Behemotops
Encyclopedia
Behemotops is an extinct genus of herbivorous marine
mammal
of the family
Desmostylidae
living from the Rupelian
stage of the Early Oligocene subepoch through the Late Oligocene subepoch (33.9 mya—23 Mya) and in existence for approximately .
Behemotops is Greek
for "hippopotamus
-looking" and was discovered on the northern Oregon
coast in the early 1970s by fossil collector Douglas Emlong
, and described by Daryl Domning, Clayton E. Ray and Malcolm C. McKenna in 1986. Fossils representing this genus have been found in Oregon
, Washington and west to Hokkaidō
.
Behemotops had more elephant
-like tooth and jaw features than other known desmostylia
ns from later periods. It had cusped molars
that more resembled those of mastodons or other land ungulates than those of later Desmostylus
, which exhibited odd "bound-pillar" shaped molars which may have evolved in response to the grit from a diet of sea-grass. Discovery of Behemotops helped place desmostylians as more closely related to proboscidea
ns than sirenians, although relationships of this group are still poorly resolved.
Marine (ocean)
Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...
mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
of the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Desmostylidae
Desmostylidae
Desmostylidae is an extinct family of herbivorous marine mammal belonging to the order of Desmostylia living along the coast of the Pacific Ocean from the Rupelian stage of the Early Oligocene through the Chattian stage of the Late Oligocene existing for approximately .Desmostylidae are...
living from the Rupelian
Rupelian
The Rupelian is, in the geologic timescale, the older of two ages or the lower of two stages of the Oligocene epoch/series. It spans the time between and . It is preceded by the Priabonian stage and is followed by the Chattian stage....
stage of the Early Oligocene subepoch through the Late Oligocene subepoch (33.9 mya—23 Mya) and in existence for approximately .
Behemotops is Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
for "hippopotamus
Hippopotamus
The hippopotamus , or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" , is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest...
-looking" and was discovered on the northern Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
coast in the early 1970s by fossil collector Douglas Emlong
Douglas Emlong
Douglas Ralph Emlong was an amateur fossil collector from the Oregon Coast in the northwestern United States. His collections contributed to the discovery and description of numerous extinct marine mammal species, many of which are ancestral to extant groups...
, and described by Daryl Domning, Clayton E. Ray and Malcolm C. McKenna in 1986. Fossils representing this genus have been found in Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, Washington and west to Hokkaidō
Hokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
.
Behemotops had more elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
-like tooth and jaw features than other known desmostylia
Desmostylia
Desmostylia is an extinct order of marine mammals which existed from the Arikareean age of the late Oligocene epoch to the Tortonian age of the late Miocene epoch . Their dental and skeletal form suggests desmostylians were amphibious herbivores dependent on littoral habitats...
ns from later periods. It had cusped molars
Molar (tooth)
Molars are the rearmost and most complicated kind of tooth in most mammals. In many mammals they grind food; hence the Latin name mola, "millstone"....
that more resembled those of mastodons or other land ungulates than those of later Desmostylus
Desmostylus
Desmostylus is a monotypic extinct genus of herbivorous mammal of the family Desmostylidae living from the Chattian stage of the Late Oligocene subepoch through the Late Miocene subepoch and in existence for approximately ....
, which exhibited odd "bound-pillar" shaped molars which may have evolved in response to the grit from a diet of sea-grass. Discovery of Behemotops helped place desmostylians as more closely related to proboscidea
Proboscidea
Proboscidea is a taxonomic order containing one living family, Elephantidae, and several extinct families. This order was first described by J. Illiger in 1881 and encompasses the trunked mammals...
ns than sirenians, although relationships of this group are still poorly resolved.