Protoceratidae

Graphic representation of Protoceras by Heinrich Harder

• North America

The Protoceratidae are an extinct group of animals that lived from the Middle Eocene to early Pliocene in North America. They were never particularly species- rich or numerous.

Features

Your most distinctive feature are bony horns, carrying the male on the orbit and behind the nostrils. In later Protoceratiden the nose horn was often bifurcated Y-shaped, bent the paired posterior horns. The teeth of the animals had low crowns, their upper molars were much broader than long. Males had long canine teeth, which were separated by a diastema of the molars. The legs of Protoceratidaen were relatively short and unspecialized. Radius and ulna were grown together only with the advanced Synthetocertini. The second and fifth toes were barely receded. These features suggest that the animals were not fast runners and perhaps lived in densely wooded or marshy areas where a quick escape speed was not as important.

Outer systematics

As a sister group and next extant relatives of the Protoceratidae apply according to different phylogenetic analyzes either ruminants ( ruminant ) or the camels ( Camelidae ). The morphology of animals and stratigraphic data rather suggest a relationship with the camels.

Inside systematics

Today, 13 genera are recognized. Since 1998, no new species have been described.

• Basal Protoceratidae (formerly classified as a subfamily Leptotragulinae ) Leptotragulus, Eocene
• Leptoreodon, Eocene
• Poabromylus, Eocene
• Toromeryx, Eocene
• Heteromeryx, Eocene
• Pseudoprotoceras, Oligocene

• Protoceras, Oligocene
• Paratoceras, Oligocene

• Tribus Kyptocertini Syndyoceras, early Miocene
• Kyptoceras, Miocene, Pliocene earliest

• Lanbdoceras, early Miocene
• Prosynthetoceras, early Miocene
• Synthetoceras, Miocene