Achaenodon Temporal range: Mid-to-Upper Eocene | |
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Reconstruction of the skull of Achaenodon robustus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | † Helohyidae |
Genus: | † Achaenodon Cope, 1873 |
Type species | |
†Achaenodon insolens Cope, 1873 | |
Other species | |
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Achaenodon is an extinct artiodactyl mammal, possibly belonging to the family Helohyidae. It lived in the mid-late Eocene (about 43-39 million years ago) and its fossil remains have been found in North America. [1]
Achaenodon was around the size of a pig [2] or a black bear, [3] with a body mass of around 200–285 kilograms (441–628 lb). [2] The skull had a relatively short muzzle and large sideways (laterally) expanded zygomatic arches, making the skull nearly as wide as it is long. There was a very high sagittal crest, which connected later to an expanded nuchal crest; these two structures, together with the large cheekbone arches, indicate that the musculature of the jaws was extremely powerful. The teeth of Achenodon were bunodont and quite large in size. The dental formula was the primitive (ancestral) condition of artiodactyls with three incisors, a canine, four premolars and three molars; the first lower premolar was present in juveniles but were absent in adults. The upper molars had greatly thickened enamel. The limbs were short, with the forelimbs being slightly shorter than the hindlimbs, with the manus having four digits. [3]
First described in 1873 by Edward Drinker Cope, Achaenodon is best known for fossil remains from the Wyoming Middle Eocene. The type species is Achaenodon insolens. Other species are known, from California, [4] Oregon (A. fremdi [5] ), Utah (A. uintense), and Wyoming (A. robustus). Archaenodon has generally either been assigned to the family Helohyidae, [3] or to its own family Achaenodontidae. [5] Some studies have suggested that Achaenodon could be a basal representative of Cetancodontamorpha, and closely related to entelodonts. [6]
Achaeonodon was probably an omnivore that consumed both vegetation as well as possibly carrion. [3]
Andrewsarchus, meaning "Andrews' ruler", is an extinct genus of artiodactyl that lived during the Middle Eocene in what is now China. The genus was first described by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1924 with the type species A. mongoliensis based on a largely complete cranium. A second species, A. crassum, was described in 1977 based on teeth. A mandible, formerly described as Paratriisodon, does probably belong to Andrewsarchus as well. The genus has been historically placed in the families Mesonychidae or Arctocyonidae, or was considered to be a close relative of whales. It is now regarded as the sole member of its own family, Andrewsarchidae, and may have been related to entelodonts. Fossils of Andrewsarchus have been recovered from the Middle Eocene Irdin Manha, Lushi, and Dongjun Formations of Inner Mongolia, each dated to the Irdinmanhan Asian land mammal age.
Entelodontidae is an extinct family of pig-like artiodactyls which inhabited the Northern Hemisphere from the late Eocene to the early Miocene epochs, about 38-19 million years ago. Their large heads, low snouts, narrow gait, and proposed omnivorous diet inspires comparisons to suids and tayassuids (peccaries), and historically they have been considered closely related to these families purely on a morphological basis. However, studies which combine morphological and molecular (genetic) data on artiodactyls instead suggest that entelodonts are cetancodontamorphs, more closely related to hippos and cetaceans through their resemblance to Pakicetus, than to basal pigs like Kubanochoerus and other ungulates.
Entelodon, formerly called Elotherium, is an extinct genus of entelodont artiodactyl endemic to Eurasia. Fossils of species are found in Paleogene strata ranging in age from the Houldjinian until the Rupelian epoch of the early Oligocene.
Archaeotherium is an extinct genus of entelodont artiodactyl endemic to North America during the Eocene and Oligocene epochs. Archaeotherium fossils are most common in the White River Formation of the Great Plains, but it has also been found in the John Day Basin of Oregon and the Trans-Pecos area of Texas.
Daeodon is an extinct genus of entelodont even-toed ungulates that inhabited North America about 29 to 15.97 million years ago during the latest Oligocene and earliest Miocene. The type species is Daeodon shoshonensis, described from a very fragmentary holotype by Cope. Some authors synonymize it with Dinohyus hollandi and several other species, but due to the lack of diagnostic material, this may be questionable.
Ichthyolestes is an extinct genus of archaic cetacean that was endemic to Indo-Pakistan during the Lutetian stage. To date, this monotypic genus is only represented by Ichthyolestes pinfoldi.
Brachyhyops is an extinct genus of entelodont artiodactyl mammal that lived during the Eocene Epoch of western North America and southeastern Asia. The first fossil remains of Brachyhyops are recorded from the late Eocene deposits of Beaver Divide in central Wyoming and discovered by paleontology crews from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History during the early 20th century. The type species, Brachyhyops wyomingensis, is based on a single skull and was named by E.H. Colbert in 1937, but was not officially described until 1938. During the latter half of the 20th century, additional specimens from North America have been recorded from Saskatchewan and as far south as Texas, indicating that Brachyhyops had a broad distribution and was well-dispersed throughout western North America.
Duerotherium is an extinct genus of Palaeogene artiodactyls known only from the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Eocene, which contains one species D. sudrei. It, like other members of the Anoplotheriidae, was endemic to Western Europe. The anoplotheriine was described from a left fragment of a maxilla from the Mazaterón Formation of the Duero Basin in 2009. Its dentition is mostly typical of the Anoplotheriinae but differs by an elongated plus triangular 3rd upper premolar and very specific traits of the molars. It is thought to have been part of an endemic faunal assemblage that evolved within the Iberian Peninsula by the Middle Eocene, where climates were subtropical.
