| Titanohyrax | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Teeth | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Hyracoidea |
| Family: | †Titanohyracidae |
| Genus: | †Titanohyrax Matsumoto [ja], 1922[1] |
| Type species | |
| Titanohyrax andrewsi | |
| Species | |
| |
Titanohyrax is anextinctgenus of large to very largehyrax from theEocene andOligocene. Specimens have been discovered in modern-day Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Some species, likeT. ultimus, are estimated to be as large as the modernrhinoceros.Titanohyrax species are still poorly known due to their rarity in the fossil record.
Titanohyrax is unusual among the numerousPaleogenehyracoids by its lophoselenodont teeth (having teeth that arelophodont andselenodont), fully molariform premolars, and relatively high-crowned cheek teeth. This suggests the genus had afolivorous diet.[2]
The genus was first described by in 1922 for the speciesT. ultimus from the early Oligocene of theJebel Qatrani Formation,Fayum Depression,Egypt.[3] The author described it as an “extremely gigantic species, being the largest of all the hyracoids hitherto known” – estimates of body mass range from 600 kg (1,300 lb) to 1,300 kg (2,900 lb).[4]T. tantulus is the smallestTitanohyrax species known, with a body mass of around 23 kg (51 lb).[4]
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