| Megatylopus Temporal range: Miocene |
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| Leg bone of Megatylopus | |
| Conservation status | |
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Fossil
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Suborder: | Tylopoda |
| Family: | Camelidae |
| Genus: | Megatylopus Matthew & Cook, 1909 |
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Megatylopus is an extinct and large genus of terrestrial herbivore the family Camelidae, endemic to North America from the Miocene through Late Pliocene—Early Pleistocene boundary 13.6—1.8 mya, existing for approximately 11.8 million years.[1]
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Megatylopus was named by Matthew and Cook (1909). Its type is Megatylopus gigas. It was synonymized subjectively with Paracamelus by Macdonald (1959). It was assigned to Camelidae by Matthew and Cook (1909), Webb (1965), Patton (1969), Harrison (1985), Carroll (1988) and Honey et al. (1998).[2][3][4][5][6]
It stood about 4,20 m (14 ft) tall, with its legs already measuring 2,10 m (7 ft). Fossil remains have been found in Oklahoma, USA.
A single specimen was examined for estimated body mass by M. Mendoza, C. M. Janis, and P. Palmqvist. This specimen was estimated to weigh 1,698.4 kg (3,700 lb) [7]
Fossil distribution ranged from North Carolina to California.