Arsinoitherium

Arsinoitherium
Temporal range: Late Eocene – Early Oligocene
~36–27 Ma
A. zitteli cast, Natural History Museum, London
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: †Embrithopoda
Family: †Arsinoitheriidae
Genus: †Arsinoitherium
Beadnell 1902
Type species
Arsinoitherium zitteli
Beadnell, 1902
Species
  • A. zitteli Beadnell, 1902
  • A. andrewsi Lankester, 1903
  • A. giganteum Sanders et al., 2004

Arsinoitherium is an extinct genus of paenungulate mammals belonging to the extinct order Embrithopoda. It is related to elephants, sirenians, and hyraxes. Arsinoitheres were superficially rhinoceros-like herbivores that lived during the Late Eocene and the Early Oligocene of North Africa from 36 to 30 million years ago, in areas of tropical rainforest and at the margin of mangrove swamps. A species described in 2004, A. giganteum, lived in Ethiopia about 27 million years ago.