Barytherium

Barytherium Temporal range: Late Eocene–Early Oligocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skull drawing
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Proboscidea
Family:	†Barytheriidae
Genus:	†Barytherium C.W. Andrews, 1901
Type species
†Barytherium grave C.W. Andrews, 1901
Species
†B. grave †B. omansi

Barytherium (meaning "heavy beast") is a genus of an extinct genus of large primitive proboscideans that lived during the late Eocene and early Oligocene in North Africa. The type species is Barytherium grave, found at the beginning of the 20th century in Fayum, Egypt.[1] Since then, more complete specimens have been found at Dor el Talha, Libya. More fossils were also discovered in 2011 in the Aidum area in Dhofar by Oman's Ministry of Heritage and Culture, which was named Barytherium omansi.[2]

Description

Life restoration.

The barytheriids were the first large proboscideans to appear in the fossil records. Barytherium itself stood about 1.8–2.0 m tall at the shoulder and weighed around 2 tonnes.[3] Barytherium spp. had eight very short tusks, four each in the upper and lower jaws, which resembled those of a modern hippopotamus more than those of an elephant. The upper pairs were vertical, while the lower pairs projected forwards from the mouth horizontally. Together, these would have created a shearing action for cropping plants.[4]

The elevated nasal region of Barytherium suggests that it may have had a well developed snout or a tapir-like proboscis.[5]

Taxonomy

 A cladogram of Proboscidea based on the phylogenetic analysis of Hautier et al. 2021 is below:[6]

Proboscidea	Eritherium Phosphatherium Daouitherium Numidotherium Barytherium Arcanotherium Omanitherium Saloumia Moeritherium Deinotheriidae Elephantiformes Dagbatitherium Palaeomastodon Phiomia Elephantimorpha

References

1. Andrews, C.W. 1901. Über das Vorkommen von Proboscidiern in untertertiären Ablagerungen Aegyptens. Tageblatt des V Internationalen Zoologischen Kongresses, Berlin 6: 4–5.
2. "Bones of Elephant Ancestors Found" Archived August 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, The Omani Observer, May 22, 2011, retrieved May 22, 2011.
3. Larramendi, A. (2016). "Shoulder height, body mass and shape of proboscideans" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 61. doi:10.4202/app.00136.2014.
4. Savage, RJG & Long, MR (1986). Mammal Evolution: an illustrated guide. New York: Facts on File. p. 148. ISBN 0-8160-1194-X.
5. Nabavizadeh, Ali (2024-10-08). "Of tusks and trunks: A review of craniofacial evolutionary anatomy in elephants and extinct Proboscidea". The Anatomical Record. doi:10.1002/ar.25578. ISSN 1932-8486.
6. Hautier, Lionel; Tabuce, Rodolphe; Mourlam, Mickaël J.; Kassegne, Koffi Evenyon; Amoudji, Yawovi Zikpi; Orliac, Maëva; Quillévéré, Frédéric; Charruault, Anne-Lise; Johnson, Ampah Kodjo Christophe; Guinot, Guillaume (2021-10-13). "New Middle Eocene proboscidean from Togo illuminates the early evolution of the elephantiform-like dental pattern". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 288 (1960). doi:10.1098/rspb.2021.1439. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 8511763. PMID 34641726.