Gobiatherium

Gobiatherium (meaning "Beast of the Gobi Desert") was one of the last Uintatheres, from the Mid Eocene of Mongolia. Unlike its North American cousins, Uintatherium or Eobasileus, Gobiatherium lacked knob-like horns, or even fang-like tusks. Instead, it had enlarged cheekbones and an almost spherical snout.

Gobiatherium
Temporal range: Middle Eocene
Gobiatherium major and the pantodont Hypercoryphodon
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Dinocerata
Family:
Uintatheriidae
Subfamily:
Gobiatheriinae
Genus:
Gobiatherium

Osborn & Granger, 1932
Species
  • G. major
  • G. mirificum
  • G. monolobotum
Skull of Gobiatherium

Because of the noticeable lack of many diagnostic uintathere features (the horns and tusks), the genus is placed within its own subfamily, "Gobiatheriinae," though some experts prefer to rank it as the family "Gobiatheriidae".

References
  • Cheng Jie & Ma Aneheng: New mammalian materials from the Eocene of the Liguanqiao basin. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 28, 1990, S. 228–244.
  • McKenna, M.C. & Bell, S.K. Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. 1997, Columbia University Press, New York. ISBN 978-0-231-11013-6
  • Spencer George Lucas: Gobiatherium (Mammalia: Dinocerata) from the Middle Eocene of Asia: Taxonomy and biochronological Significance. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 74 (4), 2001, S. 591–600.


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