Gigantocamelus

Gigantocamelus is an extinct genus of terrestrial herbivore the family Camelidae, endemic to North America from the Pliocene through Pleistocene 4.9 mya—300,000 years ago existing for approximately 4.68 million years.^[1]

This was the 2nd largest species of Camelid to roam the Earth.

Taxonomy

Gentilicamelus was named by Barbour and Schultz (1939). Its type is Gigantocamelus fricki. It was synonymized subjectively with Titanotylopus by Webb (1965) and Kurten and Anderson (1980). It was assigned to Camelidae by Barbour and Schultz (1939), Harrison (1985), Dalquest (1992) and Honey et al. (1998).^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]}

Morphology

Two specimens were examined for estimated body mass by M. Mendoza, C. M. Janis, and P. Palmqvist. These specimens were estimated to weigh:

• 2,485.6 kg (5,500 lb)
• 1,669.5 kg (3,700 lb) ^[8]

Fossil distribution

Fossil distribution ranged from Texas to Nebraska to Western Oregon and to the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Nevada/California.

References