Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Daouitherium

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Family
  
†Numidotheriidae

Rank
  
Genus

Class
  
Mammalia

Phylum
  
Chordata

Order
  
Proboscidea

Daouitherium httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Similar
  
Numidotherium, Proboscidea, Phosphatherium, Barytherium, Chilgatherium

Daouitherium ("Sidi Daoui beast" from the name of the site where it was discovered) is an extinct genus of early proboscideans (a group including modern elephants and their extinct relatives) that lived during the early Eocene (Ypresian stage) some 55 million years ago in North Africa.

Remains of this animal which consist of fragments of jaws and teeth have been found in the Ouled Abdoun Basin in Morocco. It is estimated to have weighed between 80 kg (180 lb) and 170 kg (370 lb), making it one of the earliest large mammals known from Africa and one of the oldest known proboscideans. Another estimate gives a weight of 200 kg (440 lb).

Description

Daouitherium is known only from lower jaws and associated cheek-teeth. Daouitherium possess lophodont and bilophodont molars, i.e. molars with large ridges. The 2nd and 3rd premolars possess a notably large cusp called the hypoconid. Gheerbrant et al. described the teeth as similar to those of other early proboscideans Phosphatherium, Numidotherium, and Barytherium.

References

Daouitherium Wikipedia