Name:
Barylambda.
Phonetic: Ba-ree-lam-da.
Named By: Patterson - 1937.
Synonyms: Titanoides faberi.
Classification: Chordata, Mammalia, Pantodonta,
Barylambdidae.
Species: B. faberi (type),
B.
churchilli, B. jackwilsoni.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Around 2.5 meters long.
Known locations: Central USA, possibly Baja
California.
Time period: Selandian through to the Ypresian of
the Eocene.
Fossil representation: Several individuals.
The
holotype
fossils of Barylambda were originally assigned to
another genus of
pantodont called Titanoides
until later study revealed them to be
different enough to warrant the creation of a new genus. As a
pantodont, Barylambda was a member of the first
main group of mammals
to evolve after the mass extinction of the dinosaurs just a few million
years earlier.
Like
with its relatives,
Barylambda was quadrupedal and heavily built. One
feature that it
has though is an especially well developed tail that may have been
quite muscular in life. Popular reconstructions have thus shown
Barylambda to use this tail as a ‘third leg’ for
use in conjunction
with the rear two legs to form tripod. This then enabled Barylambda
to reach up to gain access to higher growing vegetation that was beyond
the reach of other contemporize herbivores. Despite this possible
specialised adaptation however, Barylambda seemed
to have fairly
standard grinding teeth that were not especially suited to any one type
of plant, something itself that suggests that Barylambda
was more of
a generalist browser.
Barylambda
seems to have been
quite successful for an early pantodont, though eventually it seems
to have been replaced in its ecosystem by other pantodonts such as
Coryphodon.
Further reading
- Barylambda churchilli, a new species of
Pantolambdidae (Mammalia,
Pantodonta) from the Late Paleocene of Western North America.
Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, Museum of Paleontology.
- University of Michigan - P. D. Gingerich & C. G. Childress
Jr. - 1983.