Cuvieronius

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Cuvieronius
Temporal range: Early Pleistocene–Holocene
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Possible Blancan records
Cuvieronius hyodon 892.jpg
Skull of C. hyodon
Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Family:† Gomphotheriidae
Genus:† Cuvieronius
Osborn, 1923
Species:
†C. hyodon
Binomial name
†Cuvieronius hyodon
(Fischer, 1814) (conserved name)
Synonyms

C. hyodon

  • C. arellanoiOchoterena & Silva-Bárcenas, 1970
  • C. tarijensisFiccarelli et al., 1995
  • C. tropicus(Cope, 1884)
  • C. oligobunis(Cope, 1893)
  • C. priestleyiHay & Cook, 1930

Cuvieronius is an extinct New World genus of gomphothere which ranged from southern North America to western South America during the Pleistocene epoch. Among the last gomphotheres, it became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, approximately 12,000 years ago, following the arrival of humans to the Americas.

Contents

Taxonomy

Gomphothere phylogeny (after Mothé et al. 2016 [1] )
† Gomphotheriidae (Gomphotheres)

† Gomphotherium

† Gnathabelodon

† Eubelodon

Brevirostrine clade

The species now known as Cuvieronius hyodon was among the first fossil animals from the New World to be studied. The first remains of this species were recovered from Ecuador by Alexander von Humboldt, at a location the local population referred to as the "Field of Giants". [2] Humboldt recognized that, rather than being bones of giant humans as had been thought by the local population and previous Spanish colonists, they were similar to the giant elephants ( Mastodon ) being described from Ohio. Humboldt sent teeth that he had collected from Mexico, Ecuador, and Chile to French anatomist Georges Cuvier, who classified the teeth into two species, which he referred to as the "mastodonte des cordilières" and the "mastodonte humboldtien", in an 1806 paper. [3] It was not until 1824 that Cuvier formally named the species. He referred both to the genus Mastodon , calling them M. andium and M. humboldtii. [3]

Unknown to Cuvier, Fischer had, in 1814, already named the two species based on Cuvier's original description, in the new genus Mastotherium as M. hyodon and M. humboldtii. The idea of two distinct species continued to be accepted into the 20th century, usually using Cuvier's names, though Fischer's names were older. [3] In 1923, Henry Fairfield Osborn recognized that these species were distinct from Mastodon, and assigned each to its own new genus, Cuvieronius humboldtii and Cordillerion andium, with the name Cuvieronius in honour of Cuvier. However, by the 1930s, general agreement had shifted to regard both forms as representing a single, geographically widespread species, with Cuvieronius humboldtii considered to be the correct name. [3] During the 1950s, the nomenclature of this species became increasingly tangled, as various scientists regarded the type species of the genus Cuvieronius to be Fischer's first published name Mastotherium hyodon, rather than the originally designated Mastodon humboldtii. This situation went unaddressed until 2009, when Spencer Lucas petitioned the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to officially change the type species of Cuvieronius to M. hyodon as had been followed for over 50 years by that time, rather than abandoning the well-known Cuvieronius as a synonym. [3] In 2011, Opinion 2276 of the ICZN ruled to conserve the names.

The species level taxonomy of Cuvieronius is confused. historically, several species were recognised, typically C. tropicus and C. hyodon for North and South American remains, respectively, but recent scholarship suggests that there is only a single valid species, C. hyodon. [4] [5]

Description

Alive, specimens typically stood about 2.3 m (7 ft 7 in) tall at the shoulder, and weighed about 3.5 tonnes (3.4 long tons; 3.9 short tons). [6] The skull was relatively long and low-vaulted. The upper tusks were straight to slightly curved, and had a spiral shaped-enamel band, [4] [7] and reached considerable size, with tusks in the region of 2.2 metres (7.2 ft) in length and weights in excess of 50 kilograms (110 lb). [8] The lower tusks present in more primitive gomphotheres were vestigial in Cuvieronius, being only present in young juveniles, and the lower jaw shortened (brevirostrine). [9] The third molars typically had 4 to 4.5 lophs/lophids, with some specimens having 5 lophs/lophids, with relatively simple crowns. [7]

