Megacerops

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Megacerops
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Brontotheriidae
Genus: Megacerops
Leidy, 1870
Species
  • M. coloradensis (type)
  • M. aoer
  • M. curtus
  • M. hatcheri
  • M. kuwagatarhinus
  • M. osborni
  • M. platyceras

Megacerops ('large horn face') is an extinct genus of North American brontotheriid mammal. Males had two blunt horns on their snout. This could indicate that they were social animals which butted heads for breeding privileges.

According to 2004, Megacerops includes the species of the genera Menodus, Brontotherium, Brontops, Menops, Ateleodon, and Oreinotherium

A life-sized model of a Megacerops family (a male, female, and juvenile) is displayed at the Canadian Museum of Nature.

[edit] References

  • Mihlbachler, M.C. 2004. Phylogenetic Systematics of the Brontotheriidae (Mammalia, Perissodactyla). Ph.D. Dissertation, Columbia University. 757 pp.
  • Mihlbachler, M.C. , S.G. Lucas, and R.J, Emry. 2004a. The holotype specimen of Menodus giganteus, and the “insoluble” problem of Chadronian brontothere taxonomy. In: S.G. Lucas, K. Zeigler, and P. E. Kondrashov (eds.), Paleogene Mammals. Bulletin of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History 26: 129-136.
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