{{Short description|Extinct genus of chalicothere}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = Early - Mid Miocene | taxon = Metaschizotherium | authority = von Koenigswald, 1932 | type_species = †'''''Metaschizotherium fraasi''''' | type_species_authority = Marsh, 1877 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = *''M. bavaricum'' <small> von Koenigswald 1932</small> *''M. fraasi'' *''M. wetzleri'' <small> Kowalewsky 1873</small> }} '''''Metaschizotherium''''' is an extinct genus that belongs to the family Chalicotheriidae, which was a group of herbivorous perissodactyl ("odd-toed") mammals. Though found primarily in Europe, fragmentary remains suggest that their range extended into Asia.
Several other species have been described under ''Metaschizotherium'' in the past, including the African ''M. transvaalensis'', but they have been transferred to other genera, such as ''Ancylotherium''. The entire genus has been considered synonymous with ''Ancylotherium'' in the past, but nowadays the two are generally found to be distinct.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Werdelin |first1=Lars |last2=Sanders |first2=William Joseph |title=Cenozoic Mammals of Africa |date=2010 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520257214 |page=665}}</ref>
This genus is typically associated with areas of closed, moist forest, where it fed on relatively soft leaves and shoots compared to a more abrasive diet of twigs and bark.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Coombs | first = Margery C. | author-link = | title = The chalicothere Metaschizotherium bavaricum (Perissodactyla, Chalicotheriidae, Schizotheriinae) from the Miocene (MN5) Lagerstatte of Sandelzhausen (Germany): description, comparison, and paleoecological significance | journal = Paläontologische Zeitschrift | volume = 83 | issue = 1 | pages = 85–129 | publisher = Springer Berlin / Heidelberg | date = 13 Feb 2009 | doi = 10.1007/s12542-009-0004-x | bibcode = 2009PalZ...83...85C | s2cid = 140194075 | url = http://doc.rero.ch/record/209675/files/PAL_E4183.pdf | id = }}</ref>
==See also== *''Moropus'' *''Ancylotherium''
{{Portal|Palaeontology}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Perissodactyla Genera|T.}} {{Ancylopoda}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q6823195}}
Category:Schizotheriinae Category:Miocene extinctions Category:Extinct mammals of Europe Category:Miocene mammals of Europe Category:Fossil taxa described in 1932
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