Numidotherium
Sign in to saveNumidotherium (from Numidia, and Ancient Greek θηρίον (thēríon), meaning "beast") is an extinct genus of early proboscideans, discovered in 1984, that lived during the middle Eocene of North Africa some 46 million years ago. It was about tall at the shoulder and weighed about .
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5 sectionsContents
- Description
- Discovery
- Classification
- Paleobiology
- References
Numidotherium (from Numidia, and Ancient Greek θηρίον (thēríon), meaning "beast") is an extinct genus of early proboscideans, discovered in 1984, that lived during the middle Eocene of North Africa some 46 million years ago. It was about tall at the shoulder and weighed about .
The type species, N. koholense, is known from an almost complete skeleton from the site of El Kohol, southern Algeria, dating from the early/middle Eocene period. The animal had the size and the appearance of a modern tapir. In appearance, it was more slender and more plantigrade than an elephant, its closest modern relative.