Coryphodon | |
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Skeleton of Coryphodon | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | †Pantodonta |
Family: | †Coryphodontidae |
Genus: | †Coryphodon Owen 1845 |
Type species | |
†Coryphodon eocaenus | |
Synonyms | |
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Coryphodon (from Greek κορῦφὴ, "point", and ὀδοὺς, "tooth", meaning peaked tooth, referring to "the development of the angles of the ridges into points [on the molars].")[1] is an extinct genus of pantodonts of the family Coryphodontidae.
Coryphodon was a pantodont, a member of the world's first group of large browsing mammals. It migrated across what is now northern North America, replacing Barylambda, an earlier pantodont. It is regarded as the ancestor of the genus Hypercoryphodon of Late Eocene Mongolia.
Coryphodon is known from many specimens in North America and considerably fewer in Europe, Mongolia, and China. It is a small to medium-sized coryphodontid who differs from other members of the family in dental characteristics.[2]