 1956 Eomoropidae is a family of odd-toed ungulates, a group which also includes horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs. They were most closely related to the extinct chalicotheres, which they greatly resemble, and may have been their immediate ancestors. They were, however, much smaller than the later forms, being around the size of a sheep. Like their later relatives, they were probably browsers on leaves and other soft vegetation, and, unlike most other ungulates, had claws on their feet. The Eomoropidae is most likely a paraphyletic group within Chalicot

Chalicotherioidea (from Ancient Greek χάλιξ (khálix), meaning "gravel", and θηρίον (theríon), meaning "beast") is an extinct superfamily of clawed perissodactyls (odd-toed ungulates) that lived from the early Eocene to the early Pleistocene subepochs. Based on the fossil record they emerged and thrived largely in Eurasia, although specimens have been found in both Africa and North America. They were likely browsers that fed mainly on leaves, twigs, and other nonresistant vegetation. Many of the contained genera had derived specializations of the forelimb and manus that allowed the claws to be