Protictis

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Protictis
Temporal range: 63.8–39.7  Ma
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
early Paleocene to middle Eocene
Protictis haydenianus.jpg
lower jaw of Protictis haydenianus
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Superfamily: Viverravoidea
Family: Viverravidae
Subfamily: Didymictinae
Genus: Protictis
Matthew, 1937 [1]
Type species
Protictis haydenianus
Cope, 1882
Species
Synonyms
synonyms of species:
  • P. aprophatos:
    • Protictoides aprophatos(Flynn & Galiano, 1982)
  • P. haydenianus:
    • Didymictis haydenianus(Cope, 1882)
    • Didymictis primus(Cope, 1884) [2]
    • Prolimnocyon macfaddeni(Rigby, 1980) [3]
    • Viverravus haydenianus

Protictis ("first weasel") 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. [4] [5]

Contents

Etymology

The name of genus Protictis comes from Ancient Greek πρῶτος- (prôtos-) 'first' and Latin ictis.

Description

Protictis was a mongoose-like animal that was lightly built. [6] The species had variable sizes. Parts of the skeleton of P. haydenianus are known and this species was about 75 cm long, comparable to the related Didymictis and the modern day Asian civets. [7] The skull of P. simpsoni shows that this species was larger than P. haydenianus. P. minor on the other hand was smaller than P. haydenianus. The morphology of the limb bones of P haydenianus points at a scansorial lifestyle. Protictis had two times as many teeth as modern carnivores. The characteristic carnassials of carnivores were already clearly developed in Protictis, but the long and pointy teeth show that insects were still a major component of this diet. Endocasts of the skull shows that both vision and hearing were important senses, but the position of the eye sockets shows that threedimensional vision was not as well developed as in modern carnivores. [8]

Classification and phylogeny

History of classification

Fossils of Protictis are found in the United States and Canada and date mainly from the early to late Paleocene. The holotype of first discovered species (a part of the upper and lowe jaw) were described in 1882 by Edward Drinker Cope based on finds in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico and classified as Didymictis haydenianus. William Diller Matthew described Protictis as a subgenus of Didymictis in 1937 and in 1966 MacIntyre classified it as a separate genus.

Taxonomy

Genus: †Protictis(paraphyletic genus)(Matthew, 1937)
Subgenus:Species:Distribution of the species and type locality:Age:
P. agastor(Gingerich & Winkler, 1985) [9] Flag of the United States.svg  USA (Cedar Point Quarry in Wyoming)60.9 - 56.2 Ma
P. haydenianus(Cope, 1882) [10] Flag of the United States.svg  USA 63.8 - 56.2 Ma
P. minor(Meehan & Wilson, 2002) [13] Flag of the United States.svg  USA (New Mexico)63.8 - 60.9 Ma
P. paralus(Holtzman, 1978) [14] Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada (Alberta and Saskatchewan)
Flag of the United States.svg  USA
60.9 - 56.2 Ma
P. simpsoni(Meehan & Wilson, 2002) [13] Flag of the United States.svg  USA (New Mexico)63.8 - 60.9 Ma
Protictoides
(Flynn & Galiano, 1982)
P. aprophatos(Flynn & Galiano, 1982) [15] Flag of the United States.svg  USA (Wyoming)46.2 - 39.7 Ma

Related Research Articles

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<i>Arctocyon</i>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carnivoramorpha</span> Clade of carnivores

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesonychidae</span> Extinct family of mammals

Mesonychidae is an extinct family of small to large-sized omnivorous-carnivorous mammals. They were endemic to North America and Eurasia during the Early Paleocene to the Early Oligocene, and were the earliest group of large carnivorous mammals in Asia. They are not closely related to any living mammals. Mesonychid taxonomy has long been disputed and they have captured popular imagination as "wolves on hooves," animals that combine features of both ungulates and carnivores. Skulls and teeth have similar features to early whales, and the family was long thought to be the ancestors of cetaceans. Recent fossil discoveries have overturned this idea; the consensus is that whales are highly derived artiodactyls. Some researchers now consider the family a sister group either to whales or to artiodactyls, close relatives rather than direct ancestors. Other studies define Mesonychia as basal to all ungulates, occupying a position between Perissodactyla and Ferae. In this case, the resemblances to early whales would be due to convergent evolution among ungulate-like herbivores that developed adaptations related to hunting or eating meat.

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

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tillodontia</span> Extinct suborder of mammals

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

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Didymictinae</span> Extinct subfamily of carnivores

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References

  1. W. D. Matthew (1937) "Paleocene faunas of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico." Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 30:1-510
  2. E. D. Cope (1884) "Second addition to the knowledge of the Puerco Epoch." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 21(114):309-324
  3. J. K. Rigby, Jr. (1980) "Swain Quarry of the Fort Union Formation, Middle Paleocene (Torrejonian), Carbon County, Wyoming: geologic setting and mammalian fauna." Evolutionary Monographs 3:1-178
  4. 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.
  5. J. J. Flynn (1998.) "Early Cenozoic Carnivora ("Miacoidea")." In C. M. Janis, K. M. Scott, and L. L. Jacobs (eds.) "Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America. Volume 1: Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates, and Ungulatelike Mammals." Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN   0-521-35519-2
  6. L. B. Halstead (1978.) "The Evolution of the Mammals." P. Lowe, Cornell University, 116 p.
  7. R. E. Heinrich & P. Houde (2006) "Postcranial anatomy of Viverravus (Mammalia, Carnivora) and implications for substrate use in basal Carnivora." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 26:2, 422-435
  8. Carnivores, creodonts and carnivorous ungulates: Mammals become predators
  9. P. D. Gingerich and D. A. Winkler. (1985.) "Systematics of Paleocene Viverravidae (Mammalia, Carnivora) in the Bighorn Basin and Clark's Fork Basin, Wyoming." Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan 27(4):87-128
  10. E. D. Cope (1882) "Synopsis of the Vertebrata of the Puerco Eocene epoch - Supplement on a new Meniscotherium from the Wasatch epoch." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 20:461-471
  11. T. E. Williamson and S. G. Lucas (1993) "Paleocene vertebrate paleontology of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico." New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletin 2:105-136
  12. T. E. Williamson (1996) "The beginning of the age of mammals in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico; biostratigraphy and evolution of Paleocene mammals of the Nacimiento Formation." New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 8:1-141
  13. 1 2 T. J. Meehan and R. W. Wilson (2002) "New viverravids from the Torrejonian (Middle Paleocene) of Kutz Canyon, New Mexico and the oldest skull of the order Carnivora." Journal of Paleontology 76(6):1091-1101
  14. R. C. Holtzman (1978) "Late Paleocene Mammals of the Tongue River Formation, Western North Dakota." North Dakota Geological Survey Report of Investigations 65:1-88
  15. J. J. Flynn and H. Galiano. (1982.) "Phylogeny of Early Tertiary Carnivora, With a Description of a New Species of Protictis From the Middle Eocene of Northwestern Wyoming" American Museum Novitates 2725:1-64