Behemotops Temporal range:
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | †Desmostylia |
Family: | †Desmostylidae |
Genus: | †Behemotops Domning, Ray & McKenna 1986 |
Type species | |
* †Behemotops proteus Domning, Ray & McKenna 1986 | |
Other species[1] | |
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Behemotops (from the Biblical monster Behemoth, by Linnaeus and others believed to be a hippo)[2] is an extinct genus of herbivorous marine mammal. It lived from the Early Oligocene (Rupelian) through the Late Oligocene (33.9 mya—23 Mya), existing for approximately 10.9 million years. It is the most primitive known desmostylian, believed to be close to the ancestry of all other desmostylians.