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Moropus
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{{Short description|Extinct genus of mammals}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = [[Early Miocene|Early]]-[[Middle Miocene]], {{fossil range|20.43|13.6|ref=<ref name = "Fossilworks">{{cite web | title = ''Moropus'' in the Paleobiology Database | work = [[Fossilworks]] | url = https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=43084 | access-date = 17 December 2021}}</ref>}} | image = Moropus elatus.jpg | image_caption = ''Moropus elatus'' skeleton at the<br />[[National Museum of Natural History]],<br />[[Washington, DC]] | image2 = Moropus Head .jpg | image2_caption = Reconstruction of the head of ''M. elatus'' | taxon = Moropus | authority = [[Othniel Charles Marsh|Marsh]], 1877 | type_species = '''''Moropus distans''''' | type_species_authority = Marsh, 1877 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = *''M. distans'' <small>Marsh, 1877</small> *''M. elatus'' <small>Marsh, 1877</small> *''M. hollandi'' <small>[[O. A. Peterson|Peterson]], 1907</small> *''M. matthewi'' <small>[[William Jacob Holland|Holland]] & Peterson, 1913</small> *''M. merriami'' <small>Peterson, 1913</small> *''M. oregonensis'' <small>[[Joseph Leidy|Leidy]], 1873</small> *''M. senex'' <small>Marsh, 1877</small> | synonyms = {{collapsible list|bullets = true|title=<small>Synonyms of ''M. elatus''</small> | ''M. cooki'' <small>[[Erwin Hinckley Barbour|Barbour]], 1908</small> | ''M. petersoni'' <small>Holland, 1908</small> | ''M. parvus'' <small>Barbour, 1909</small> }} }} '''''Moropus''''' (meaning "slow foot")<ref>{{Citation |last=Carlton |first=Robert L. |title=M |date=2018 |work=A Concise Dictionary of Paleontology |pages=165β184 |editor-last=Carlton |editor-first=Robert L. |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-73055-4_13 |access-date=2025-01-11 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-73055-4_13 |isbn=978-3-319-73055-4|url-access=subscription }}</ref> is an extinct genus of large [[perissodactyl]] [[mammal]] in the [[chalicothere]] family. They were endemic to [[North America]] during the [[Miocene]] from ~20.4β13.6 [[Mya (unit)|Mya]], existing for approximately {{Mya|20.4-13.6|million years}}. ''Moropus'' belonged to the [[Schizotheriinae|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. Among the largest chalicotheres, some specimens of ''Moropus'' stood {{convert|8|ft|m|abbr=on|order=flip}} at the shoulder. One specimen had an estimated body mass of {{Convert|1179|kg|lb|abbr=on}}. Its dental anatomy was similar to [[Ruminant|ruminants]], suggesting a similar method of cropping vegetation. Retracted nasal bones suggest a long upper lip, and a wide gap between the lower incisors and cheek teeth, called a [[diastema]], would provide room for a long tongue to extend from the mouth at an angle. Together, the upper lip and tongue may have been used to pull down vegetation. Though not as adept at bipedalism as the related ''[[Chalicotherium]]'', it may nonetheless have reared up on two legs to [[Browsing (herbivory)|browse]] on vegetation, using its claws to hook into the bark of a tree or using them to pull down leaves that would otherwise have been unreachable. ''Moropus'' may have been sexually dimorphic, with the males being larger than the females.
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