Uintaceras

<i>Uintaceras</i>

Uintaceras

Extinct genus of rhinoceros

Uintaceras is an extinct genus of medium-sized early rhinocerotoids that lived in North America (Wyoming and Utah) during the Middle Eocene, with only the type species U. radinskyi, named in 1997, currently contained within the genus.[1][2] Traditionally considered the oldest and most primitive species of the Rhinocerotidae, it may instead have been a close relative of the Asian Paraceratheriidae.[3] The dubious species Forstercooperia (Hyrachyus) grandis (Radinsky, 1967; Peterson, 1919)[4][5] is also possibly the same animal as Uintaceras,[2][6] although the Asian material of F. grandis was assignable to Forstercooperia confluens.

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Uintaceras weighed about 220 kilograms (490 lb) when fully grown.[citation needed] It was a relatively slender animal and Uintaceras resembled a typical hyracodontid (e.g. Hyracodon), but differed from the hyracodonts due to the presence of a primitive four-fingered hand and a number of other features of the structure of the legs, which were clearly not intended for fast and long running.[6]

References

  1. [1]
    "Uintaceras Holbrook & Lucas, 1997". www.gbif.org. GBIF. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  2. [2]
    L. T. Holbrook and S. G. Lucas. 1997. A New Genus of Rhinocerotoid from the Eocene of Utah and the Status of North American "Forstercooperia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 17(2):384-396
  3. [3]
    Wang, Haibing; Bai, Bin; Meng, Jin; Wang, Yuanqing (2016-12-21). "Earliest known unequivocal rhinocerotoid sheds new light on the origin of Giant Rhinos and phylogeny of early rhinocerotoids". Scientific Reports. 6 (1): 39607. doi:10.1038/srep39607. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 5175171. PMID 28000789.
  4. [4]
    Radinsky, L.B. (1967). "A Review of the Rhinocerotoid Family Hyracodontidae (Perissodactyla)". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 136 (1): 1–46. hdl:2246/1987.
  5. [5]
    Peterson, O.A. (1919). "Report upon the Material Discovered in the Upper Eocene of the Uinta Basin by Earl Douglas[s] in the years 1908-1909, and by 0. A. Peterson in 1912". Annals of the Carnegie Museum. pp. 40–168.
  6. [6]
    Prothero, D.R. (2005). The Evolution of North American Rhinoceroses. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–218. ISBN 0-521-83240-3.


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