Hyainailouridae

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Hyainailouridae
Temporal range: 47.8–11.3  Ma
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
middle Eocene to middle Miocene
Megistotherium osteothlastes.JPG
Comparison of various Early to Middle Miocene hyaenodonts, including the hyainailurids Hyainailouros sulzeri (top) and Megistotherium osteothlastes (center), and teratodontid Dissopsalis pyroclasticus
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Hyaenodonta
Superfamily: Hyainailouroidea
Family: Hyainailouridae
Pilgrim, 1932 [1]
Type genus
Hyainailouros
(polyphyletic genus)
Biedermann, 1863
Subfamilies
Synonyms
  • Hyaenaelurinae (Pilgrim, 1932)
  • Pterodontidae (Polly, 1996) [2]
  • Pterodontinae (Polly, 1996)

Hyainailouridae ("hyena-cats") is a family of extinct predatory mammals within the superfamily Hyainailouroidea within extinct order Hyaenodonta. Hyaenodontids arose during the middle Eocene and persisted well into the middle Miocene. Fossils of this group have been found in Asia, Africa, North America and Europe.

Contents

General characteristics

Hyainailourids are characterized by long skulls, slender jaws, slim bodies, and a plantigrade stance. They generally ranged in size from 30 to 140 cm at the shoulder. While some measured as much as 1.4 m high at the shoulder with head-body length up to 3.2 m and weighed up to 1,500 kg, most were in the 5–15 kg range, equivalent to a mid-sized dog. The anatomy of their skulls show that they had a particularly acute sense of smell, while their teeth were adapted for shearing, rather than crushing.

At least one hyainailourid lineage, Apterodontinae, was specialised for aquatic, otter-like habits. [3]

Range

The oldest member of the Hyainailouridae is Orienspterodon from the middle Eocene of China. [4] They were important hypercarnivores in Eurasia and Africa during the Oligocene, but gradually declined, with almost the entire family becoming extinct by the close of the Oligocene.[ citation needed ] Only Simbakubwa , Megistotherium and several of its sister genera, including Hyainailouros and Sivapterodon , survived into the Miocene. [5] Traditionally this has been attributed to competition with carnivorans, but no formal examination of the correlation between the decline of hyaenodontids and the expansion of carnivorans has been recorded, and the latter may simply have moved into vacant niches after the extinction of hyaenodontid species.

Classification and phylogeny

Relations

Hyainailouridae used to be considered a subfamily of Hyaenodontidae, but cladistic study by Sole et al., (2013, 2015) treats it as a distinct family. Two subfamilies are recognized, Apterodontinae and paraphyletic Hyainailourinae. [6] [7]

Taxonomy

Related Research Articles

<i>Megistotherium</i> Hyaenodontid creodont genus from early Miocene epoch

Megistotherium is an extinct genus of hyaenodont belonging to the family Hyainailouridae that lived in Africa.

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

Dissopsalis is a genus of teratodontine hyaenodonts of the tribe Dissopsalini. The older species, D. pyroclasticus, lived in Kenya during the middle Miocene, while the type species, D. carnifex, lived in Pakistan and India during the middle to late Miocene.

<i>Pterodon</i> (mammal) Extinct genus of mammals

Pterodon is an extinct genus of hyaenodont in the family Hyainailouridae, containing five species. The type species Pterodon dasyuroides is known exclusively from the late Eocene to the earliest Oligocene of western Europe. The genus was first erected by the French zoologist Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville in 1839, who said that Georges Cuvier presented one of its fossils to a conference in 1828 but died before he could make a formal description of it. It was the second hyaenodont genus with taxonomic validity after Hyaenodon, but this resulted in taxonomic confusion over the validities of the two genera by other taxonomists. Although the taxonomic status of Pterodon was revised during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it became a wastebasket taxon for other hyaenodont species found in Africa and Asia. Today, only the type species is recognized as belonging to the genus while four others are pending reassessment to other genera.

<i>Hyainailouros</i> Genus of mammals (fossil)

Hyainailouros ("hyena-cat") is an extinct polyphyletic genus of hyaenodont belonging to the family Hyainailouridae that lived during the early to middle Miocene, of which there were at least three species spread across Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Sivapterodon is an extinct genus of hyainailourid hyaenodont mammal of the subfamily Hyainailourinae that lived in Pakistan during the middle Miocene.

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

Apterodon is an extinct genus of hyaenodontid mammals that lived from the late Eocene through the middle Oligocene epoch in Africa and Europe. It is closely related to the African Quasiapterodon, and together it, they comprise the hyainailurids subfamily Apterodontinae.

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

Hyaenodonta is an extinct order of hypercarnivorous placental mammals of clade Pan-Carnivora from mirorder Ferae. Hyaenodonts were important mammalian predators that arose during the early Paleocene in Europe and persisted well into the late Miocene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Machaeroidinae</span> Extinct subfamily of mammals

Machaeroidinae ("dagger-like") is an extinct subfamily of carnivorous sabre-toothed placental mammals from extinct family Oxyaenidae, that lived from the early to middle Eocene of Asia and North America. Traditionally classified as hyaenodonts, this group is now classified as a member of the family Oxyaenidae.

Isohyaenodon is an extinct polyphyletic genus of hyainailourid hyaenodont mammal from the subfamily Hyainailourinae). Remains are known from early to middle Miocene deposits in Kenya, East Africa.

