Named By: | Henry Fairfield Osborn & Walter W. Granger in 1932 |
Time Period: | Middle Eocene |
Location: | Asia |
Size: | Estimated up to 3 meters long for largest specimens |
Diet: | Herbivore |
Fossil(s): | Several specimens |
Classification: | | Chordata | Mammalia | Dinocerata | Uintatheriidae | Gobiatheriinae | |
Gobiatherium (meaning "Beast of the Gobi Desert") was one of the last Uintatheres, from the Mid Eocene of Mongolia. Unlike its North American cousins, Uintatherium or Eobasileus, Gobiatherium lacked knob-like horns, or even fang-like tusks. Instead, it had enlarged cheekbones and an almost spherical snout.
Because of the noticeable lack of many diagnostic uintathere features (the horns and tusks), the genus is placed within its own subfamily, "Gobiatheriinae," though some experts prefer to rank it as the family "Gobiatheriidae".