Embrithopoda

(paleontology) An order established for the unique Oligocene mammal Arsinoitherium, a herbivorous animal that resembled the modern rhinoceros.

An order established for the unique mammal Arsinoitherium, which has been found only in early Oligocene deposits in northern Egypt. This animal was of rhinoceros size with a large body and short pillarlike legs (see illustration). There were two huge, scimitarlike horns over the nose and two much smaller, peglike horns over the eyes. The exact relationship of this exotic order to other orders is not clear, but similarities to both the uintatheres, or Dinocerata, and Hyracoidea have been interpreted by some authorities as evidence of kinship. See also Dinocerata; Mammalia.

Arsinoitherium, the early Oligocene embrithopod from Egypt. (After C. R. Knight)

Embrithopoda
Arsinoitherium zitteli
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Infraclass: Eutheria Superorder: Afrotheria Order: Embrithopoda
Families
Arsinoitheriidae Phenacolophidae

Embrithopoda is an extinct order of mammals which lived during the Oligocene, 34 million to 23 million years before the present.

Embrithopods were rhino-like in appearance, except that their horns were made of bone instead of keratin, and not all embrithopods possessed them. Despite their appearance, they were more closely related to elephants than rhinos.

The Embrithopoda are seen as close relatives of the Hyracoidea and may be the ancestors of Proboscidea. They are currently believed to be part of the cohort Afrotheria.

Fossils of Embrithopoda such as Arsinoitherium have been found in Egypt, Mongolia, Turkey and Romania, even though until the 1970's only Arsinoitherium itself was known, appearing isolated in the fossil record.

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