Middle Miocene Chalicotheriinae (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) from France, with a discussion on chalicotheriine phylogeny
Author
Anquetin, Jérémy
Author
Antoine, Pierre-Olivier
Author
Tassy, Pascal
text
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
2007
2007-11-30
151
3
577
608
https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article-lookup/doi/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2007.00327.x
journal article
10.1111/j.1096-3642.2007.00327.x
0024-4082
5428275
CHALICOTHERIUM
KAUP, 1833
A
Macrotherium
Pictet, 1844
Diagnosis:
Amoung
Chalicotheriinae
(height of the mandibular corpus increasing posteriorly; protoloph of P
3
and P
4
lost; protoloph not reaching the protocone on molars; upper molars subsquare),
Chalicotherium
is diagnosed by two unambiguous synapomorphies (see cladistic analysis): occipital condyles elongated vertically; postfossette more pinched on M
3
than on other molars.
The cranial anatomy of
Chalicotherium
is far less derived than that of
Anisodon
and retains numerous plesiomorphic traits, such as: a rather long snout and skull; parallel (in ventral view) and straight (in lateral view) upper tooth rows; lack of a lacrimal tubercle; no groove between the ventral border of the zygomatic arch and M
3
; postorbital process on the jugal absent; tent-shaped braincase (not swollen); ventrally orientated paroccipital process; upper part of the occiput projected posteriorly; retromolar space present on both the maxilla and mandible; tympanic bulla not extended anterior to the postglenoid process; angulus mandibulae straight (not expanded ventrally); metacone at least as lingual as the paracone on M
1
and M
2
; external walls of the metacone and metastyle subperpendicular to the mesiodistal lengthening on M
3
; strong ‘metastylid’ on lower molars.
Type
species:
Chalicotherium goldfussi
Kaup, 1833a
.
Included species:
Chalicotherium brevirostris
.