Barylambda
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Barylambda faberi
|
||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Extinct (fossil)
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
|
[edit] Paleontology of Barylambda
Barylambda is an extinct genus of pantodont mammal from the middle to late Paleocene, well known from several finds in North America. Like other pantodonts, Barylambda was a heavyset, 5-toed plantigrade. Three species of Barylambda are currently recognised. Barylambda went extinct during late Paleocene, with the advent of Coryphodon, a larger, more advanced, pantodont.
[edit] Anatomy and possible ecology
In life, Barylambda probably resembled a large tapir or rhinoceros with a long, well developed tail and bear-like legs. While the teeth were rather general with well developed canines and certainly fully capable of killing and eating other animals, the molars and heavy build strongly suggest it was herbivorous. The length was about 2,5 meters with a weight around 650 kg, about the size of a pony. Barylambda was large even for a pantodon, sheer size probably protecting it from contemporary carnivores. The creature likely lived a life not dissimilar from that of a modern tapir, browsing on foliage and soft marsh vegetation.
[edit] Reference
Gingerich, P.D.& C.G Childress Jr. (1983): Barylambda churchilli, A New Species of Pantolambdidae (Mammalia, Pantodonta) from the Late Paleocene of Western North America. Museum of Paleontology, The University of Michigan |http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/48516
