Anoplotheriidae is an extinct family of artiodactyl ungulates. They were endemic to Europe during the Eocene and Oligocene epochs about 44—30 million years ago. Its name is derived from the ("unarmed")
Ecology
Species of Anoplotheriidae varied substantially in size
. Diplobune minor is suggested to have weighted about
, while
Anoplotherium is suggested to have been up to in weight.
is thought to have been a browser that reared up on its hind legs to feed,
while
Diplobune is suggested to have been an arboreal climbing animal.
Systematics and taxonomy
The family Anoplotheriidae was assigned to
Belluae by Bonaparte (who named it Anoplotheriina) in 1850; to
Artiodactyla by Cope in 1889, to
Ruminantia by Gregory in 1910, and finally to its own superfamily
Anoplotherioidea by
Alfred Romer in 1966.
A 2019 study considered them to be closely related to
Cainotheriidae, another group of endemic European artiodactyls, with this group in turn being related to
Ruminant,
while a 2020 study found them to be more closely related to the also European endemic
Xiphodontidae, again as relatives of ruminants.
Included genera:
-
Subfamily Anoplotheriinae
-
Subfamily Dacrytheriinae
Sources
-
http://www.helsinki.fi/~mhaaramo/metazoa/deuterostoma/chordata/synapsida/eutheria/artiodactyla/suina/anoplotheroidea.html
