Euceratherium
| Shrub-ox Temporal range: early to late Pleistocene | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Restoration | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Bovidae |
| Subfamily: | Caprinae |
| Genus: | †Euceratherium Furlong & Sinclair, 1904 |
| Species: | †E. collinum |
| Binomial name | |
| Euceratherium collinum Owen, 1838 | |
| Synonyms | |
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The shrub-ox (Euceratherium collinum) is an extinct genus and species of Bovidae native to North America.
Euceratherium was one of the first bovids to enter North America. It appeared on this continent during the early Pleistocene, long before the first bison arrived from Eurasia. It became extinct about 11,500 years ago.
Late Pleistocene shrub-ox remains are known from fossil finds spanning from northern California to central Mexico. In the East they were distributed at least into Illinois.
Euceratherium was massively built and in size between a modern American bison and a musk ox. A specimen was estimated to have a body mass of 607.5 kg (1,339 lb).[1] On the basis of preserved dung pellets, it has been established that they were browsers with a diet of trees and shrubs.[2] They seem to have preferred hilly landscapes.
References
- ↑ Database- Euceratherium collinum
- ↑ Kropf, M.; Mead, J. I.; Anderson, R. S. (January 2007). "Dung, diet, and the paleoenvironment of the extinct shrub-ox (Euceratherium collinum) on the Colorado Plateau, USA". Quaternary Research (Elsevier) 67 (1): 143–151. doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2006.10.002.
Further reading
- P. S. Martin: Quaternary Extinctions. The University of Arizona Press, 1984 ISBN 0-8165-1100-4
- Grundzüge der Faunen- und Verbreitungsgeschichte der Säugetiere, E. Thenius, 2.Auflage, Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, 1980 ISBN 3-437-30312-0