Paraceratheriidae

Paraceratheres Temporal range: Middle Eocene to Early Miocene, 47–23 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skeleton of Paraceratherium
Skeleton of Juxia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Superfamily:	Rhinocerotoidea
Family:	†Paraceratheriidae Osborn, 1923
Subgroups
†Forstercooperiinae? †Forstercooperia †Gobicerops †Pappaceras †Paraceratheriinae †Aralotherium †Dzungariotherium †Juxia †Paraceratherium †Turpanotherium †Urtinotherium
Synonyms
Baluchitheriinae Osborn, 1923 Indricotheriinae Borissiak, 1923 Forstercooperiidae? Kretzoi, 1940

Paraceratheres, historically also called indricotheres and baluchitheres, are long-limbed and hornless rhinocerotoids belonging to the family Paraceratheriidae. Paraceratheres were native to Asia and Eastern Europe, originated in the Eocene epoch and lived until the beginning of the Miocene. They represent some of the largest terrestrial mammals to have ever lived.

Description

The necks and limbs of paraceratheriids are elongate relative to those of living rhinoceroses. The earliest paraceratheres like Juxia were comparable in size with living rhinoceroses with a body mass of three quarters to one and a half tons, while later members grew substantially larger, with the largest representatives (Dzungariotherium and Paraceratherium) estimated to have a body mass of around 17 to 20 tons, making them the largest land mammals to have ever lived (though possibly equalled or exceeded by some proboscideans in body mass). Non-forstercoopine paraceratheriids are united by the possession of a retracted nasal notch, a lack of contact between the premaxilla and nasal bones of the skull, enlarged upper and lower first incisors and small lower canine teeth, along with characters relating to the size and shape of the molars and premolars.

Range

Their range spanned from Eastern Europe in the west, the Indian subcontinent in the south, to Northern China in the east.

Ecology

Paraceratheriids are thought to have been primarily browsers.

Taxonomy

Although considered a subfamily of the family Hyracodontidae by some authors, recent authors treat the paraceratheres as a distinct family, Paraceratheriidae (Wang et al. 2016 recover hyracodonts as more basal than paraceratheres). Some authors choose to include the small, primitive forsterocoopines (Forstercooperia, Pappaceras) within the family, while they are excluded by other authors.

Cladogram after Deng et al. 2021:

References