Exiguodon is an extinct genus of hyainailourid hyaenodont mammal of the subfamily Hyainailourinae. Remains are known from early Miocene deposits in Kenya and Uganda, in East Africa.

<i>Falcatodon</i> Species of extinct mammal

Falcatodon is an extinct genus of hyainailourid hyaenodonts of the subfamily Hyainailourinae, from the Early Oligocene (Rupelian) of the Faiyum Oasis depression in Egypt.

<i>Metapterodon</i> Extinct genus of hyainailourid hyaenodonts

Metapterodon is an extinct genus of hyainailourid hyaenodonts of the subfamily Hyainailourinae, that lived in Africa during the early Oligocene to early Miocene. Fossils of Metapterodon were recovered from the Egypt, Uganda, Elisabeth Bay Formation in Namibia, and Rusinga Island and Karungu in Kenya.

Sectisodon is an extinct genus of hyainailourid hyaenodont mammal of the subfamily Hyainailourinae from early Oligocene to early Miocene deposits in Egypt and Uganda.

Orienspterodon is an extinct genus of hyainailourid hyaenodonts from paraphyletic subfamily Hyainailourinae that lived in China and Myanmar during the middle to late Eocene. Orienspterodon dahkoensis was originally assigned to genus Pterodon in 1975, but was eventually assigned to its own genus in 2007.

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

Simbakubwa is an extinct genus of hyaenodonts to the family Hyainailourinae that lived in Kenya during the early Miocene.

<i>Eurotherium</i> Genus of mammals (fossil)

Eurotherium is an extinct paraphyletic genus of placental mammals from extinct family Hyaenodontidae that lived from the early to middle Eocene in Europe.

<i>Kerberos langebadreae</i> Extinct animal

Kerberos ("Cerberus") is an extinct genus of hyainailourid hyaenodonts in the subfamily Hyainailourinae, that lived in Europe. It contains the single species Kerberos langebadreae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyainailouroidea</span> Extinct superfamily of mammals

Hyainailouroidea ("hyena-cats") is a superfamily of extinct predatory mammals from extinct order Hyaenodonta. Fossil remains of these mammals are known from middle Eocene to late Miocene deposits in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Members of this group probably originate from Afro-Arabia, a continent that remained isolated from the Albian to the Miocene. While in North America and Eurasia hyaenodonts competed with other predatory mammals, in Afro-Arabia they remained the main terrestrial predators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dissopsalini</span> Extinct tribe of mammals

Dissopsalini is an extinct tribe of teratodontid hyaenodonts. Fossil remains of these mammals are known from early to late Miocene deposits in Asia and Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyainailourinae</span> Extinct subfamily of mammals

Hyainailourinae ("hyena-cats") is an extinct subfamily of hyainailourid hyaenodonts that lived in Africa, Asia, North America and Europe from the middle Eocene to middle Miocene. They appeared in Africa about 47.8 Ma ago and soon after spread as far as East Asia.

References

  1. Pilgrim G. E. (1932). "The fossil Carnivora of India. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India". Palaeontologica Indica. 18 (1–232). doi:10.1017/S0016756800096448. Archived from the original on April 13, 2023.
  2. P. D. Polly (1996). "The skeleton of Gazinocyon vulpeculus gen. et. comb nov. and the cladistic relationships of Hyaenodontidae (Eutheria, Mammalia)" (PDF). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 16 (2): 303–319. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 25, 2023.
  3. Laudet, V.; Grohé, C.; Morlo, M.; Chaimanee, Y.; Blondel, C.; Coster, P.; Valentin, X.; Salem, M.; Bilal, A. A.; Jaeger, J. J.; Brunet, M. (2012). "New Apterodontinae (Hyaenodontida) from the Eocene Locality of Dur At-Talah (Libya): Systematic, Paleoecological and Phylogenetical Implications". PLOS ONE. 7 (11): e49054. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...749054G. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0049054 . PMC   3504055 . PMID   23185292.
  4. Averianov, Alexander; Obraztsova, Ekaterina; Danilov, Igor; Jin, Jian-Hua (2023). "A new hypercarnivorous hyaenodont from the Eocene of South China". Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 11. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2023.1076819 . ISSN   2296-701X.
  5. Borths, M. R.; Stevens, N. J. (April 2019). "Simbakubwa kutokaafrika, gen. et sp. nov. (Hyainailourinae, Hyaenodonta, 'Creodonta,' Mammalia), a gigantic carnivore from the earliest Miocene of Kenya". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 39: e1570222. Bibcode:2019JVPal..39E0222B. doi:10.1080/02724634.2019.1570222. S2CID   145972918.
  6. Solé, Floréal; Lhuillier, Julie; Adaci, Mohammed; Bensalah, Mustapha; Mahboubi, M’hammed; Tabuce, Rodolphe (2013). "The hyaenodontidans from the Gour Lazib area (?Early Eocene, Algeria): implications concerning the systematics and the origin of the Hyainailourinae and Teratodontinae". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 12 (3): 303–322. doi:10.1080/14772019.2013.795196. S2CID   84475034.
  7. Solé, Floréal; Amson, Eli; Borths, Matthew; Vidalenc, Dominique; Morlo, Michael; Bastl, Katharina (2015). "A New Large Hyainailourine from the Bartonian of Europe and Its Bearings on the Evolution and Ecology of Massive Hyaenodonts (Mammalia)". PLOS ONE. 10 (9): e0135698. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1035698S. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0135698 . PMC   4580617 . PMID   26398622.