Editing Amblypoda (section)

==Characteristics==
The Amblypoda take their name from their short and stumpy feet, which were furnished with five toes each and supported massive pillar-like limbs. The brain cavity was extremely small and insignificant in comparison to the bodily mass, which was equal to that of the largest [[rhinoceros]]es. These animals were descendants of the small ancestral ungulates that retained all the primitive characteristics of the latter, accompanied by a huge increase in body size.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Amblypoda|volume=1|pages=795-796|first=Richard|last=Lydekker|authorlink=Richard Lydekker}}</ref>

The Amblypoda were confined to the [[Paleocene]] and [[Eocene]] periods and occurred in [[North America]], [[Asia]] (especially [[Mongolia]]) and [[Europe]]. The cheek teeth were short-crowned ([[brachyodont]]), with the tubercles more-or-less completely fused into transverse ridges, or cross-crests ([[lophodont]] type), and the total number of teeth was in one case the typical 44, but in another was fewer. The [[vertebra]] of the neck unite on nearly flat surfaces, the [[humerus]] had lost the foramen, or perforation, at the lower end, and the third trochanter to the [[femur]] may have also been wanting. In the forelimb, the upper and lower series of [[carpal]] (finger) bones scarcely alternated, but in the hind foot, the astragalus overlapped the cuboid, while the [[fibula]], which was quite distinct from the [[tibia]] (as was the [[radius (bone)|radius]] from the [[ulna]] in the forelimb), articulated with both astragalus and calcaneum.<ref name="EB1911"/>