Gigantohyrax
{{Short description|Extinct genus of hyrax}}
{{Speciesbox
| fossil_range = Late Pliocene {{Geological range|3.6|2.6}}
| image =
| genus = Gigantohyrax
| parent_authority = Kitching, 1965
| species = maguirei
| authority = Kitching, 1965
| synonyms =
}}
Gigantohyrax was a genus of herbivorous hyrax-grouped mammals from the Pliocene Shungura Formation of Ethiopia.{{Cite web|title=Fossilworks: Gigantohyrax|url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=43294|access-date=2021-03-04|website=fossilworks.org}} Fossils have also been found in Makapansgat of South Africa.{{cite journal |first1=Bruce S |last1=Rubidge |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/239521270 |title=Annals of the Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research |journal=Palaeontologia Africana |date=January 2005}}
Description
File:Hyrax on the Rocks.JPG (Procavia capensis), a living relative of Gigantohyrax]]
Gigantohyrax maguirei is a type and only species. Holotype BPI M8230 is two thirds of an anterior part of the skull with complete upper dentition. The second and third incisors are lost, making it more similar to latest hyraxes than the earlier species.{{cite book
| isbn = 9780520257214
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6c8lDQAAQBAJ&dq=Gigantohyrax+size&pg=PA143
| title = Cenozoic Mammals of Africa
| publisher = University of California Press
| date = 2010
| access-date = 20 September 2022
| page = 143
| first1= Lars |last1=Werdelin |first2=William Joseph |last2=Sanders
| isbn = 9781107394056
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=F23lAgAAQBAJ&dq=Gigantohyrax+size&pg=PA41
| title = The Mammals of the Southern African Sub-region
| publisher = Cambridge University Press
| date = 2005
| access-date = 20 September 2022
| page = 41
| first1 = J. D. |last1=Skinner |first2=Christian T. |last2=Chimimba
}} Despite its name, Gigantohyrax did not reach such gigantic sizes as Megalohyrax and Titanohyrax from the Early Tertiary, although it was three times as large as the extant Procavia capensis from the same family.
It has many features in common with the extinct Dendrohyrax, although Gigantohyrax has less difference between the parameters of the
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Paenungulata}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q11002369}}
Category:Pliocene mammals of Africa
Category:Fossil taxa described in 1965
Category:Monotypic prehistoric placental genera
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