Embrithopoda

Embrithopoda Temporal range: Eocene - Oligocene, 35–28 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
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Arsinoitherium zitteli
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
(unranked):	Afrotheria
(unranked):	Paenungulata
(unranked):	Tethytheria McKenna 1975
Infraorder:	†Embrithopoda Andrews 1906
Families
†Arsinoitheriidae †Palaeoamasiidae

Embrithopoda ("heavy-footed") is an order of extinct mammals known from Asia, Africa and eastern Europe. Most of the embrithopod genera are known exclusively from jaws and teeth dated from the late Paleocene to the late Eocene, but the order is best known from its terminal member, the elephantine Arsinoitherium.

Description

While embrithopods bore a superficial resemblance to rhinoceroses, their horns had bony cores covered in keratinized skin and were not made of hair. Not all embrithopods possessed horns, either. Despite their appearance, they were related to elephants, not perissodactyls.

The Embrithopoda are tethytheres and are also believed to be part of the clade Afrotheria.

Fossils of embrithopods, such as Arsinoitherium, have been found in Egypt, Mongolia, Turkey, Romania, Namibia and Tunisia. Until the 1970s, only Arsinoitherium itself was known, appearing isolated in the fossil record.

Classification

McKenna & Manning 1977 and McKenna & Bell 1997 considered Phenacolophus from Mongolia a primitive embrithopod, but, though similarities certainly exist, this attribution has been challenged by several other authors.

Order Embrithopoda Andrews 1906

• Family Arsinoitheriidae Andrews 1904
  • Genus Arsinoitherium Beadnell 1902
  • Genus Namatherium Pickford et al., 2008
• Family Palaeoamasiidae Şen & Heintz 1979
  • Genus Crivadiatherium Radulesco, Iliesco & Iliesco 1976
  • Genus Hypsamasia Maas, Thewissen & Kappelman 1998
  • Genus Palaeoamasia Ozansoy 1966