Eomellivora

Eomellivora Temporal range: Miocene, 11–5  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Eomellivora piveteaui mandible
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Mustelidae
Genus:	† Eomellivora Zdansky, 1924
Type species
†Eomellivora wimani Zdansky, 1924
Other species
Eomellivora fricki(Pia, 1939) Eomellivora hungaricaKretzoi, 1942 Eomellivora ursogulo(Orlov, 1947) Eomellivora piveteauiOzansoy, 1965 Eomellivora? tugenensisMorales & Pickford, 2005
Synonyms
Hadrictis frickiPia, 1939 Perunium ursoguloOrlov, 1947

Eomellivora is an extinct genus of prehistoric mustelids, closely related to the honey badger, known from Eurasia and North America, and tentatively Africa. It was one of the biggest mustelids ever known, bigger and more hypercarnivorous than the modern wolverine. ^[1] Using equations by Legendre (1986) ^[2] for calculating body mass for mammals through linear dimensions of the first lower molar, Eomellivora averaged roughly 50 kg (based on measurements reported in Valenciano et al., 2015) ^[1] .

Taxonomy

Comparison of Eomellivora species

Eomellivora was long thought to contain only one species, E. wimani, with Wolsan and Semenov (1996) treating E. piveteaui as a younger subspecies of E. wimani, but new remains of E. piveteaui described in 2015 allowed for recognition of E. piveteaui as distinct from E. wimani, but also treatment of E. ursogulo (Orlov, 1948) and E. hungarica Kretzoi, 1942 from the eastern Paratethys region. The placement of the African species Eomellivora tugenensis in Eomellivora is tentative. ^{[1] [3]} The genus Hadrictis Pia, 1939, described from a skull found in Late Miocene deposits in Austria, is a junior synonym of Eomellivora. ^[4]

Palaeoecology

E. piveteaui was a cursorial carnivore that consumed meat and bones. ^[5]

References

1. Valenciano, Alberto; Abella, Juan; Sanisidro, Oscar; Hartstone-Rose, Adam; Álvarez-Sierra, María Ángeles; Morales, Jorge (27 May 2015). "Complete description of the skull and mandible of the giant mustelid Eomellivora piveteaui Ozansoy, 1965 (Mammalia, Carnivora, Mustelidae), from Batallones (MN10), late Miocene (Madrid, Spain)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 35 (4) e934570. doi:10.1080/02724634.2014.934570.
2. Legendre, Serge (1986-12-15). "Analysis of mammalian communities from the late Eocene and Oligocene of southern France". PalaeoVertebrata. ISSN   2274-0333.
3. Wolsan, M. and Semenov, Y.A. 1996. A revision of the late Miocene mustelid carnivoran Eomellivora. Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia, 39:593-604.
4. Valenciano, Alberto, Abella, Juan, Göhlich, Ursula B., Álvarez-Sierra, M. Ángeles, and Morales, Jorge, 2017. Re-evaluation of the very large Eomellivora fricki (Pia, 1939) (Carnivora, Mustelidae, Mellivorinae) from the Late Miocene of Austria. Palaeontologia Electronica 20.1.17A: 1-22. https://doi.org/10.26879/691 palaeo-electronica.org/content/2017/1830-the-large-eomellivora-fricki
5. Morlo, Michael; Nagel, Doris; Bastl, Katharina (1 September 2020). "Evolution of the carnivoran (Carnivora, Mammalia) guild structure across the Middle/Upper Miocene boundary in Germany" . Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology . 553 109801. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.109801 . Retrieved 10 September 2024– via Elsevier Science Direct.