Thuliadanta

Thuliadanta; Temporal range: Early Eocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Superfamily:	Tapiroidea
Genus:	Thuliadanta
Species:	T. mayri
Binomial name
	Thuliadanta mayri; Eberle, 2005

Thuliadanta is an extinct genus of ceratomorph perissodactyl closely related to modern tapirs that is known from the early Eocene of Arctic Canada (Nunavut and Northwest Territories).

Paleogeographic significance

Thuliadenta is known from the highest northern latitudinal region of any extinct tapiroid, indicating a possible North American origin for Tapiroidea. Judging from the use of the mountain tapir as an analogue, Thuliadanta may have been a year-round inhabitant in the mild temperate lowland forests of the Eocene High Arctic.[1]

References

J. J. Eberle. 2005. A new 'tapir' from Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada - Implications for northern high latitude palaeobiogeography and tapir palaeobiology. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 227:311-322.

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[1] J. J. Eberle. 2005. A new 'tapir' from Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada - Implications for northern high latitude palaeobiogeography and tapir palaeobiology. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 227:311-322.