Ecology

Cuvieronius is suggested to have been a generalist mixed feeder that consumed a wide range of plant resources, including grasses and browse. [10] Costa Rican C. hyodon were specialised forest inhabitants that primarily fed on C3 plants. [11] In 1982, Daniel H. Janzen and Paul Schultz Martin suggested that the diet of Cuvieronius probably included fruit, and that it was likely an important seed disperser of a variety of Neotropical plants with large fleshy fruits similar to those consumed by large animals in Africa, but which lack effective living native seed dispersers, which they described as "Pleistocene anachronisms". [12]

Evolution

Cuvieronius initially evolved in North America. [13] [7] It is considered closely related to, if not derived from, Rhynchotherium, a North American gomphothere genus known from the Late Miocene and Pliocene. [4] The oldest remains attributed to the genus from the Blancan are very fragmentary, and may belong to Rhynchotherium instead. The oldest unambiguous records of the genus in North America date to 1.4 million years ago (Ma). [7] Cuvieronius was extirpated from its northern range in North America, over the course of the Irvingtonian after the arrival of mammoths in North America around 1.3 Ma, presumably due to competitive exclusion by mammoths and mastodons, with its last records in Florida dating to around 500,000 years ago, [10] but persisted in southern North America (including Mexico) and Central America until the very end of the Pleistocene. During the Great American Interchange, Cuvieronius and a relative, Notiomastodon , dispersed into South America. [14] Cuvieronius apparently reached South America considerably later than Notiomastodon, with the oldest possible date being 760,000 ±30,000 years ago and the oldest confirmed date being 304,000 ±54,000 years ago, and had a much more restricted range, confined mostly to the Andes. [15]

Distribution and habitat

In North America Cuvieronius is known from the Southern United States, including Texas, Florida, Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma, as well as Mexico. It was also widespread across Central America. [7]

According to a group of Brazilian mammalogists, many sites in South America referred to Cuvieronius actually refer to Notiomastodon , with many previous studies simply labeling fossils one or the other depending on location, with only localities definitely identified as Cuvieronius, the range now extends in the high Andes from Ecuador in the north, to Bolivia in the south, with the localities in the southern Andes in Chile and Argentina now thought to belong to Notiomastodon. The same group maintains that all the South American specimens represent the single species C. hyodon. [15] By the end of the Pleistocene, the northern limit of the range of Cuvieronius was in Mexico and Central Texas. [16] Remains found near the town of Hockley in Texas near Austin, which date to around 24,000 years Before Present (BP), are the most recent findings north of Mexico. [17] Cuvieronius was extirpated from South America by the end of the Late Pleistocene, with its youngest dates on the continent being around 44,000 years ago, before the arrival of people. [15]

Extinction

Curiveronius became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, approximately 12,000 years ago as part of the Quaternary extinction event, alongside most other American megafauna, coinciding with the settlement of the Americas. At the El Fin del Mundo kill site in Sonora, Mexico, remains of an individual of Cuvierionius and another indeterminate gomphothere were found associated with Clovis spear points, suggesting that hunting may have played a role in its extinction. [18] [15] The site was initially suggested to date to 13,390 years BP, however this date was later contested, and the site may be younger than this. [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proboscidea</span> Order of elephant-like mammals

Proboscidea is a taxonomic order of afrotherian mammals containing one living family (Elephantidae) and several extinct families. First described by J. Illiger in 1811, it encompasses the elephants and their close relatives. Proboscideans include some of the largest known land mammals. The largest land mammal of all time may have been a proboscidean; the elephant Palaeoloxodon namadicus has been estimated to be up to 5.2 m (17.1 ft) at the shoulder and may have weighed up to 22 t, surpassing the paraceratheres, the otherwise largest known land mammals, though this estimate was made based on a single fragmentary femur and is speculative. The largest extant proboscidean is the African bush elephant, with a record of size of 4 m (13.1 ft) at the shoulder and 10.4 t. In addition to their enormous size, later proboscideans are distinguished by tusks and long, muscular trunks, which were less developed or absent in early proboscideans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mastodon</span> Extinct genus of proboscideans

A mastodon is a member of the genus Mammut, which strictly defined, was endemic to North America and lived from the late Miocene to the early Holocene. Mastodons belong to the order Proboscidea, the same order as elephants and mammoths. Mammut is the type genus of the extinct family Mammutidae, which diverged from the ancestors of modern elephants at least 25 million years ago, during the Oligocene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mammutidae</span> Extinct family of mammals

