Moropus Temporal range: Early-Middle Miocene,
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Moropus elatus skeleton at the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC | |
Reconstruction of the head of M.elatus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Perissodactyla |
Family: | †Chalicotheriidae |
Subfamily: | †Schizotheriinae |
Genus: | †Moropus Marsh, 1877 |
Species | |
Moropus (meaning "slow foot") is an extinct genus of large perissodactyl ("odd-toed" ungulate) mammal in the chalicothere family. They were endemic to North America during the Miocene from ~20.4–13.6 Mya, existing for approximately 6.8 million years. Moropus belonged to the schizotheriine subfamily of chalicotheres, and has the best fossil record of any member of this group; numbers of individuals, including complete skeletons, have been found.
The closest extant relatives of Moropus are other perissodactyls: horses, rhinos, and tapirs.[2]
EoDP
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).