Xiphodon is the type genus of the extinct Palaeogene artiodactyl family Xiphodontidae. It, like other xiphodonts, was endemic to Western Europe and lived from the middle Eocene up to the earliest Oligocene. Fossils from Montmartre in Paris, France that belonged to X. gracilis were first described by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1804. Although he assigned the species to Anoplotherium, he recognized that it differed from A. commune by its dentition and limb bones, later moving it to its own subgenus in 1822. Xiphodon was promoted to genus rank by other naturalists in later decades. It is today defined by the type species X. gracilis and two other species, X. castrensis and X. intermedium.
Helohyidae were a group of artiodactyl mammals. They were most prominent in the mid-to-upper Eocene.
Nanotitanops is an extinct genus of Brontothere from the middle Eocene of China. It contains a single species, N. shanghuangensis. It is known only from isolated teeth, the smallest of any known Brontothere.
Dichodon is an extinct genus of Palaeogene artiodactyls belonging to the family Xiphodontidae. It was endemic to Western Europe and lived from the middle Eocene up to the earliest Oligocene. The genus was first erected by the British naturalist Richard Owen in 1848 based on dental remains from the fossil beds in Hordle, England. He noticed similar dentitions to contemporary artiodactyls like those of the Anoplotheriidae and Dichobunidae and references the name of the genus Dichobune. Eventually, it was found to be more closely related to Xiphodon and now includes 11 species, although one of them may be synonymous.
Periptychus is an extinct genus of mammal belonging to the family Periptychidae. It lived from the Early to Late Paleocene and its fossil remains have been found in North America.
Dacrytherium is an extinct genus of Palaeogene artiodactyls belonging to the family Anoplotheriidae. It occurred from the Middle to Late Eocene of Western Europe and is the type genus of the subfamily Dacrytheriinae, the older of the two anoplotheriid subfamilies. Dacrytherium was first erected in 1876 by the French palaeontologist Henri Filhol, who recognised in his studies that it had dentition similar to the anoplotheriids Anoplotherium and Diplobune but differed from them by a deep preorbital fossa and a lacrimal fossa, the latter of which is where the genus name derives from. D. ovinum, originally classified in Dichobune, is the type species of Dacrytherium. Henri Filhol named D. elegans in 1884, and Hans Georg Stehlin named the species D. priscum and D. saturnini in 1910.
Catodontherium is an extinct genus of Palaeogene artiodactyls belonging to the family Anoplotheriidae. It was endemic to Western Europe and had a temporal range exclusive to the middle Eocene, although its earliest appearance depends on whether C. argentonicum is truly a species of Catodontherium. It was first named Catodus by the French palaeontologist Charles Depéret in 1906, who created two species for the genus and later changed the genus name to Catodontherium in 1908. The Swiss palaeontologist Hans Georg Stehlin renamed one species and classified two other newly erected species to Catodontherium in 1910. Today, there are four known species, although two remain questionable in genus placement.
Ephelcomenus is an extinct genus of Palaeogene artiodactyls endemic to Western Europe. It contains one species E. filholi, which was first described by Richard Lydekker in 1889 but eventually classified to its own genus by the Swiss palaeontologist Johannes Hürzeler in 1938. It has an uncertain stratigraphic range, but some sources suggest that it was present in the Oligocene after the Grande Coupure turnover event of western Europe.
Mixtotherium is an extinct genus of Palaeogene artiodactyls belonging to the monotypic family Mixtotheriidae. Known informally as mixtotheriids or mixtotheres, these artiodactyls were endemic to western Europe and occurred from the middle to late Eocene. The genus and type species were both first established by the French naturalist Henri Filhol in 1880. Several species are well known by good skull fossils, which were informative enough to allow for classifications of the species to their own family. The Mixtotheriidae, first recognized by Helga Sharpe Pearson in 1927, is currently known by 7 valid species, although M. priscum is thought by several authors to be synonymous with M. gresslyi. The affinities of the Mixtotheriidae in relation to other artiodactyl families is uncertain, but it is currently thought to have been related to the Cainotherioidea and Anoplotheriidae.
Haplomeryx is an extinct genus of Palaeogene artiodactyls belonging to the family Xiphodontidae. It was endemic to Western Europe and lived from the middle Eocene up to the earliest Oligocene. Haplomeryx was first established as a genus by the German naturalist Max Schlosser in 1886 based on a molar tooth set from Quercy Phosphorites deposits. Three additional species were erected and classified to the xiphodontid genus while one other species, first recognized in 1822, was tentatively classified to it and remains unresolved in affinity.
Erlianhyus is a genus of cetancodontamorph artiodactyl that lived during the Middle Eocene in China. It is monotypic and known from one species, E. primitivus.
Amphimeryx is an extinct genus of Palaeogene artiodactyls belonging to the family Amphimerycidae that was endemic to the central region of western Europe and lived from the Late Eocene to the Early Oligocene. It was erected in 1848 by the French palaeontologist Auguste Pomel, who argued that its dentition was roughly similar to those of ruminants. Hence, the etymology of the genus name means "near ruminant," of which it derives from the ancient Greek words ἀμφί (near) and μήρυξ (ruminant). The type species A. murinus was previously recognized as a species of Dichobune by the French palaeontologist Georges Cuvier in 1822 before its eventual reclassification to its own genus. Two other species A. collotarsus and A. riparius are recognized also today although the former may be synonymous with A. murinus while the latter is known solely by a now-lost fossil specimen.