Mammutidae is an extinct family of proboscideans belonging to Elephantimorpha. It is best known for the mastodons, which inhabited North America from the Late Miocene until their extinction at beginning of the Holocene, around 11,000 years ago. The earliest fossils of the group are known from the Late Oligocene of Africa, around 24 million years ago, and fossils of the group have also been found across Eurasia. The name "mastodon" derives from Greek, μαστός "nipple" and ὀδούς "tooth", referring to their characteristic teeth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gomphothere</span> Extinct family of proboscidean mammals

Gomphotheres are an extinct group of proboscideans related to modern elephants. They were widespread across Afro-Eurasia and North America during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs and dispersed into South America during the Pleistocene as part of the Great American Interchange. Gomphotheres are a paraphyletic group that is ancestral to Elephantidae, which contains modern elephants, as well as Stegodontidae. While most famous forms such as Gomphotherium had long lower jaws with tusks, which is the ancestral condition for the group, some later members developed shortened (brevirostrine) lower jaws with either vestigial or no lower tusks, looking very similar to modern elephants, an example of parallel evolution, which outlasted the long-jawed gomphotheres. By the end of the Early Pleistocene, gomphotheres became extinct in Afro-Eurasia, with the last two genera, Cuvieronius ranging from southern North America to western South America, and Notiomastodon having a wide range over most of South America until the end of the Pleistocene around 12,000 years ago, when they became extinct following the arrival of humans.

<i>Gomphotherium</i> Extinct genus of elephant-like mammals

Gomphotherium is an extinct genus of gomphothere proboscidean from the Neogene of Eurasia, Africa and North America. The genus is probably paraphyletic.

<i>Anancus</i> Genus of proboscideans

Anancus is an extinct genus of "tetralophodont gomphothere" native to Afro-Eurasia, that lived from the Tortonian stage of the late Miocene until its extinction during the Early Pleistocene, roughly from 8.5–2 million years ago.

<i>Stegomastodon</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Stegomastodon is an extinct genus of gomphotheres. It ranged throughout North America from the Pliocene, to the Early Pleistocene. The former South American species have been synonymized with Notiomastodon platensis.

<i>Sinomastodon</i> Extinct genus of gomphothere proboscidean

Sinomastodon is an extinct gomphothere genus known from the Late Miocene to Early Pleistocene of Asia, including China, Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia and probably Kashmir.

<i>Tetralophodon</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Tetralophodon is an extinct genus of "tetralophodont gomphothere" belonging to the superfamily Elephantoidea, known from the Miocene of Afro-Eurasia.

<i>Rhynchotherium</i> Extinct genus of proboscid

Rhynchotherium is an extinct genus of proboscidea endemic to North America and Central America during the Miocene through Pliocene from 13.650 to 3.6 Ma, living for approximately 10 million years.

Gnathabelodon is an extinct genus of gomphothere endemic to North America that includes species that lived during the Middle to Late Miocene.

<i>Eubelodon</i> Extinct genus of proboscid

Eubelodon is an extinct genus of gomphothere which lived in North America during the Miocene Epoch. It contains a single species: Eubelodon morrilli.

<i>Notiomastodon</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Notiomastodon is an extinct genus of gomphothere proboscidean, endemic to South America from the Pleistocene to the beginning of the Holocene. Notiomastodon specimens reached a size similar to that of the modern Asian elephant. Like other brevirostrine gomphotheres such as Cuvieronius and Stegomastodon, Notiomastodon had a shortened lower jaw and lacked lower tusks, unlike more primitive gomphotheres like Gomphotherium.

<i>Choerolophodon</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Choerolophodon is an extinct genus of proboscidean that lived during the Miocene of Eurasia and Africa. Fossils of Choerolophodon have been found in Africa, Southeast Europe, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, the Indian subcontinent, and China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elephantida</span> Clade of mammals

Elephantida is a group that contains the elephants as well as their extinct relatives, the gomphotheres, choerolophodontids, amebelodontids and the stegodontids. The following cladogram shows the relationships among elephantidans, based on hyoid characteristics:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amebelodontidae</span> Extinct family of mammals

