Dedicated to summarizing the facts regarding origins
Swainson Hawk Gallery
& Nature Photo Galleries
Titanotheres Gallery
Restoration [11]
Megacerops
White River Formation
Restored from a skeleton in the American Museum of Natural History
Drawing of Skeleton [10]
Megacerops
(synonym Titanotherium robustum)
Megacerops,Sphenocoelus and Palaeosyops are classified as three genera of Titanotheres also called Brontotheres (Mammalia, Perissodactyla)
that were endemic to parts of North America and became extinct a long time ago along with all other members of this family around
the world. The titanotheres were herbivores and had unique upper teeth with a w-shaped ridge. [1] Attempts to relate these genera
to various perissodactyla ancestors and descendents are wholly subjective. Variations within species, an evolutionary mindset and
"subjective criteria" have led one past prominent paleotologist to "hypersplit" almost every titanothere bone found to a new species.
The futility of splitting can be seen today most clearly in the domestic dog species (Canis familiaris)."The skull, body, and limb
proportions vary significantly between breeds, with dogs displaying more phenotypic diversity than can be found within the entire
order of carnivores." [2] Titanothere species may have been no less variable.
Sorting out of the scientific classifications of
titanotheres in North America is very difficult. Synonyms for a genus abound with Megacerops having no less than six including Brontops,Menodus and Titanotherium. The species of Megacerops have been reduced to two based primarily on their horns; however, horns generally
and specifically in this genus have been found to be quite variable so maybe there is just one Palaeosyops vallidens has been reclassified
as Manteoceras, the name originally suggested. [3] The latter may also be a synonym for Dolichorhinus. [4] Dolichorhinus heterodon is
probably a synonym forSphenocoelus intermedius. [5]
Reasons for their extinction are subject to much speculation by evolutionists
including environmental change and disease whereas creationists mainly point to Noah's flood.
Megacerops
Megacerops were very robust and grew to a height of about 8.2 feet at the shoulders and 14 feet long. Their estimated body weight
based on one specimen was 3.6 short tons. [6] They had elongated skulls with shortened faces, small eyes towards the nostrils, ears
near the back of the skull, and a bifurcated bony horn over the nasal region. The male’s horns are said to have been larger than those
of females.
"(The) brain-case was enormously thick and yet lightened by an intricate system of communicating cavities or "sinuses,"
separated by many bony braces and supports connecting the inner and outer denser layers, which form the surfaces of the bones." [7] Their
brain cavity was about the size of a man's fist.
Teeth were low crowned and adapted for eating non abrasive vegetation
instead of grasses. The canines were much too small too serve as weapons. [8]
Legs were rather short for their body size but
stout indicating that they most likely were relatively slow runners. They had four toes on each front leg and three toes on each hind
leg. The toes were tipped with hooves and the weight on a leg was supported on a great pad. [9]
Fossils of Megacerops have been
found in the White River Formation of northeastern Colorado, western Nebraska, southwestern South Dakota (Badlands), southeastern
Wyoming, USA and in Saskatchewan, Canada.
Vertebra (fossil)
Megacerops?
1427 Fd. Brule Formation, White River Badlands Group
Titanothere [13]
Titanotheriium elatum
American Museum of Natural History
(Color added)
Titanothere Metatarsal
Megacerops
1376 Fd. Toadstool Area, Nebraska, USA
8.3" long
Photo by R. Weller/Cochise College
Skeleton (fossil)
Megacerops
Fd. White River Formation, Colorado, USA
Natural History Museum, Los Angeles, USA
Lower back right molar (fossil)
(missing roots)
Megacerops
2026 Fd. Southwestern South Dakota, USA
3.5" long, 1.6" max. width
Skull with Upper Teeth [12]
Megacerops
Inferior view
Fd. White River Formation, USA
State Museum of Prehistory in Halle/Saale,Germany
Outside view
Grinding view
Restoration [19]
Sphenocoelus intermedius
(synonym Mesatirhinus superior)
Bridger stage, Wyoming and Eastern Utah
Restored from a skeleton in the American Museum of Natural History
Right ManusDrawing [14]
Megacerops
White River
(Color added)
Palaeosyops, Sphenocoelus, Manteoceras and Dolichorhinnus
Palaeosysops, Sphenocoelus, Manteoceras and Dolichorhinnus were much smaller than Megacerops all being approximately the size of a
modern tapir. Spenocoelus stood about 3.9 feet tall at the shoulders. [15] Unlike Megaceratops, Palaeosysops and Sphenocoelus had
no horns and Manteoceras and Dolichorhinnus only one small bone bump. [16] Their molars were low crowned suitable for cutting and
grinding soft leafy vegetation but not abrasive grasses as a regular diet. Also, unlike Megacerops “their canine teeth were as large
as those of a bear and must have been effective weapons.” [17] Like Megacerops they had four toes on each front leg and three toes
on each back leg. Each toe had a hoof and the hooves served to carry the animals weight unlike Megacerops. [18]
Their fossils
are found in the Bridger Formation of southwestern Wyoming, and northeastern Utah, USA.
Titanothere Kneecap (fossil)
1801 Fd. Bridger stage, Lusk Co., Wyoming, 2.4" 2.4" long, 2" max. width, 1.2" max thickness
Skeleton (fossil) [21]
Palaeosyops paludosus
National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
Copyright 2014, 2019, 2022 All rights reserved.
________________________
[1] Brontotheriidae, American Museum of Natural History, Internet
[2] Dog, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog
[3]
Mader,Bryn, Zootaxa 1837, A species level revision of Bridgerian and Uintan brontotheres (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) exclusive of Palaeosyops,
Auckland, New Zealand: Magnolia Press), 53
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid. 46
[6] Megacerops, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megacerops
[7] Scott,
William B., Horsfall, Bruce - illustrator, A History of Land Mammals in the Western Hemisphere, (New York: The MacMillian Co., 1913),
311
[8] Ibid. 310
[9] Ibid. 312
[10] Lydekker, R., A Geographical History of Mammals (Cambridge: University Press, 1896), 171
[11] Scott,
309
[12] DagdaMor [CC By-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]
[13] Scott, 311
[14] Ibid. 318
[15] Sphenocoelus, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphenocoelus
[16]
Scott, 272
[17] Ibid. 314
[18] Ibid. 315
[19] Ibid. 314
[20] Ibid. 271
[21] Daderot [public domain)
[22] Lydekker, 377
[23] Scott,
318
[24] Osborn,Henry, The Age of Mammals in Europe, Asia and North America (New York: The MacMillan Co., 1921), 139
Restoration [24]
Left : broad-skulled Manteoceras
Right: long-skulled Dolichorhinnus
From an original in the American Museum of Natural History
Right Upper Molar [22]
Palaeosyops
Right ManusDrawing [23]
Palaeosyops
(Color added)
Revised 12/24/2022