Megatylopus

Megatylopus
Temporal range: Miocene
Front limb bone of Megatylopus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Camelidae
Genus: †Megatylopus
Matthew & Cook, 1909
Species
  • M. gigas (type)
  • M. cochrani
  • M. matthewi
  • M. primaevus

Megatylopus (also known as the North American camel) 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]

Taxonomy

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]

Morphology

Restoration

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, United States.

Body mass

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

Fossil distribution ranged from North Carolina to California.

References

  1. ↑ PaleoBiology Database: Megatylopus, basic info
  2. ↑ J. R. Macdonald. 1959. Journal of Paleontology 33(5)
  3. ↑ S. D. Webb. 1965. Bulletin of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Science 1
  4. ↑ T. H. Patton. 1969. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 14(2)
  5. ↑ R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W. H. Freeman and Company, New York 1-698
  6. ↑ J. G. Honey, J. A. Harrison, D. R. Prothero and M. S. Stevens. 1998. Camelidae. In C. M. Janis, K. M. Scott, and L. L. Jacobs (eds.), Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America 1:439-462
  7. ↑ M. Mendoza, C. M. Janis, and P. Palmqvist. 2006. Estimating the body mass of extinct ungulates: a study on the use of multiple regression. Journal of Zoology 270(1):90-101
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