Pliohyrax

Pliohyrax
Temporal range: Pliocene
↓
Pliohyrax graecus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Hyracoidea
Family: †Pliohyracidae
Subfamily: †Pliohyracinae
Genus: †Pliohyrax
Osborn, 1899
Species

†P. graecus (Gaudry, 1862)[1]
†P. rossignoli (Viret, 1947)[2]
†P. occidentalis (Viret & Thenius, 1952)[1]

Pliohyrax, a genus believed extinct since the Pliocene, is one of the larger hyracoids (the cavy-like group of animals most closely related to elephants and manatees). It grew to sizes greatly exceeding those of any living hyrax, though it was by no means the largest member of this family.

Fossils of this Miocene, scansorial herbivore have been found in Afghanistan, France, and Turkey.[3] In Spain, Pliohyrax graecus is among the large mammals species found in the Almenara site, deposited during the Messinian salinity crisis, together with Macaca sp., Bovidae indet., cf. Nyctereutes sp., and Felidae indet.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 "Genus †Pliohyrax". The Taxonomicon. April 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  2. ↑ "Soblay, excavation from 1949: MN 10, France". The Taxonomicon. Archived from the original on 18 December 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  3. ↑ "Pliohyrax". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  4. ↑ Agustí, Jordi; Garcés, Miguel; Krijgsman, Wout (2006). "Evidence for African–Iberian exchanges during the Messinian in the Spanish mammalian record" (PDF). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 238: 5–14. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2006.03.013.

Category Miocene mammals


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