Eobasileus

Eobasileus
Temporal range: Late Eocene
Restoration by Charles R. Knight
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: †Dinocerata
Family: †Uintatheriidae
Genus: †Eobasileus
Species: †E. cornutus
Binomial name
Eobasileus cornutus
Cope, 1872

Eobasileus cornutus ("crowned dawn-king") was a prehistoric species of dinocerate mammal.

Eobasileus (left) and Uintatherium (right)
Skull in the Field Museum

Eobasileus was 4 metres (13 ft) long and stood 2.1 metres (6.9 ft) tall at the shoulder; and with a weight up to 4000 kg (8818 lbs) it was the largest uintathere.[1] It looked very similar to the related Uintatherium. Like Uintatherium, it had three pairs of blunt horns on its skull, possibly covered with skin like the ossicones of a giraffe. The frontal pair may have been composed of keratin, like the horn(s) of a rhinoceros. Eobasileus also had a pair of tusks which were shielded by bony protrusions of the lower jaw.[2]

References

  1. ↑ http://tech.dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/MammalPaleontology/message/374
  2. ↑ Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 235. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.


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