Amebelodontidae is an extinct family of large herbivorous proboscidean mammals related to elephants. They were formerly assigned to Gomphotheriidae, but recent authors consider them a distinct family. They are distinguished from other proboscideans by having flattened lower tusks and very elongate mandibular symphysis. The lower tusks could grow considerable size, with those of Konobelodon reaching 1.61 metres (5.3 ft) in length. Their molar teeth are typically trilophodont, and possessed posttrite conules. In the past, amebelodonts' shovel-like mandibular tusks led to them being portrayed scooping up water plants, however, dental microwear suggests that they were browsers and mixed feeders. The lower tusks have been proposed to have had a variety of functions depending on the species, including stripping bark, cutting through vegetation, as well as possibly digging. They first appeared in Africa during the Early Miocene, and subsequently dispersed into Eurasia and then North America. They became extinct by the beginning of the Pliocene. While some phylogenetic studies have recovered Amebelodontidae as a monophyletic group that forms the sister group to Gomphotheriidae proper, some authors have argued that Amebelodontidae may be polyphyletic, with it being suggested that the shovel-tusked condition arose several times independently within Gomphotheriidae, thus rendering the family invalid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Choerolophodontidae</span> Extinct family of mammals

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Eurybelodon is an extinct genus of proboscidean in the family Amebelodontidae. It lived in the Clarendonian age of the Miocene.

Research history of <i>Mammut</i> Studies of an extinct genus of proboscidean

The research history of Mammut is extensive given its complicated taxonomic and non-taxonomic histories, with the earliest recorded fossil finds dating back to 1705 in Claverack, New York during the colonial era of what is now the United States of America. Initially thought to belong to biblical antediluvian giants, the fossils were later determined to belong to a proboscidean species as a result of more complete 18th century finds from the locality of Big Bone Lick in what is now Kentucky. The molars were studied by European and American naturalists, who were generally baffled on its lack of analogue to modern elephants, leading to varying hypothesis on the affinities of the teeth. More complete skeletons were found after the independence of the United States colonies from Great Britain within the early 19th century. American historians of the 21st century have made arguments that the early history of M. americanum finds and studies played major roles in shaping American nationalism on the basis of the large sizes and relative completeness of the fossils to disprove the negative theory of social degeneracy in North America.

