Chalicotherioidea

Chalicotherioidea Temporal range: 55.8–0.011 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N Early Eocene to Pleistocene
Moropus elatus at the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Suborder:	†Ancylopoda
Superfamily:	†Chalicotherioidea Gill, 1872
Families
Chalicotheriidae Eomoropidae

Chalicotherioidea is an extinct group of clawed perissodactyls that lived from the early Eocene to the Pleistocene subepochs.^[1] It began and thrived largely in Eurasia, based on the fossil record, although specimens have been found in both Africa and North America. They were likely browsers that fed mainly on leaves, twigs, and other nonresistant vegetation. Many of the contained genera had derived specializations of the forelimb and manus that allowed the claws to be used as hooks for browsing and to be kept off of the ground while walking.^[2] Chalicotheres lived primarily in forested areas. Size sexual dimorphism and morphological structures such as the domed skulls of Tylocephalonyx suggest agonistic behaviour in some sort of social setting.^[2] They are related to the extinct brontotheres, as well as modern day horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs.^[3]

Anisodon grande, formerly Chalicotherium grande.

References

1. PaleoBiology Database: Chalicotherioidea, basic info
2. Jacobs, Louis L.; Scott, Kathleen Marie (1998). Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America: Terrestrial carnivores, ungulates, and ungulatelike mammals. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-35519-3.
3. Savage, RJG, & Long, MR (1986). Mammal Evolution: an illustrated guide. New York: Facts on File. pp. 198–199. ISBN 978-0-8160-1194-0.