Plagiolophus fossil map
Where fossils of Plagiolophus have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 30 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 30 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Early mammals |
|---|---|
| Lived | 48.07–27.3 million years ago (Lutetian to Rupelian) |
| Periods | Paleogene |
| Family | Palaeotheriidae |
| Named by | Pomel 1847 |
| Fossil records | 142 occurrences at 51 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | France, United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Bulgaria |
| Rock formations | txn:57539, Bembridge Limestone, Perrière, Castrais, Headon Hill, Creechbarrow Limestone |
About Plagiolophus
Plagiolophus (Ancient Greek: πλάγιος (oblique) + λόφος (crest) meaning 'oblique crest') is an extinct genus of equoids belonging to the family Palaeotheriidae. It lived in Europe from the middle Eocene to the early Oligocene. The type species, P. minor, was described in 1804 by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier based on fossils from the Paris Basin, France, including a now-lost skeleton. Cuvier assigned the species to the genus Palaeotherium, and in 1847, Auguste Pomel assigned it to the new subgenus Plagiolophus. Plagiolophus was promoted to genus rank by subsequent palaeontologists and today includes as many as seventeen species. As proposed by the French palaeontologist Jean A. Remy in 2004, it contains three subgenera: Plagiolophus, Paloplotherium, and Fraasiolophus.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Plagiolophus (mammal) (revision 1369642916), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 23 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q3906176.
