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Cladus: Eukaryota ------- Procamelus is an extinct genus of terrestrial herbivore the family Camelidae, endemic to North America from the Oligocene through Miocene 20.6—4.9 mya, existing for approximately 15.7 million years.[1]
Priscocamelus was named by Leidy (1858). It is not extant. It was assigned to Camelidae by Leidy (1858) and Carroll (1988).[2] The name is derived from the Greek πρό, meaning "before", and κάμελος (camel), thus "early camel." Morphology It had long legs designed for speed, and was about 1.3 metres (4.3 ft) in height, slightly smaller than a modern llama. Unlike modern camelids, it had a pair of small incisor teeth in the upper jaw. The remaining teeth were large and adapted for eating tough vegetation. The shape of the toes suggests that it possessed foot pads, like modern camels, but unlike earlier forms of camelid, which generally had hooves. This would have helped it walk over relatively soft ground.[3] Body mass A single specimen was examined for estimated body mass by M. Mendoza, C. M. Janis, and P. Palmqvist. This specimen was estimated to weigh: * 532.7 kg (1,200 lb) [4] It had a straighter neck than Oxydactylus orAepycamelus. References 1. ^ PaleoBiology Database: Procamelus, basic info
Source: Wikispecies, Wikipedia: All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License |
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