Didymictis late | |
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Skull of Didymictis protenus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Superfamily: | † Viverravoidea |
Family: | † Viverravidae |
Subfamily: | † Didymictinae |
Genus: | † Didymictis Cope, 1875 [1] |
Type species | |
†Didymictis protenus Cope, 1874 | |
Species [2] | |
[see classification] | |
Synonyms | |
synonyms of species:
|
Didymictis ("double weasel") is an extinct genus of placental mammals from extinct subfamily Didymictinae within extinct family Viverravidae, that lived in North America and Europe from the late Paleocene to middle Eocene. [4] [5] [6] [7]
Didymictis is the only viverravid genus for which there are considerable postcranial remains. The genus was primarily terrestrial but at least partly cursorial, similar to a civets. [8]
Didymictis has an elongated and relatively large skull with small and low braincase and a long and narrow basicranial region. The occipital and sagittal crests are very high. The limbs are of moderate length with subdigitigrade and five-toed feet. The dentition (3.1.4.23.1.4.2) contrast those of basal carnivoraforms by the sharp differentiation between sectorial and tubercular dentition, the loss of the last molar and an elongated second molar, similar to the dentition in bears and raccoons. [9]
Comparing Didymictis to Vulpavus , a much smaller and more agile carnivoraform, Heinrich and Rose in 1997 noted that Didymictis' limbs, especially the hindlimb, are similar to those in extant carnivornas adapted for speed, and the forelimbs to some extent are specialized to digging. The authors concluded that Didymictis was a relatively specialized terrestrial carnivore capable of hunting with speed or pursuing by digging. [10]
D. protenus is known from the earliest through late Wasatchian (early Eocene) of western North America. [11] Cope assigned his specimen, "one entire and a portion of the other mandibular ramus, with teeth well preserved", to the creodont genus Limnocyon and named his new species L. protenus. [12] Cope later created a new genus and renamed his species Didymictis protenus. [1]
D. proteus is known from the late Paleocene and earliest Eocene of Wyoming and the only species present in the Tiffanian and Clarkforkian stages. It is slightly larger than D. leptornylus and slightly smaller than D. protenus. [11] Simpson in 1937 named a new subspecies, Didymictis protenus proteus, [3] which Polly in 1997 reranked as the species D. proteus. [11] Dorr in 1952 described Didymictis dellensis, [13] which Gingerich and Winkler in 1985 included in Protictis dellensis. [14] Polly in 1997 finally included these species in D. proteus. [11]
D. leptomylus is known from the early Wasatchian of western North America, but by far fewer specimens than D. proteus. [11]
D. vancleveae is known from a fragmented jaw with several teeth (Colorado) described by Robinson in 1966 and another tooth (Wyoming) tentatively assigned to this species. [15] Robinson described D. vancleveae as larger than D. altidens and probably the youngest Didymicits. He assumed that the genus grew larger as it evolved. [16]
Species: | Distribution of the species and type locality: | Age: |
---|---|---|
†D. altidens(Cope, 1880) [17] | USA (Colorado and Wyoming) | 54,9 - 46,2 Ma |
†D. dellensis(Dorr, 1952) [13] | Canada (Saskatchewan) USA (Wyoming) [18] | 60,9 - 54,9 Ma |
†D. leptomylus(Cope, 1880) [19] | USA (Colorado and Wyoming [20] ) | 54,9 - 50,5 Ma |
†D. protenus(Cope, 1874) [12] | USA (Colorado,New Mexico and Wyoming) | 56,2 - 50,5 Ma |
†D. proteus(Polly, 1997) [11] | Canada (Alberta) USA (Colorado, South Carolina and Wyoming) | 60,9 - 50,5 Ma |
†D. vancleveae(Robinson, 1966) [16] | USA (Colorado and Wyoming [15] ) | 50,5 - 46,2 Ma |
†D. sp. [Erquelinnes, Hainaut, Belgium] (Dollo, 1909) [21] | Belgium (Hainaut Province) | 56,0 - 55,2 Ma |
Parectypodus is an extinct genus of mammals that lived from Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) to Eocene time in North America. It is a member of the extinct order of Multituberculata, suborder Cimolodonta, family Neoplagiaulacidae. It was named by G.L. Jepsen in 1930.
