Titanohyrax

Last updated

Titanohyrax
Temporal range: Early Eocene–Early Oligocene
Titanohyrax teeth.jpg
Teeth
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Hyracoidea
Family: Titanohyracidae
Genus: Titanohyrax
Matsumoto  [ ja ], 1922 [1]
Type species
Titanohyrax andrewsi
Species
  • T. andrewsiMatsumoto, 1922
  • T. angustidensRasmussen and Simons, 1988
  • T. mongereauiSudre, 1979
  • T. tantalusCourt and Hartenberger, 1992
  • T. palaeotherioides(Schlosser, 1911)
  • T. ultimusMatsumoto 1922
Restoration TitanohyraxDB15.jpg
Restoration

Titanohyrax is an extinct genus of large to very large hyrax from the Eocene and Oligocene. Specimens have been discovered in modern-day Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Some species, like T. ultimus, are estimated to be as large as the modern rhinoceros. Titanohyrax species are still poorly known due to their rarity in the fossil record.

Contents

Titanohyrax is unusual among the numerous Paleogene hyracoids by its lophoselenodont teeth (having teeth that are lophodont and selenodont, fully molariform premolars, and relatively high-crowned cheek teeth. This suggests the genus had a folivorous diet. [2]

The genus was first described by in 1922 for the species T. ultimus from the early Oligocene of the Jebel Qatrani Formation, