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ARSINOITHERIUM (so called from the Eg...

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 655 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ARSINOITHERIUM (so called from the See also:Egyptian See also:queen See also:Arsinoe) , a gigantic horned mammal from the See also:Middle See also:Eocene beds of the See also:Fayum, See also:Egypt, representing a sub-See also:order of See also:Ungulata, called Barypoda. The See also:skull is remarkable for carrying a huge pair of See also:horn-cores above the muzzle, which seem to be the enlarged nasal bones, and a rudimentary pair farther back; the front horn-cores, like the See also:rest of the skull, consist of a See also:mere See also:shell of See also:bone, and were probably clothed in See also:life with horny sheaths. The See also:teeth See also:form a continuous even See also:series, the small canines being crowded between the incisors and premolars; the crowns of the cheek-series are tall (hypsodont), with a distinctive See also:pattern of their own. Although the See also:brain is relatively larger, the bones of the limbs, especially the See also:short, five-toed feet, approximate to those of the See also:Amblypoda and See also:Proboscidea; but in the See also:articulation of the astragalus with both the navicular and cubeid Arsinoitherium is nearer the former than the latter See also:group. It is probable, however, that these resemblances are mainly due to See also:parallelism in development, and are in all three cases adaptations necessary to support the enormous See also:weight of the See also:body. On the other See also:hand, the marked resemblance of the structure of the See also:tarsus is probably indicative of descent from nearly allied condylarthrous ancestors (see PITENACOnus). No importance can be attached to the presence of horns as an indication of See also:affinity between Arsinoitherium and the Amblypoda; and there are important See also:differences in the structure of the skulls of the two, notably in the See also:external auditory meatus, the occiput, the premaxillae, the palatal foramina and the See also:lower See also:jaw. From the Proboscidea Arsinoitherium differs broadly in skull structure, in the form of the cheek-teeth, and in the persistence of the See also:complete dental series of See also:forty-four without gaps or enlargement of particular teeth. Whether there is any relation-See also:ship with the See also:Hyracoidea cannot be determined until we are acquainted with the forerunners of Arsinoitherium, which is evidently a highly specialized type. It may be added that as the name Barypoda has been used at an earlier date for another group of animals, the alternative See also:title Embrithopoda has been suggested in See also:case the former should be considered barred. See C. W.

See also:

Andrews, Descriptive See also:Catalogue of the See also:Tertiary Vertebrate of the Fayum, See also:British Museum (1906). (R.

End of Article: ARSINOITHERIUM (so called from the Egyptian queen Arsinoe)

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