Palaeotheriidae

Palaeotheriidae Temporal range: 55–28 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N Early Eocene to early Oligocene

Palaeotherium curtum skull
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Palaeotheriidae
Genera
Palaeotherium Hyracotherium Anchilophus Lophiotherium Propachynolophus

Palaeotheriidae is an extinct family of herbivorous perissodactyl mammals related to tapirs and rhinoceros, and probably ancestral to horses. They ranged across Europe and Asia during the Eocene through Oligocene 55—28 Ma, existing for approximately 27 million years.

Living in dense forests, they ate soft leaves, shoots, berries, and leaf matter picked up from the forest floor.

Morphology

Plagiolophus annectens jaw

Palaeothere sizes ranged from 20 to 75 cm (8 to 30 in) at the shoulder, and weighed an estimated 10–30 kg (20–70 lb).^[1]

↑ S. Legendre. 1988. Les communautes de mammiferes du Paleogene (Eocene superieur et Oligocene) d'Europe occidentale: structure, milieux et evolution. Ph.D. thesis, Universite des Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc, Montpellier, France. 2 volumes. 1-265

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