Kingdom Animalia Family Camelidae Phylum Chordata Order Even-toed ungulate | Class Mammalia Tribe Camelini Rank Genus | |
Similar Titanotylopus, Megacamelus, Megatylopus, Even‑toed ungulate, Camelini | ||
Gigantocamelus is an extinct genus of terrestrial herbivore in the family Camelidae, endemic to North America from the Pliocene through Pleistocene 4.9 mya—300,000 years ago existing for approximately 4.68 million years. It was the second largest known species of Camelid to roam the Earth.
Contents
Taxonomy
Gentilicamelus was named by Barbour and Schultz in 1939. Its type is Gigantocamelus fricki. It was synonymized subjectively with Titanotylopus by Webb (1965) and Kurten and Anderson (1980). It was assigned to Camelidae by Barbour and Schultz (1939), Harrison (1985), Dalquest (1992) and Honey et al. (1998).
Morphology
Two specimens were examined for estimated body mass by M. Mendoza, C. M. Janis, and P. Palmqvist. These specimens were estimated to weigh:
Fossil distribution
Fossil distribution ranged from Texas to Nebraska to Western Oregon and to the Sierra Nevada of Nevada/California.
