Palaeoryctidae

Palaeoryctidae Temporal range: 70.0–42.0  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Late Cretaceous - Middle Eocene
Palaeoryctes jepseni lower jaw fragment
Aceroryctes dulcis lower jaw fragment
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Clade:	Eutheria
Infraclass:	Placentalia (?)
Order:	† Palaeoryctida Averianov, 2003 [1]
Family:	† Palaeoryctidae Winge, 1917 [2]
Type genus
† Palaeoryctes Matthew, 1913
Genera
[see classification]
Synonyms
synonyms of family: Palaeoryctae (Winge, 1917) Palaeoryctinae (Van Valen, 1966) [3] Palaeoryctoidea (Van Valen, 1966)

Palaeoryctidae ("ancient diggers") is an extinct family of non-specialized eutherian mammals from extinct order Palaeoryctida, that lived in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa from the late Cretaceous to the middle Eocene. ^{[4] [5] [6] [7] [8]}

Description

From a near-complete skull of the genus Palaeoryctes found in New Mexico, it is known that palaeoryctids were small, shrew-like insectivores with an elongated snout similar to that of the leptictids. However, in contrast to the latter, little is known about palaeoryctids' postcranial anatomy (the skeleton without the skull). ^[9] A 2024 study found shared cranial details between palaeoryctids and leptictids, suggesting a possible close relationship, plesiomorphic retentions, or convergent acquisitions. ^[10] Where the leptictids were short-lived, the palaeoryctids seem to have been ancestors of Eocene species. While their dental morphology still indicate a mostly insectivorous diet, it, to some extent, also relate to Eocene carnivores such as creodonts. ^[9]

Taxonomy and phylogeny

History of phylogeny

The relationship between this archaic group and other insectivorous mammals is uncertain. ^{[11] [12]} Palaeoryctidae was originally assigned to the now-abandoned grouping Insectivora by Sloan and Van Valen (1965), then to clade Proteutheria, ^[7] and more recently to Eutheria by Scott et al. (2002). ^[13]

Generally speaking Palaeoryctidae has been used as a wastebasket taxon for many archaic insectivorous mammals. ^[14]

According to a 2022 study by Bertrand et al., palaeoryctids are identified to be a basal group of placental mammals. ^[15]

Taxonomy

Order: †Palaeoryctida(Averianov, 2003) Family: †Palaeoryctidae(Winge, 1917) Genus: † Aceroryctes (Rankin & Holroyd, 2014) †Aceroryctes dulcis(Rankin & Holroyd, 2014) Genus: † Lainoryctes (Fox, 2004) †Lainoryctes youzwyshyni(Fox, 2004) Genus: † Nuryctes (Tong, 2003) †Nuryctes alayensis(Lopatin & Averianov, 2004) †Nuryctes gobiensis(Lopatin & Averianov, 2004) †Nuryctes qinlingensis(Tong, 1997) Genus: † Pinoryctes (Lopatin, 2006) †Pinoryctes collector(Lopatin, 2006) Subfamily: †Palaeoryctinae(paraphyletic subfamily)(Winge, 1917) Genus: † Aaptoryctes (Gingerich, 1982) †Aaptoryctes ivyi(Gingerich, 1982) Genus: † Eoryctes (Thewissen & Gingerich, 1989) †Eoryctes melanus(Thewissen & Gingerich, 1989) Genus: † Ottoryctes (Bloch, 2004) †Ottoryctes winkleri(Bloch, 2004) Genus: † Palaeoryctes (paraphyletic genus)(Matthew, 1913) †Palaeoryctes cruoris(Gunnell, 1994) †Palaeoryctes jepseni(Bloch, 2004) †Palaeoryctes minimus(Gheerbrant, 1992) †Palaeoryctes puercensis(Matthew, 1913) †Palaeoryctes punctatus(Van Valen, 1966) †Palaeoryctes sp. [Roche Percée, Saskatchewan, Canada] (Rankin, 2018) Incertae sedis : †Palaeoryctidae sp. [RI 343 & RI 355] (Godinot, 1981) †Palaeoryctidae sp. [Andarak 2, Osh, Kyrgyzstan] (Lopatin, 2006) †Palaeoryctidae sp. indet. 1 (Pol, 1992) †Palaeoryctidae sp. indet. 2 (Pol, 1992)

