Halitherium

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Halitherium
Temporal range: Late Eocene-Early Oligocene
~37–28  Ma
Halitherium.jpg
Halitherium schinzi skeleton, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Sirenia
Family: Dugongidae
Subfamily:† Halitheriinae
Genus:† Halitherium
Kaup, 1838
Species
  • H. alleni Simpson, 1932
  • H. schinzii (Kaup, 1838) (type)

Halitherium is an extinct dugongid sea cow that arose in the late Eocene, then became extinct during the early Oligocene. Its fossils are common in European shales. Inside its flippers were finger bones that did not stick out. Halitherium also had the remnants of back legs, which did not show externally. However, it did have a basic femur, joined to a reduced pelvis. Halitherium also had elongated ribs, presumably to increase lung capacity to provide fine control of buoyancy. A 2014 review presented the opinion that the genus is dubious.

Contents

Classification

Halitherium is the type genus of the subfamily Halitheriinae, which includes the well-known genera Eosiren and Eotheroides and lived from the Eocene to the Oligocene. [1]

Taxonomy

Restoration of H. schinzii Halitherium BW.jpg
Restoration of H. schinzii

The genus Halitherium has had a confusing nomenclatural history. [2] It was originally coined by Johann Jakob Kaup on the basis of a premolar from the early Oligocene (Rupelian) of southern Germany, but Kaup himself mistakenly stated that the premolar, in his opinion, gehort zu Hippopotamus dubius Cuv., unaware that H. dubius is actually a junior synonym of the primitive sirenian Protosiren minima , while simultaneously coining the genus and species name Pugmeodon schinzii for the same specimen. [3] For his part, the renowned German paleontologist Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer included the type specimen of Halitherium schinzii in his composite species Halianassa studeri, [4] whose hypodigm also included the type specimens of Metaxytherium medium and Protosiren minima as well as a Miocene-age maxilla and a skeleton from the molasse basin in Switzerland. [5] [6]

Later, Kaup synonymized Pugmeodon with Halitherium creating the new combination Halitherium schinzii, and the name Halitherium became universally accepted for the early Oligocene halitheriine material from Europe. [7] Because Halitherium was originally based on a misidentified type species and due to the widespread use of Halitherium, the sirenian specialist Daryl Domning petitioned the ICZN to designate Pugmeodon schinzii as the type species of Halitherium, and the proposal was approved by the Commission in 1989, effectively making Pugmeodon a junior objective synonym of Halitherium in line with the current concept of Halitherium introduced by Kaup himself. [8] [9]

Voss (2013, 2014) dismisses Halitherium as a nomen dubium by virtue of being based on non-diagnostic remains. Voss based the opinion on the type species, H. schinzii, being nomen dubium , with its holotype fossil, an isolated molar, having no diagnostic value. [10] and a 2017 study found specimens traditionally assigned to Halitherium schinzii to be two separate species, one of which takes the name Halitherium bronni Krauss, 1858. Because Halitherium is dubious, H. bronni has been re-assigned to Kaupitherium . [10] [11] The species Halitherium alleni Simpson, 1932, described by Simpson (1932) from skull caps in Oligocene deposits in Puerto Rico, [12] is basal to the two Kaupitherium species. [13]

Formerly assigned species

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dugongidae</span> Family of mammals

Dugongidae is a family in the order of Sirenia. The family has one surviving species, the dugong, one recently extinct species, Steller's sea cow, and a number of extinct genera known from fossil records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trichechidae</span> Family of mammals

Trichechidae is a family of sirenians that includes all living manatees and several extinct genera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desmostylia</span> Extinct order of mammals

The Desmostylia are an extinct order of aquatic mammals that existed from the early Oligocene (Rupelian) to the late Miocene (Tortonian).

<i>Paleoparadoxia</i> Extinct family of mammals

Paleoparadoxia is a genus of large, herbivorous aquatic mammals that inhabited the northern Pacific coastal region during the Miocene epoch. It ranged from the waters of Japan, to Alaska in the north, and down to Baja California, Mexico.

<i>Eotheroides</i>

Eotheroides is an extinct genus of Eocene sirenian. It is an early member of the family Dugongidae, which includes the extant dugong. Fossils have been found from Egypt, India, and Madagascar. Eotheroides was first described by Richard Owen in 1875 under the name Eotherium, which was replaced by the current name in 1899.

