| Numidotherium Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Drawing of skull from Numidotherium with restored silhouette. | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Proboscidea |
| Family: | †Numidotheriidae |
| Genus: | †Numidotherium Jaeger, 1986 |
| Species: | †N. koholense
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Numidotherium koholense Jaeger, 1986
| |
Numidotherium ("Numidia beast") is an extinct genus of early proboscideans, discovered in 1984, that lived during the middle Eocene of North Africa some 46 million years ago. It was about 90–100 cm (35–39 in) tall at the shoulder and weighed about 250–300 kg (550–660 lb).[1]
The type species, N. koholense, is known from an almost complete skeleton from the site of El Kohol, southern Algeria, dating from the early/middle Eocene period. The animal had the size and the appearance of a modern tapir. In appearance, it was more slender and more plantigrade than an elephant, its closest modern relative.[2]
Numidotherium savagei, named by Court (1995) for material from late Eocene deposits at Dor el Talha, Libya, has been reassigned to its own genus, Arcanotherium.[3][4]
- ^ Larramendi, A. (2016). "Shoulder height, body mass and shape of proboscideans" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 61. doi:10.4202/app.00136.2014.
- ^ Mahdoubi, M; Ameur, R; Crochet, JY; Jaeger, JJ; 1986 "El Kohol (Saharan Atlas, Algeria): A new Eocene mammal locality in northwestern Africa." Palaeontographica Department A. 192: 15-49.
- ^ Court, N. (1995). "A new species of Numidotherium (Mammalia: Proboscidea) from the Eocene of Libya and the early phylogeny of the Proboscidea". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 15 (3): 650–71. doi:10.1080/02724634.1995.10011254. JSTOR 4523657. OCLC 4908959335
- ^ C. Delmer. 2009. Reassessment of the generic attribution of Numidotherium savagei and the homologies of lower incisors in proboscideans. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 54(4):561-580.