Forstercooperia
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Forstercooperia Temporal range: Middle to Late Eocene, 40–34 Ma |
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| Life restoration of F. minuta | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | †Hyracodontidae |
| Subfamily: | †Indricotheriinae |
| Genus: |
†Forstercooperia Wood, 1939 |
| Type species | |
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Cooperia totadentata Wood, 1938 |
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| Species | |
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| Location of finds of Forstercooperia | |
| Synonyms | |
Species synonymy
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Forstercooperia is an extinct genus of indricotheriine hyracodontid rhinoceros from the Middle to Late Eocene of Asia.
Forstercooperia is known from a vast amount of cranial material, although only some scant postcranial remains. The largest species is F. totadentata, followed by F. confluens and finally F. minuta. The average size of all species, is about equal with a large dog, even though later genera like Juxia and Paraceratherium reached sizes of a cow and even much larger. Each species is distinguished by cheek tooth morphology, with the remaining skull quite similar. Like primitive rhinocerotoids, Forstercooperia possesses blunt ends on the tips of its nasals, above the nasal incision. Unlike all modern rhinoceroses, the nasals of Forstercooperia, as well as many related genera, lack rugosities, which suggests that they lacked any form of horn. The nasal incision extends fairly far into the upper jaw, ending just posterior to the canine. Forstercooperia possesses a small post-insicor diastema, not as large as its descendants, and similar in size to that of Hyracodon.
Remains of Forstercooperia have been found all across Asia. Most important remains are from the Middle to Late Eocene Irdin Manha Formation of Inner Mongolia (China). In 1938, the holotype of F. totadentata was described, from the Irdin Manha Formation. Later in 1963, the species Pappaceras confluens (now Forstercooperia) was described from the same region, probably within the same formation. The most recent valid species, F. minuta, is based off a maxilla from the Irdin Manha Formation as well. However, many specimens from across other parts of Asia have also been assigned to Forstercooperia. The only non-holotypic specimen of F. totadentata is that of F. shiwopuensis, which comes from the Lunan Formation of China.F. confluens, now including the Asian material of F. grandis, is known from Shara Murun Formation, Ulan Shireh Formation and Houldjin Formation, as well as the Irdin Manha Formation. Finally, F. minuta is known from specimens only from the Irdrin Manha Formation and possibly the Shara Murun Formation of China, and the Kolpak Formation of Kazakhstan, now that its North American material has been reassigned.
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