Oreodon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oreodon (i.e., "hillock-tooth") is the name of an Oligocene genus of North American primitive ruminants related to the camels and pigs, and typifying the family Oreodontidae. Some scholars place these even-toed ungulates in their own suborder Oreodonta, while others put them within the suborder Suina (comprising the pigs).
Typical oreodonts were long-tailed, four-toed, partially plantigrade ruminants with sharp-crowned crescentic molars, of which the upper ones carry four cusps, and the first lower premolar canine-like both in shape and function.
In the type genus there are forty-four teeth, forming an uninterrupted series. The vertebral artery pierces the neck-vertebrae in the normal manner.
The name Oreodon is preoccupied by Orodus, the designation of a genus of Paleozoic fishes, and is likewise antedated by Merycoidodon, which is now used by most scientists in paleontology and vertebrate paleozoology.
"Oreodon beds" of plentiful oreodont jaws and teeth are spread throughout the badlands of the tri-state White River region of South Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
