| Cadurcotherium | |
|---|---|
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| Paratype tooth of C. nouleti | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Superfamily: | Rhinocerotoidea |
| Family: | †Amynodontidae |
| Genus: | †Cadurcotherium Gervais, 1873 |
| Species | |
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| Range of Cadurcotherium based on fossil record | |
Cadurcotherium is an extinct amynodontoid, an ancestor to true rhinoceroses. It lived during the Oligocene in France (1 collection), Pakistan (1), Burma (1) and Switzerland (1).
Description[]
This animal, like all its like (the aminodonts), had a vaguely similar appearance to that of a hippopotamus , with relatively short legs and an elongated body. The skull was rather short and probably had a short proboscis, due to the retreat of the nasal bones, or at least a prehensile and muscular upper lip. Cadurcotherium was a specialized representative of his group, and possessed a characteristic dentition: in fact there were only two upper incisors and a lower incisor on each branch of the jaws, while the premolars and molars had a very high crown (ipsodonti). Furthermore the lower molars were extremely narrow.
Classification[]
Cadurcotherium, described for the first time by Gervais in 1873 on the basis of fossils from the Oligocene of France , is a derivative representative of that group of extinct rhinos known as aminodonts. These animals, evolved during the Eocene, prospered during the Oligocene to become extinct at the end of the period, except Cadurcotherium which survived in Asia up to the Lower Miocene. Cadurcotherium , therefore, was a real " living fossil " of its time, as it survived for many millions of years after its close relatives died out. The latest findings of Cadurcotherium have been found in land of the Lower Miocene of Pakistan and Burma. The genus Cadurcotherium has often been confused with Cadurcodon, another oligocene aminodon.
Cadurcotherium is known thanks to various Asian and European species, spread in a wide geographical area. It is probable that the evolutionary success of this animal is due to the peculiar toothing that distinguished it from the other aminodontis, generally endowed with lower crowns and adapted to feed on softer material. Cadurcotherium , therefore, improved the climatic and environmental changes, being able to feed on other harder vegetables. The competition with other types of rhinos developed in the meantime, which were also able to eat hard foods, eventually led to the extinction of Cadurcotherium .
Notes[]
- ROMAN, F., AND L. JOLEAUD. 1908. The Cadurcotherium de l'Isle-sur-Sorgues (Vaucluse) et revision du genre Cadurcotherium. Archives of the Museum of Histoire Naturelle de Lyon, 10: 1-52.
- PILGRIM, GE 1912. The vertebrate fauna of the Gaj Series in the Bugti Hills and the Punjab. Paleontology Indica new series, 4 (2): 1- 83.
- OSBORN, HF 1924. Cadurcotherium ardynense, Oligocene, Mongolia. American Museum Novitates, 147: 1-4.
- RAZA, SM, AND GE MEYER. 1984. Early Miocene geology and paleontology of the Bugti Hills, Pakistan. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Pakistan, 11: 43-63.
- Spencer G. Lucas and Robert J. Emry. 1996. Biochronological Significance of Amynodontidae (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) from the Paleogene of Kazakhstan. Journal of Paleontology, Vol. 70, No. 4 (Jul., 1996), pp. 691-696