Dinocerata (redirected from Dinoceratid)

Dinocerata [‚dī·nō′ser·ə·də]

(paleontology)

An extinct order of large, herbivorous mammals having semigraviportal limbs and hoofed, five-toed feet; often called uintatheres.

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Dinocerata 

an extinct order of herbivorous mammals. Their remains are known from the Paleocene and Eocene deposits of Asia and North America. Ancient representatives of the order were no larger than bears, while later species grew as large as elephants. The skull of late American Dinocerata had three pairs of hornlike outgrowths; some later Asian species had skulls with a large projection on the nose. The brain was very small. The molars, in contrast to those of all other ungulate herbivores, were not adapted to grinding food. The inadequacy of the teeth and the small brain of the Dinocerata are the fundamental reasons for its extinction.

Ancient species were plantigrades, while later ones were digitigrades (such as the uintatheres). The Dinocerata lived near bodies of water and fed on soft vegetation.

REFERENCE

Osnovy paleontologii: Mlekopitaiushchie. Moscow, 1962.