<i>Metaxytherium</i> Extinct genus of dugong

Metaxytherium is an extinct genus of dugong that lived from the Oligocene until the end of the Pliocene. Fossil remains have been found in Africa, Europe, North America and South America. Generally marine seagrass specialists, they inhabited the warm and shallow waters of the Paratethys, Mediterranean, Caribbean Sea and Pacific coastline. American species of Metaxytherium are considered to be ancestral to the North Pacific family Hydrodamalinae, which includes the giant Steller's Sea Cow.

Protosiren is an extinct early genus of the order Sirenia. Protosiren existed throughout the Lutetian to Priabonian stages of the Middle Eocene. Fossils have been found in the far-flung locations like the United States, Africa (Egypt), Europe and Asia.

<i>Cynthiacetus</i> Genus of mammals

Cynthiacetus is an extinct genus of basilosaurid early whale that lived during the Late Eocene Specimens have been found in the southeastern United States and Peru.

<i>Kutchisiren</i>

Kutchisiren is an extinct genus of mammal which existed in what is now India during the Miocene period. It was named by S. Bajpai, D. P. Domning, D. P. Das, J. Velez-Juarbe, and V. P. Mishra in 2010, and the type species is Kutchisiren cylindrica. It was originally named Kotadasiren gracilis in 1994, by Das and Basu.

<i>Eosiren</i>

Eosiren is an extinct genus of sea cow that lived during the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene (Rupelian). Several fossils have been found in Egypt. It seems like the species E. abeli were contemporaneous with Protosiren and Eotheroides. like them, Eosiren closely resembled modern sirenians. It differs from them by having somewhat larger innominates and possess thigh bones.

<i>Dusisiren</i> Genus of mammals

Dusisiren is an extinct genus of dugong related to the Steller's sea cow that lived in the North Pacific during the Neogene.

<i>Miosiren</i>

Miosiren is an extinct genus of manatee from the Early Miocene of southeastern England (Suffolk) and Antwerp, Belgium.

Anomotherium is an extinct genus of manatee that lived in the shallow seas of what is now northern Germany. Its closest relative is Miosiren. Fossils of the genus have been found in the Bohlen and Doberg Formations of Germany.

Potamosiren is an extinct genus of manatee from the Middle Miocene (Laventan) Honda Group of Colombia.

<i>Lentiarenium</i>

Lentiarenium was an early sea cow from the Late Oligocene (Chattian) Linz-Melk Formation of Austria. Known since the mid 19th century, Lentiarenium was long considered to be a species of Halitherium until a 2016 analysis showed it to be distinct.

Italosiren is an extinct genus of early dugong from the Early Miocene (Aquitanian) Libano Formation in northern Italy.

<i>Kaupitherium</i> Extinct genus of sea cow

Kaupitherium is an extinct dugongid sea cow that lived during the Oligocene. Fossils of the genus have been found in the Alzey Formation of Germany. Inside its flippers were finger bones that did not stick out. Kaupitherium also had the residues of back legs, which did not show externally. However, it did have a basic femur, joined to a reduced pelvis. Kaupitherium also had elongated ribs, presumably to increase lung capacity to provide fine control of buoyancy.

<i>Crenatosiren</i> Extinct genus of dugongid sirenian

Crenatosiren is an extinct genus of dugongid sirenian known from the late Oligocene (Chattian) of Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The type and only known species is Crenatosiren olseni.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stegosiren</span> Early sea cow from the Middle Oligocene of South Carolina,

Stegosiren was an early sea cow from the Middle Oligocene of South Carolina, US. It shows a stage of halitheriine evolution more derived than that of the Old World early Oligocene Eosiren imenti and Halitherium schinzii.

