Disparate occurrences of a chalicotheriine and a schizotheriine chalicothere (Mammalia, Chalicotheriidae) at the Late Miocene hominid locality Hammerschmiede (Germany)

Abstract

Chalicotheres are enigmatic perissodactyls that had large claws instead of hooves. The present study concerns the material of Chalicotheriidae from the Late Miocene hominid locality of Hammerschmiede in Germany. The HAM 5 fossil site (11.62 Ma) consists of six isolated dental and postcranial chalicothere elements. Based on the morphology and dimensions of the dentition, the material can be assigned to the chalicotheriine Anisodon sp. This genus is the most common representative of Chalicotheriidae in Central Europe during the Middle Miocene but becomes much rarer during the Late Miocene. The HAM 4 fossil site (11.44 Ma) has yielded a patella belonging to a schizotheriine and a skull fragment that could possibly also belong to a schizotheriine. Thus, the schizotheriine and the chalicotheriine occur in different horizons in Hammerschmiede. Both taxa probably had a rather similar diet but different locomotion, and their disparate occurrences are most plausibly associated with environmental differences among the two fossiliferous levels.

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