Juxia
| Juxia | |
|---|---|
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| Skull and neck of a mounted specimen of Juxia sharamurenense, Paleozoological Museum of China | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Superfamily: | Rhinocerotoidea |
| Family: | †Hyracodontidae |
| Subfamily: | †Indricotheriinae |
| Genus: | †Juxia Chow & Chiu, 1964 |
| Type species | |
| Juxia sharamurunense Chow & Chiu, 1964 | |
| Species | |
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| Synonyms[1] | |
Species synonyms
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Juxia is an extinct genus of indricothere, a group of herbivorous mammals that are part of the odd-toed ungulate family tree of rhinoceros and tapirs. Juxia was in the size of a horse. It lived in Asia during the upper Eocene.[2] As an early indricothere, Juxia had a relatively light body, held by elongated long legs and small skull firmly attached to a relatively long neck. Based on its triangular like teeth and sharp protruding incisors, Juxia was probably a strict browser, feeding on ferns and leaves on branches where most herbivorous mammals couldn't reach. In terms of habitat, Juxia lived in densely lush and tropical forests of what is now China. Though a few skeletons have been found, it is unclear whether this early indricothere was permanently solitary or lived in small social groups, possibly harems. Based on its morphology, Juxia's long legs probably enabled it to run relatively fast for a limited duration. This was probably a defense mechanism against early mammalian predators.[3]
References
- ↑ Lucas, S.G.; Sobus, J.C. (1989). "The Systematics of Indricotheres". In Prothero, David R.; Schoch, Robert M. The Evolution of Perissodactyls. Oxford University Press. pp. 358–378. ISBN 978-0-19-506039-3. OCLC 19268080.
- ↑ Chow Minchen and Chiu Chan-Siang: An Eocene giant rhinoceros. Vertebrata Palasiatica, 1964 (8), 1964, S. 264–268
- ↑ Prothero, D. (2013). Rhinoceros Giants: The Palaeobiology of Indricotheres. Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-00819-0.