Mammal, Protoreodont Fossil Middle Eocene, Utah
There are two families of oreodonts, the Merycoidodontidae (originally known as Oreodontidae) which contains all of the advanced species, and the Agriochoeridae, smaller, primitive oreodonts. Together they forms the now-extinct suborder Oreodonta. Oreodonts may have been distantly related to pigs, hogs, hippopotamuses, and the pig-like peccaries. Indeed, some scholars place Merycoidodontidae within the pig-related suborder Suina ( Suiformes). Other scholars place oreodonts closer to camels in the suborder Tylopoda. Still other experts put the oreodonts together with the short-lived cainotheres in the taxonomic suborder Ancodonta comprising these two groups of extinct ancodonts. All scholars agree, however, that the oreodont was an early form of even-toed ungulate, belonging to the order Artiodactyla. Today, most evidence points towards the oreodonts being tylopods, along with camels, xiphodonts, and protoceratids.
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