†Bothriodontinae (cladistically includes Hippopotamidae)
†Microbunodontinae
Anthracotheriidae is a paraphyletic family of extinct, hippopotamus-like artiodactyl ungulates related to hippopotamuses and whales. The oldest genus, Elomeryx, first appeared during the middle Eocene in Asia. They thrived in Africa and Eurasia, with a few species ultimately entering North America during the Oligocene. They died out in Europe and Africa during the Miocene, possibly due to a combination of climatic changes and competition with other artiodactyls, including pigs and true hippopotamuses.[3] The youngest genus, Merycopotamus, died out in Asia during the late Pliocene, possibly for the same reasons. The family is named after the first genus discovered, Anthracotherium, which means "coal beast", as the first fossils of it were found in Paleogene-aged coal beds in France. Fossil remains of the anthracothere genus were discovered by the Harvard University and Geological Survey of Pakistan joint research project (Y-GSP) in the well-dated middle and late Miocene deposits of the Pothohar Plateau in northern Pakistan.[4]
In life, the average anthracothere would have resembled a skinny hippopotamus with a comparatively small, narrow head and most likely pig-like in general appearance.[5] They had four or five toes on each foot, and broad feet suited to walking on soft mud. They had full sets of about 44 teeth with five semicrescentric cusps on the upper molars,[3] which, in some species, were adapted for digging up the roots of aquatic plants.[6]
^Kron, D.G., B.; Manning, E. (1998). "Anthracotheriidae". In Janis, C.M.; Scott, K.M.; Jacobs, L.L. (eds.). Evolution of Tertiary mammals of North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 381–388. ISBN 978-0-521-35519-3.
^Lihoreau, Fabrice; Jean-Renaud Boisserie; et al. (2006). "Anthracothere dental anatomy reveals a late Miocene Chado-Libyan bioprovince" (PDF). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (originally published online May 24, 2006): 8763–7. Bibcode:2006PNAS..103.8763L. doi:10.1073/pnas.0603126103. PMC 1482652. PMID 16723392.
^ ab"Anthracotheriidae (Family)". Archived from the original on 2009-03-19. Retrieved 2009-04-30.
^[], Chaire de Paléoanthropologie et de Préhistoire, Collège de France, 11 place Marcelin Berthelot, 75005 Paris, France
Copyright 2007 The Palaeontological Association
^Allaby, Michael (1999). "Anthracotheriidae". A Dictionary of Zoology. Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 15 Apr 2009.
^Douglas Palmer (1999). Barry Cox (ed.). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 268. ISBN 978-1-84028-152-1.
Anthracotheriidae is a paraphyletic family of extinct, hippopotamus-like artiodactyl ungulates related to hippopotamuses and whales. The oldest genus...
extinct, families of even-toed ungulates were Entelodontidae and Anthracotheriidae. Entelodonts existed from the middle Eocene to the early Miocene in...
contended. The traditional notion is that there at minimum two families Anthracotheriidae and Hippopotamidae and were merely sister taxa. However many detailed...
of Bothriodontinae, Merycopotamus thachangensis (Cetartiodactyla, Anthracotheriidae) from the Late Miocene of Nakhon Ratchasima, Northeastern Thailand"...
soon after the start of the Miocene. The genus typifies the family Anthracotheriidae, if only because it is the most thoroughly studied. In many respects...
Eocene finds of Amynodontidae, Hyracodontidae, Brontotheriidae, and Anthracotheriidae have affinities to Asian, but not western European, forms. This Asian-related...
Accordingly, Spaulding grouped some genera of the extinct family Anthracotheriidae within Ruminantiamorpha (but not in Ruminantia), but placed others...
a relationship between hippos and the anatomically similar family Anthracotheriidae. Two archaic whales (Pakicetus and Artiocetus) formed the sister group...
Anthracohyus was a genus of extinct artiodactyl ungulate mammal belonging to Anthracotheriidae that lived in Asia during the middle to late Eocene. Anthracohyus...
Myaingtherium and Siamotherium. Ducrocq, S. 1999. The late Eocene Anthracotheriidae (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) from Thailand. Palaeontographica Abteilung...
contains three families of Artiodactyla–Anthracotheriidae, Entelodontidae, and Hypertragulidae. Anthracotheriidae indet. Entelodontidae indet. Hypertragulidae...
sister to Bothriodontinae. Lihoreau, F.; Ducrocq, S. (2007). "Family Anthracotheriidae". In Prothero, D.R.; Foss, S.E. (eds.). The Evolution of Artiodactyls...
second branch of Whippomorpha is thought to have developed into the Anthracotheriidae family, who were the putative ancestors of modern hippopotamuses....
"Taxonomic revision of Anthracokeryx thailandicus Ducrocq, 1999 (Anthracotheriidae, Microbunodontinae) from the Upper Eocene of Thailand". Vertebrata...
Microbunodon was a genus of extinct artiodactyl mammals in the family Anthracotheriidae. It lived between the upper Eocene and the lower Pliocene (about 35–5...
and thin heads. Hippopotamids are deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus, which lived...
Anthracokeryx is a genus of extinct artiodactyl ungulate mammal belonging to Anthracotheriidae that lived in Asia during the middle to late Eocene. Anthracokeryx...
more adapted for grazing. Lihoreau, F.; Ducrocq, S. (2007). "Family Anthracotheriidae". In Prothero, D.R.; Foss, S.E. (eds.). The Evolution of Artiodactyls...
B; Grossman, Ari (2015). "The first skull of Sivameryx africanus (Anthracotheriidae, Bothriodontinae) from the early Miocene of East Africa". Journal...
149–153. Tsubamoto, Takehisa (2020-03-31). "Additional specimens of the Anthracotheriidae (Mammalia; Artiodactyla) from the upper Eocene Ergilin Dzo Formation...
Superfamily †Anthracotherioidea Family †Haplobunodontidae Family †Anthracotheriidae Superfamily †Anoplotherioidea Family †Dacrytheriidae Family †Anoplotheriidae...
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