Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

Barytherium

Extinct genus of proboscid From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Barytherium
Remove ads

Barytherium (meaning "heavy beast") is a genus of an extinct genus of large primitive proboscideans that lived during the late Eocene and early Oligocene in North Africa. The type species is Barytherium grave, found at the beginning of the 20th century in Fayum, Egypt.[1] Since then, more complete specimens have been found at Dor el Talha, Libya. More fossils were also discovered in 2011 in the Aidum area in Dhofar by Oman's Ministry of Heritage and Culture, which was named Barytherium omansi.[2]

Quick Facts Scientific classification, Type species ...
Remove ads

Description

Thumb
Life restoration.

The barytheriids were the first large proboscideans to appear in the fossil records. Barytherium itself stood about 1.8–2.0 m tall at the shoulder and weighed around 2 tonnes.[3] Barytherium spp. had eight very short tusks, four each in the upper and lower jaws, which resembled those of a modern hippopotamus more than those of an elephant. The upper pairs were vertical, while the lower pairs projected forwards from the mouth horizontally. Together, these would have created a shearing action for cropping plants.[4]

The elevated nasal region of Barytherium suggests that it may have had a well developed snout or a tapir-like proboscis.[5]

Remove ads

Taxonomy

 A cladogram of Proboscidea based on the phylogenetic analysis of Hautier et al. 2021 is below:[6]

Proboscidea
Remove ads

Palaeoecology

Tooth enamel δ18O values from Barytherium show that it lived a semiaquatic lifestyle. Its δ13C values indicate consumption of aquatic vegetation.[7]

References

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads