Helaletidae

Helaletidae
Temporal range: Early Eocene - Miocene
Skeleton of Helaletes nanus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Superfamily: Tapiroidea
Family: †Helaletidae
Osborn, 1892
Genera

The Helaletidae are an extinct family of tapiroid, closely related and likely ancestral to the true tapirs, which contain Protapirus and all descendants.[1] In alternative classifications, Helaletidae is treated as a subfamily within the Tapiridae, the Helaletinae.

Members of the family are defined by having less bilophodont cheek teeth compared to other tapiroids.[2]

  1. ^ Ruiz-García, M. (2012). "Phylogeography of the mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque) and the Central American tapir (Tapirus bairdii) and the molecular origins of the three South-American tapirs". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ Lucas, Spencer G. (2002). Chinese Fossil Vertebrates. Columbia University Press. p. 217. ISBN 9780231504614.