''Helaletes'' is an extinct

perissodactyl Odd-toed ungulates, mammals which constitute the taxonomic order Perissodactyla (, ), are animals—ungulates—who have reduced the weight-bearing toes to three (rhinoceroses and tapirs, with tapirs still using four toes on the front legs) o ...

closely related to

tapir Tapirs ( ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Tapiridae. They are similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile nose trunk. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South and Central America, with one species inh ...

s. Fossils have been found in North America.

Taxonomy

The type species of ''Helaletes'', ''H. nanus'', is known from Bridgerian-age fossils in the western US. ''Desmatotherium mongoliensis'' was previously referred to ''Helaletes'', but Bai et al. (2017) found it distantly related to the ''H. nanus'' type species, while excluding the nominal species ''H. medius'' Qiu, 1987 from Helaletidae.Bai B, Wang Y Q, Mao F Y et al., 2017. New material of Eocene Helaletidae (Perissodactyla, Tapiroidea) from the Irdin Manha Formation of the Erlian Basin, Inner Mongolia, China and comments on related localities of the Huheboerhe Area. Am Mus Novit, 3878: 1–44.

References

Prehistoric tapirs Eocene odd-toed ungulates Eocene mammals of North America Taxa named by Othniel Charles Marsh Fossil taxa described in 1872 {{paleo-oddtoedungulate-stub