6.25" Titanothere (Megacerops) Upper Jaw Section - Wyoming

Titanothere (Megacerops) Upper Jaw Section - Wyoming #143854

This is a 6.25" long maxilla (upper jaw) section of a Titanothere, a Rhinoceros-looking animal that lived during the Late Eocene. It was collected from the Oligocene aged White River Formation of Niobrara County, Wyoming. There are four molars present in the jaw. Upper jaws tend to be much more desirable among collectors than the lower jaws because the molars are much wider and just generally more massive.

There is some minor restoration in the form of crack repair and crack stabilization within one of the molars and along the maxilla bone. It comes with an acrylic display stand.

Artist's reconstruction of a Titanothere. By Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com)

Titanotheres were a massive mammal that lived during the Eocene. While they closely resembled modern rhinoceroses, they were actually more closely related to modern horses. They first appeared in the Early Eocene, about 54 million years ago, and went extinct at the end of the Eocene, 34 million years ago. Titanotheres have been described under various genera (Brontotherium, Titanotherium, BrontopsMegacerops was the first and therefore technically correct one.