Entelodon

Graphic representation of Entelodon

• Europe (Spain, France, Germany, Romania)
• Caucasus
• Mongolia

Entelodon ( Syn: Elotherium Pommel, 1847) was a genus of large, hogs similar Artiodactyla, who lived in Europe and Asia in the Oligocene. The name Entelodon in German means " perfect dentate ".

Description

Entelodon had a bulky body, a short strong neck and a large, long, broad, flat skull, which could reach a length of one meter. The zygomatic bone was enlarged. The dentition was complete and was more like that of primitive condylarths as the Mesonychia. Dental formula 3-1-7/3-1-7, while the simple conical premolar not be distinguished from molars. The conical and laterally flattened teeth were well suited to the biting of bone. The wear of canines shows that they were heavily used and were not primarily for the display behavior towards conspecifics, as in pigs and hippos used. Probably the animals were omnivores who did not disdain carrion and occasionally actively hunted.

The thoracic vertebrae had long spinous processes, the tail was short. The forelimbs were stronger than the rear legs and the outer legs of the bone, such as the tibia were much shorter than the body located closer to the bones such as the femur. This means that the Entelodon probably was not a good and enduring runners. In contrast to the Anthracotheriidae Entelodon had only two toes.

System

Entelodon is placed in the Entelodontidae family. From the closely related North American Archaeotherium Entelodon differs morphologically hardly.

Species

• E. magnus ( Aymard, 1846)
• E. ronzonii ( Aymard, 1846)
• E. aymardi ( Pomel, 1853)
• E. verdeaui ( Delfortrie, 1874)
• E. antiquus ( Repelin, 1919)
• E. dirus ( Matthew and Granger, 1923)
• E. gobiensis ( Trofimov, 1952)