Paenanthracotherium

Paenanthracotherium
Temporal range: Oligocene
Life restoration of "P. bergeri"
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Anthracotheriidae
Subfamily: Anthracotheriinae
Genus: Paenanthracotherium
Rutimeyer, 1857
Species
  • P. bergeri Scherler, Lihoreau & Becker, 2018 (type)
  • P. hippoideum (Rutimeyer, 1857)
  • P. strategus (Forster-Cooper, 1913)

Paenanthracotherium is an extinct genus of anthracothere that lived in Europe and Asia during the Oligocene epoch.

Taxonomy

The type species of the genus is Paenanthracotherium bergeri. The species "Anthracotherium" hippoideum and "Brachyodus" strategus have been reassigned to this genus based on similarities with P. bergeri.[1]

Distribution

Fossils of Paenanthracotherium are known from France, Germany, Pakistan, Romania, and Switzerland.[1]

Palaeobiology

Palaeoecology

The microanatomy of its long bones suggests that P. bergeri was fully terrestrial.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Laureline Scherler; Fabrice Lihoreau; Damien Becker (2018). "To split or not to split Anthracotherium? A phylogeny of Anthracotheriinae (Cetartiodactyla: Hippopotamoidea) and its palaeobiogeographical implications". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Online edition. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zly052.
  2. ^ Houssaye, Alexandra; Martin, Florian; Boisserie, Jean-Renaud; Lihoreau, Fabrice (13 March 2021). "Paleoecological Inferences from Long Bone Microanatomical Specializations in Hippopotamoidea (Mammalia, Artiodactyla)". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 28 (3): 847–870. doi:10.1007/s10914-021-09536-x. ISSN 1064-7554. Retrieved 17 September 2025 – via Springer Nature Link.