''Oxydactylus'' is an extinct genus of
camelid
Camelids are members of the biological family Camelidae, the only currently living family in the suborder Tylopoda. The seven extant members of this group are: dromedary camels, Bactrian camels, wild Bactrian camels, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, ...
endemic to
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
. It lived from the Late
Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...
to the
Middle Miocene
The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene.
The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma to 11.608 ± 0.005 Ma (million y ...
(28.4–13.7
mya), existing for approximately .
''Oxydactylus'' at fosilworks
/ref> The name is from the Ancient Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
οξύς (oxys, "sharp")and δάκτυλος (daktylos, "finger").
They had very long legs and necks, and were probably adapted to eating high vegetation, much like modern giraffes
The giraffe is a large African hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa''. It is the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on Earth. Traditionally, giraffes were thought to be one species, ''Giraffa camelopardalis ...
. Unlike modern camelids, they had hooves, rather than tough sole-pads, and splayed toes.
References
Prehistoric camelids
Oligocene even-toed ungulates
Miocene even-toed ungulates
Serravallian genus extinctions
Miocene mammals of North America
Oligocene mammals of North America
Prehistoric even-toed ungulate genera
Chattian genus first appearances
Aquitanian genera
Burdigalian genera
Langhian genera
Fossil taxa described in 1904
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