Moropus

Moropus is an extinct genus of large perissodactyl mammal in the chalicothere family. They were endemic to North America during the Miocene from ~20.4–13.6 Mya, existing for approximately 6.8 million years. Moropus belonged to the schizotheriine subfamily of chalicotheres, and has the best fossil record of any member of this group; numbers of individuals, including complete skeletons, have been found. The type species of Moropus, M. distans, was named by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1877, alongside two other species, M. elatus and M. senex. Three more species have been named since. Others have been named, but have either been invalidated for one reason or another, or reclassified to other genera.

Moropus

Ryan Somma · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ChalicotheriidaePBDB
Diet
browserPBDB, for Chalicotherioidea
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Chalicotherioidea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 6.7 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 16.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 29.5 Mya to 5.333 Mya.

Oligocene — about 2 of 34 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 32 of 34 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 34 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–27 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 1 occurrence12–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–9.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.9–9.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.0–8.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.2–7.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.3–6.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.5–5.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.7–4.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23.04 Mya16.3 Mya30 Mya4.8 Mya

34 occurrences of Moropus on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

34 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

14 formations

Marsland — 42.42°N, 103.87°WMarsland — 42.40°N, 103.80°WMarsland — 42.00°N, 104.20°WJohn Day — 44.90°N, 120.20°WJohn Day — 44.50°N, 119.30°WJohn Day — 44.70°N, 119.63°WOlcott — 42.19°N, 103.73°WOlcott — 42.40°N, 103.80°WCrystal River — 29.75°N, 82.63°WHarrison — 42.40°N, 103.80°WBatesland — 43.13°N, 101.87°WFleming — 31.00°N, 93.40°WTroublesome — 40.20°N, 106.10°WEsmeralda — 38.25°N, 117.90°WSucker Creek — 43.60°N, 117.50°WVirgin Valley — 41.10°N, 117.80°WBopesta — 35.19°N, 118.31°WWildcat Hills Beds — 41.70°N, 103.67°WMascall — 44.00°N, 120.13°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Moropus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Moropus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Moropus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

341 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 34 sites for Moropus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

20 references

Each of the 34 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 8 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Moropus

Credit
Ryan Somma
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Moropus was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itChalicotheriidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Marsh 1877