Creodonta is a former order of extinct carnivorous placental mammals that lived from the early Paleocene to the late Miocene epochs in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Originally thought to be a single group of animals ancestral to the modern Carnivora, this order is now usually considered a polyphyletic assemblage of two different groups, the Oxyaenids and the Hyenodonts, not a natural group. Oxyaenids are first known from the Palaeocene of North America, while hyaenodonts hail from the Palaeocene of Africa.
Viverravidae is an extinct monophyletic family of mammals from extinct superfamily Viverravoidea within the clade Carnivoramorpha, that lived from the early Palaeocene to the late Eocene in North America, Europe and Asia. They were once thought to be the earliest carnivorans and ancestral to extant ones, but now are placed outside the order Carnivora based on cranial morphology as relatives to extant carnivorans.
Miacis is an extinct genus of placental mammals from clade Carnivoraformes, that lived in North America from the early to middle Eocene.
Oxyaena is an extinct genus of placental mammals from extinct subfamily Oxyaeninae within extinct family Oxyaenidae, that lived in Europe, Asia and North America during the early Eocene.
Carnivoramorpha is a clade of placental mammals of clade Pan-Carnivora from mirorder Ferae, that includes the modern order Carnivora and its extinct stem-relatives.
Vulpavus is an extinct paraphyletic genus of placental mammals from clade Carnivoraformes, that lived in North America from the early to middle Eocene.
Vassacyon is an extinct genus of placental mammals from clade Carnivoraformes, that lived in North America and Europe from the late Paleocene to early Eocene. It is considered the largest of the early Eocene mammals.
Intyrictis is an extinct genus of placental mammals from extinct subfamily Didymictinae within extinct family Viverravidae, that lived in North America during the early Paleocene.
Raphictis is an extinct genus of placental mammals from extinct subfamily Didymictinae within extinct family Viverravidae, that lived in North America during late Paleocene.
Gracilocyon is an extinct paraphyletic genus of placental mammals from clade Carnivoraformes, that lived in North America and Europe from the late Paleocene to the early Eocene.
The Willwood Formation is a sedimentary sequence deposited during the late Paleocene to early Eocene, or Clarkforkian, Wasatchian and Bridgerian in the NALMA classification.
The Wasatch Formation (Tw) is an extensive highly fossiliferous geologic formation stretching across several basins in Idaho, Montana Wyoming, Utah and western Colorado. It preserves fossils dating back to the Early Eocene period. The formation defines the Wasatchian or Lostcabinian, a period of time used within the NALMA classification, but the formation ranges in age from the Clarkforkian to Bridgerian.
Galecyon ("polecat-dog") is an extinct genus of placental mammals from extinct order Hyaenodonta, that lived in Europe and North America during the early Eocene.
Prolimnocyon is an extinct paraphyletic genus of limnocyonid hyaenodonts that lived in Asia and North America during the late Paleocene to middle Eocene. Prolimnocyon chowi is the earliest known member of the hyaenodontid family Limnocyonidae.
Viverravus is an extinct genus of placental mammals from extinct subfamily Viverravinae within extinct family Viverravidae, that lived in North America, Europe and Asia from the middle Paleocene to middle Eocene.
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Chiromyoides is a small plesiadapid primatomorph that is known for its unusually robust upper and lower incisors, deep dentary, and comparatively small cheek teeth. Species of Chiromyoides are known from the middle Tiffanian through late Clarkforkian North American Land Mammal Ages (NALMA) of western North America, and from late Paleocene deposits in the Paris Basin, France.
Azygonyx was a small tillodont mammal, likely the size of a cat to raccoon, that lived in North America during the Paleocene and Eocene in the early part of the Cenozoic Era. The only fossils that have been recovered are from the Willwood and Fort Union Formations in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming, United States, and date to the Clarkforkian to Wasatchian, about 56 to 50 million years ago. Fifty-six collections that have been recovered thus far include the remains of Azygonyx. Azygonyx survived the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum along with other mammals like Phenacodus and Ectocion, both of which were ground-dwelling mammals. Azygonyx probably was a generalist terrestrial mammal that may have roamed around the ground, but was also capable of climbing trees.
Protictis is an extinct paraphyletic genus of placental mammals from extinct subfamily Didymictinae within extinct family Viverravidae, that lived in North America from early Paleocene to middle Eocene.
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