References

  1. ↑ Mothé, Dimila; Ferretti, Marco P.; Avilla, Leonardo S. (12 January 2016). "The Dance of Tusks: Rediscovery of Lower Incisors in the Pan-American Proboscidean Cuvieronius hyodon Revises Incisor Evolution in Elephantimorpha". PLOS ONE. 11 (1): e0147009. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1147009M. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147009 . PMC   4710528 . PMID   26756209.
  2. ↑ Mayor, A. (2005). Fossil legends of the first Americans. Princeton University Press.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Lucas, S.G. (2009). Case 3479 Cuvieronius Osborn, 1923 (Mammalia, Proboscidea): Proposed conservation. Bull. Zool. Nomen, 66, 1-6.
  4. 1 2 3 Lucas, S.P., 2008a. Cuvieronius (Mammalia, Proboscidea) from the Neogene of Florida. In: Lucas, S.P., Morgan, G.S., Spielmann, J.A., Prothero, D.R. (Eds.), Neogene Mammals, vol. 44. N. M. Mus. Nat. Hist. Sci. Bull., pp. 31e38
  5. ↑ Morgan, Gary S.; MacFadden, Bruce J.; Martínez, Martín (January 2016). "Quaternary gomphotheres (Mammalia: Proboscidea: Gomphotheriidae) from the continental shelf, Pearl Islands, Panama". Quaternary International. 392: 335–348. Bibcode:2016QuInt.392..335M. doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.003 .
  6. ↑ Larramendi, A. (2016). "Shoulder height, body mass and shape of proboscideans" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 61. doi: 10.4202/app.00136.2014 . S2CID   2092950.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Spencer LG 2022. The last North American gomphotheres. N Mex Mus Nat Hist Sci. 88:45–58.
  8. ↑ Larramendi, Asier (2023-12-10). "Estimating tusk masses in proboscideans: a comprehensive analysis and predictive model". Historical Biology: 1–14. doi:10.1080/08912963.2023.2286272. ISSN   0891-2963. S2CID   266182491.
  9. ↑ Mothé, Dimila; Ferretti, Marco P.; Avilla, Leonardo S. (12 January 2016). "The Dance of Tusks: Rediscovery of Lower Incisors in the Pan-American Proboscidean Cuvieronius hyodon Revises Incisor Evolution in Elephantimorpha". PLOS ONE. 11 (1): e0147009. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1147009M. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147009 . PMC   4710528 . PMID   26756209.
  10. 1 2 Smith, Gregory James; DeSantis, Larisa R. G. (February 2020). "Extinction of North American Cuvieronius (Mammalia: Proboscidea: Gomphotheriidae) driven by dietary resource competition with sympatric mammoths and mastodons". Paleobiology. 46 (1): 41–57. Bibcode:2020Pbio...46...41S. doi: 10.1017/pab.2020.7 . ISSN   0094-8373.
  11. ↑ Adrián Pérez-Crespo, Víctor; Laurito, César A.; Arroyo-Cabrales, Joaquín; Valerio, Ana L.; Cienfuegos-Alvarado, Edith; J. Otero, Francisco (2 April 2024). "Feeding habits of the Gomphothere Cuvieronius hyodon in Costa Rica:A biochemical approach". Historical Biology . 36 (4): 734–741. doi:10.1080/08912963.2023.2183856. ISSN   0891-2963 . Retrieved 2 April 2024– via Taylor and Francis.
  12. ↑ Janzen, Daniel H.; Martin, Paul S. (January 1982). "Neotropical Anachronisms: The Fruits the Gomphotheres Ate". Science. 215 (4528): 19–27. doi:10.1126/science.215.4528.19. ISSN   0036-8075.
  13. ↑ Lucas, Spencer G.; Yuan, Wang; Min, Liu (2013-01-01). "The palaeobiogeography of South American gomphotheres". Journal of Palaeogeography. 2 (1): 19–40. Bibcode:2013JPalG...2...19L.
  14. ↑ Prado, J. L.; Alberdi, M. T.; Azanza, B.; Sánchez, B.; Frassinetti, D. (2005). "The Pleistocene Gomphotheriidae (Proboscidea) from South America". Quaternary International . 126–128: 21–30. Bibcode:2005QuInt.126...21P. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2004.04.012.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Mothé, D.; dos Santos Avilla, L.; Asevedo, L.; Borges-Silva, L.; Rosas, M.; Labarca-Encina, R.; Souberlich, R.; Soibelzon, E.; Roman-Carrion, J.L.; Ríos, S.D.; Rincon, A.D.; de Oliveira, G.C.; Lopes, R.P. (2017). "Sixty years after 'The mastodonts of Brazil': The state of the art of South American proboscideans (Proboscidea, Gomphotheriidae)". Quaternary International. 443: 52–64. Bibcode:2017QuInt.443...52M. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2016.08.028.
  16. ↑ Graham, R. W. (2001). "Late Quaternary Biogeography and Extinction of Proboscideans in North America" (PDF). In Cavarretta, G.; Gioia, P.; Mussi, M.; Palombo, M. R. (eds.). The World of Elephants (La Terra degli Elefanti) - Proceedings of the 1st International Congress [Atti del 1o Congresso Internazionale], Rome October 16–20, 2001. Rome: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. pp. 707–709. ISBN   88-8080-025-6 . Retrieved 2010-02-27.
  17. ↑ Lundelius, Ernest L.; Thies, Kenneth J.; Graham, Russell W.; Bell, Christopher J.; Smith, Gregory James; DeSantis, Larisa R.G. (October 2019). "Proboscidea from the Big Cypress Creek fauna, Deweyville Formation, Harris County, Texas". Quaternary International. 530–531: 59–68. Bibcode:2019QuInt.530...59L. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2019.11.018. S2CID   210613711.
  18. ↑ Sanchez, Guadalupe; Holliday, Vance T.; Gaines, Edmund P.; Arroyo-Cabrales, Joaquín; Martínez-Tagüeña, Natalia; Kowler, Andrew; Lange, Todd; Hodgins, Gregory W. L.; Mentzer, Susan M. (2014-07-29). "Human (Clovis)–gomphothere (Cuvieronius sp.) association ~13,390 calibrated yBP in Sonora, Mexico". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 111 (30): 10972–10977. Bibcode:2014PNAS..11110972S. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1404546111 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   4121807 . PMID   25024193.
  19. ↑ Waters, Michael R.; Stafford, Thomas W.; Carlson, David L. (2020-10-23). "The age of Clovis—13,050 to 12,750 cal yr B.P." Science Advances. 6 (43): eaaz0455. Bibcode:2020SciA....6..455W. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaz0455. ISSN   2375-2548. PMC   7577710 . PMID   33087355.

Bibliography

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