References

  1. ↑ D. P. Domning. 1996. Bibliography and Index of the Sirenia and Desmostylia. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 80:1-611
  2. ↑ D. P. Domning. 1987. Halianassa studeri von Meyer, 1838 (Mammalia, Sirenia): proposed designation of a neotype, and proposed conservation of Halitheirum Kaup, 1838 by designation of a type species. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 44(2):122-125
  3. ↑ Kaup, J.J., 1838. [tJber Zahnen von Halytherium and Pugmeodon aus Fionheim.] Neues Jahrbuchfiir Mineralogie, Geologic und Paldontologie, 1838: 318-320.
  4. ↑ Meyer, H. von. 1838. [Letter to H. G. Bronn.] Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie. Geologic und Paläontologie, 1838: 667-669.
  5. ↑ Studer, T. 1887. Ueber den Steinkern des Gehirnraumes einer Sirenoide aus dem Muschelsandstein von Wiirenlos (Kanton Aargau), nebst Bemerkungen über die Gattung Halianassa H. von Meyer und die Bildung des Muscheisandsteins. Abhandlungen der Schweizerischen Paldontologischen Gesellschaft, 14(3): 1-20.
  6. ↑ Duvernoy, G. L. 1835. Plusieurs notes sur quelques ossemens fossiles de I'Alsace et du Jura. Memoires de la Societe du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle de Strasbourg, 2 Mem. GG: 1-12.
  7. ↑ Kaup,J.J., 1855. Beitraege zur naeherenKenntnissderurweltlichenSaeugethiere, vol. 2, 1-23pp. Darmstadt.
  8. ↑ Domning, Daryl, 1987. Halianassa studeri von Meyer, 1838 (Mammalia, Sirenia): proposed designation of a neotype, and proposed conservation of Halitherium Kaup, 1838 by designation of a type species. Bull. Zool. Nomencl. 44(2): 122-125.
  9. ↑ [International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, 1989. Opinion 1535: Halianassa studeri von Meyer, 1838 (Mammalia, Sirenia): neotype designated; and Halitherium Kaup, 1838 (Mammalia, Sirenia): Pugmeodon schinzii Kaup, 1838 designated as the type species. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 46 (1): 83-84.
  10. 1 2 Voss, Manja. "On the invalidity of Halitherium schinzii Kaup, 1838 (Mammalia, Sirenia), with comments on systematic consequences." Zoosystematics and Evolution 90 (2014): 87.
  11. ↑ Manja Voss & Oliver Hampe (2017). "Evidence for two sympatric sirenian species (Mammalia, Tethytheria) in the early Oligocene of Central Europe". Journal of Paleontology. in press. doi:10.1017/jpa.2016.147.
  12. ↑ Simpson, G.G., 1932, Fossil Sirenia of Florida and the evolution of the Sirenia: Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, v. 59, p. 419–503.
  13. 1 2 3 Voss, 2013. http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/dissertationen/voss-manja-2013-11-06/PDF/voss.pdf
  14. ↑ Matthew WD. 1916. New sirenian from the Tertiary of Porto Rico, West Indies. Annales of New York Academy of Science 27: 23–29.
  15. ↑ Fitzinger LJ. 1842. Bericht über die in den Sandlagern von Linz aufgefundenen fossilen Reste eines urweltlichen Säugers (Halitherium cristolii). Bericht über das Museum Francisco Carolinum Linz 6: 61–72.
  16. ↑ Voss, M., Berning, B., and Reiter, E., 2016, A taxonomic and morphological re-evaluation of “Halitherium” cristolii Fitzinger, 1842 (Mammalia, Sirenia) from the late Oligocene of Austria, with the description of a new genus: European Journal of Taxonomy, v. 256, p. 1–32.
  17. ↑ De Zigno A. 1875. Sirenii fossili trovati nel Veneto. Membro Effettivo del Reale istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettre ed Arti 18: 1–30.
  18. ↑ Manja Voss; Silvia Sorbi; Daryl P. Domning (2017). "Morphological and systematic re-assessment of the late Oligocene "Halitherium" bellunense reveals a new crown group genus of Sirenia". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 62 (1): 163–172. doi:10.4202/app.00287.2016.
  19. ↑ Sagne C. 2001. Halitherium taulannense, nouveau sirénien (Sirenia, Mammalia) de l’Éocène supérieur provenant du domaine Nord-Téthysien (Alpes-de-Haute-Pro- vence, France). Comptes rendus de l’Académie des Sciences de la Terre et des Planètes 333: 471–476.

Bibliography

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