Brontotheriidae

Brontotheres
Temporal range: 56–34 Ma Eocene
Megacerops skeleton at the
National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Brontotheriidae
Marsh, 1873
Genera

See text

Synonyms
  • Menodontidae
  • Titanotheriidae

Brontotheriidae is a family of extinct mammals belonging to the order Perissodactyla, the order that includes horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs. Superficially, they looked rather like rhinos with some developing bony nose horns, and were some of the earliest mammals to have evolved large body sizes of several tonnes. They lived around 56–34 million years ago, until the very close of the Eocene. Brontotheres had a Holarctic distribution, with the exception of Western Europe: they occupied North America, Asia, and Eastern Europe.[1] They were the first fossilized mammals to be discovered west of the Mississippi, and were first discovered in South Dakota.[2]

  1. ^ Mihlbachler, Matthew C. (June 2008). "Species Taxonomy, Phylogeny, and Biogeography of the Brontotheriidae (Mammalia: Perissodactyla)". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 2008 (311): 1–475. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2008)501[1:STPABO]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0003-0090.
  2. ^ "Brontothere: Large beasts of the Badlands (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2024-03-08.