Anthracotherium
Sign in to saveAnthracotherium (from Ancient Greek ἄνθραξ (ánthrax), meaning "coal", and θηρίον (theríon), meaning "beast") is an extinct genus of anthracotheriid artiodactyls characterized by having 44 teeth, with five semi-crescentic cusps on the crowns of the upper molars. The genus ranged from the middle Eocene period until the early Miocene, having a distribution throughout Eurasia probably even reaching South East Asia (Kalimantan and West Timor). Material subjectively assigned to Anthracotherium from Pakistan suggests the last species died out soon after the start of the Miocene.
Wikidata facts
- Parent taxon
- Anthracotheriidae
- Image
- Anthracotherium magnus.jpg
Show 4 more facts
- described by source
- Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary
- Commons category
- Anthracotherium
- taxon name
- Anthracotherium
- taxon rank
- genus
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Encyclopedic overview
4 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Description
- Palaeoecology
- References
Anthracotherium (from Ancient Greek ἄνθραξ (ánthrax), meaning "coal", and θηρίον (theríon), meaning "beast") is an extinct genus of anthracotheriid artiodactyls characterized by having 44 teeth, with five semi-crescentic cusps on the crowns of the upper molars. The genus ranged from the middle Eocene period until the early Miocene, having a distribution throughout Eurasia probably even reaching South East Asia (Kalimantan and West Timor). Material subjectively assigned to Anthracotherium from Pakistan suggests the last species died out soon after the start of the Miocene.
==Etymology== The genus name stems from the fact that the holotype and other first specimens were originally obtained from the Paleogene (previously known as "Tertiary")-aged lignite beds of Europe.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Anthracotherium” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.