References

1. A. O. Averianov (2003.) "Present-Day Concepts of the System of Placental Mammals." in: "Systematics, Phylogeny and Paleontology of Small Mammals", Ed. by A. O. Averianov and N. I. Abramson (Zool. Inst. Ross. Akad Nauk, St. Petersburg), pp. 15–20 [in Russian].
2. Winge H. (1917.) "Udsigt over Insektaedernes indbyrdes Slaeggtskab." Videnskabelige meddelelser fra Dansk Naturhistorisk Forening i København, vol. 68, p. 82–203.
3. L. Van Valen (1966.) "Deltatheridia, a new order of Mammals." Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 132(1):1-126
4. Mammals: An Outline of Theriology. 1976.
5. C., McKenna, Malcolm; Xiangxu., Xue; Mingzhen., Zhou (1984). "Prosarcodon lonanensis, a new Paleocene micropternodontid palaeoryctoid insectivore from Asia". American Museum Novitates (2780). hdl:2246/5265.
6. McKenna, Malcolm C.; Bell, Susan K. (1997). Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN   978-0-231-11012-9 . Retrieved 16 March 2015.
7. Gregg F. Gunnell, Thomas Bown, Jonathan Ivan Bloch, Doug M. Boyer (2008.) "Proteutheria"; pp. 63–81 in C. M. Janis, G. F. Gunnell, and M. Uhen (eds.), "Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America. Volume 2: Small Mammals, Xenarthrans, and Marine Mammals." Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.
8. Rankin, Brian D.; Holroyd, Patricia A. (October 2014). Sues, Hans-Dieter (ed.). "Aceroryctes dulcis, a new palaeoryctid (Mammalia, Eutheria) from the early Eocene of the Wasatch Formation of southwestern Wyoming, USA" . Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 51 (10): 919–926. Bibcode:2014CaJES..51..919R. doi:10.1139/cjes-2014-0101. ISSN   0008-4077.
9. Agustí & Antón 2002 , p. 5
10. Wible, John R.; Bertrand, Ornella C. (2024-07-08). "Basicranial Anatomy of Leptictis haydeni Leidy, 1868 (Mammalia, Eutheria, Leptictidae)". Annals of Carnegie Museum. 90 (1). doi:10.2992/007.090.0101. ISSN   0097-4463.
11. Gingerich 1982 , p. 38
12. History, Carnegie Museum of Natural (1995). Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
13. "PBDB Taxon". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2024-07-10.
14. Prothero, Donald R. (2016-11-15). The Princeton Field Guide to Prehistoric Mammals. Princeton University Press. p. 104. ISBN   9781400884452.
15. Bertrand, O. C.; Shelley, S. L.; Williamson, T. E.; Wible, J. R.; Chester, S. G. B.; Flynn, J. J.; Holbrook, L. T.; Lyson, T. R.; Meng, J.; Miller, I. M.; Püschel, H. P.; Smith, T.; Spaulding, M.; Tseng, Z. J.; Brusatte, S. L. (2022). "Brawn before brains in placental mammals after the end-Cretaceous extinction". Science. 376 (6588): 80–85. Bibcode:2022Sci...376...80B. doi:10.1126/science.abl5584. hdl: 20.500.11820/d7fb8c6e-886e-4c1d-9977-0cd6406fda20 . PMID   35357913.

• Agustí, Jordi; Antón, Mauricio (2002). Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids: 65 Million Years of Mammalian Evolution in Europe. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN   0-231-11640-3.
• Gingerich, Philip D. (December 1982). "Aaptoryctes (Palaeoryctidae) and Thelysia (Palaeoryctidae?); New Insectivorous Mammals from the Late Paleocene and Early Eocene of Western North America" (PDF). Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology. 26 (3). University of Michigan: 37–47.

External links

• "Family: Palaeoryctidae: Occurrence overview". GDIF . Retrieved 17 January 2010.
• "†Palaeoryctidae". Mikko's Phylogeny Archive. Retrieved 17 January 2010.