Agriochoerus

Agriochoerus
Temporal range: Late Eocene-Oligocene
40.4–20.43 Ma
A. antiquus skeleton at the American Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: †Agriochoeridae
Genus: †Agriochoerus
Leidy, 1850
Species
  • A. antiquus
  • A. crassus
  • A. gaudryi
  • A. guyotianus
  • A. major
  • A. maximus
  • A. minimus
  • A. transmontanus?

Agriochoerus is an extinct genus of scansorial herbivore of the tylopod family Agriochoeridae, endemic to North America.[1] Agriochoerus and other agriochoerids possessed claws, which is rare within Artiodactyla, as well as likely being scansorial.[2][3] Agriochoerus was first described in 1869.[4]

Agriochoerus lived during the late Eocene and the Oligocene.[5] It was medium-sized, the estimated body mass for A. antiquus being about 85 kilograms (187 lb).[6]

  1. ^ "Agriochoerus Leidy 1850 (agriochoerid)". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  2. ^ Janis, Christine M.; Scott, Kathleen M.; Jacobs, Louis L. (1998). Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America: Volume 1, Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates, and Ungulate like Mammals. Cambridge University Press. p. 416. ISBN 9780521355193.
  3. ^ Coombs, MC; 1983 "Large Mammalian Clawed Herbivores: A Comparative Study." Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 73(3).
  4. ^ Leidy, J; 1869 "The extinct mammalian fauna of Dakota and Nebraska, including an account of some allied forms from other localities, together with a synopsis of the mammalian remains of North America." Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. 2: 1–472.
  5. ^ Thorpe, M. R. (1921). "Two new forms of Agriochoerus". American Journal of Science. 2 (8): 111–126. Bibcode:1921AmJS....2..111T. doi:10.2475/ajs.s5-2.8.111.
  6. ^ "Agriochoerus". Archived from the original on December 16, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2012.