''Anthracotherium'' (from el, ἄνθραξ , 'coal' and el, θηρίον 'beast') was a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of extinct

artiodactyl The even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla , ) are ungulates—hoofed animals—which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes: the third and fourth. The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing poster ...

ungulate Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Ungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. These include odd-toed ungulates such as horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, ...

mammals, characterized by having 44

teeth A tooth ( : teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, t ...

, with five semi-crescentic cusps on the crowns of the upper molars. The genus ranged from the middle

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

period until the early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

, having a distribution throughout Eurasia. Material subjectively assigned to ''Anthracotherium'' from Pakistan suggests the last species died out soon after the start of the

Description

The genus typifies the family Anthracotheriidae, if only because it is the most thoroughly studied. In many respects, especially the anatomy of the lower jaw, ''Anthracotherium'', as with the other members of the family, is allied to the

hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...

, of which it is probably an ancestral form. Anthracotheres, together with hippos, are grouped with cetaceans in the clade

Whippomorpha Whippomorpha or Cetancodonta is a group of animals that contains all living cetaceans (whales, dolphins, etc.) and hippopotamuses, as well as their extinct relatives, i.e. Entelodonts and Andrewsarchus. All Whippomorphs are descendants of the la ...

Etymology

The genus name stems from the fact that the holotype and other first specimens were originally obtained from the

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

-aged lignite-beds of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. The European ''Anthracotherium magnum'' was approximately as large as a

pygmy hippo The pygmy hippopotamus or pygmy hippo (''Choeropsis liberiensis'') is a small hippopotamid which is native to the forests and swamps of West Africa, primarily in Liberia, with small populations in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. It has ...

(about 2 m long and weighing up to 250 kg), but there were several smaller species and the genus also occurs in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and North America.L'ANTHRACOTHERIUM
(in italian) Members of the genus ''Anthracotherium'', as well as other members of the family Anthracotheriidae, are known colloquially as

anthracothere Anthracotheriidae is a paraphyletic family of extinct, hippopotamus-like artiodactyl ungulates related to hippopotamuses and whales. The oldest genus, '' Elomeryx'', first appeared during the middle Eocene in Asia. They thrived in Africa and Eur ...

s. Image:Anthracotherium magnum.jpg, ''Anthracotherium magnum'' Image:Anthracotherium coprolite.jpg, ''Anthracotherium sp.''

coprolite A coprolite (also known as a coprolith) is fossilized feces. Coprolites are classified as trace fossils as opposed to body fossils, as they give evidence for the animal's behaviour (in this case, diet) rather than morphology. The name is de ...

at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin

References

Anthracotheres Oligocene even-toed ungulates Eocene even-toed ungulates Eocene genus first appearances Chattian genus extinctions Eocene mammals of Asia Eocene mammals of Europe Oligocene mammals of Asia Oligocene mammals of Europe Taxa named by Georges Cuvier Prehistoric even-toed ungulate genera {{paleo-eventoedungulate-stub