Eritreum
| Eritreum Temporal range: Late Oligocene
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Scientific classification
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Proboscidea |
| Genus: | †Eritreum Shoshani et al., 2006[1] |
| Species: | †E. melakeghebrekristosi
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| Binomial name | |
| †Eritreum melakeghebrekristosi Shoshani et al., 2006[1]
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Eritreum melakeghebrekristosiis an extinct species ofproboscideanmammal, which lived inNortheast Africaduring the lateOligocenesome 27 million years ago, and is considered to be the missing link between modern elephants and their ancestors. Thefossilsof this species are the oldest known fossils featuring the horizontal tooth displacement seen in modern elephants. The species is estimated to have weighed 484 kg (1,067 lb) and stood about 1.3 m (4.3 ft) at the shoulder, much smaller than modern species.
The generic nameEritreumcomes fromEritrea,the country in theHorn of Africawhere the specimen was discovered. The specific namemelakeghebrekristosihonors Melake Ghebrekristos, the farmer who found the specimen.
References
[edit]- ^abJ. Shoshani,R. C. Walter, M. Abraha, S. Berhe, P. Tassy, W. J. Sanders, G. H. Marchant, Y. Libsekal, T. Ghirmai and D. Zinner. 2006.A proboscidean from the late Oligocene of Eritrea, a "missing link" between early Elephantiformes and Elephantimorpha, and biogeographic implications.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences103(46):17296-17301
External links
[edit]- Bryner, Jeanna (2006-09-01)."'Missing Link' of Elephant Family Unearthed ".LiveScience. Archived fromthe originalon 2006-11-02.Retrieved2006-09-14.
Genera of the orderProboscidea | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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