Tapirus polkensis

Tapirus polkensis
Temporal range: Late Miocene–Early Pliocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Tapiridae
Genus: Tapirus
Species: T. polkensis
Binomial name
Tapirus polkensis
Olsen, 1860

Tapirus polkensis, the pygmy tapir, was a small prehistoric tapir that lived in North America during the Late Miocene and early Pliocene.[1]T. polkensis may lived in swamps, where it would have been preyed on by ancestors of modern American crocodiles.[citation needed] It was smaller than any extant tapir, with an estimated mass of around 125 kg (280 lb).[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Richard C. Hulbert Jr., Steven C. Wallace, Walter E. Klippel & Paul W. Parmalee (2009). "Cranial morphology and systematics of an extraordinary sample of the Late Neogene dwarf tapir, Tapirus polkensis (Olsen)". Journal of Paleontology 83 (2): 238–262. doi:10.1666/08-062.1. 


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Last modified on 23 February 2013, at 23:59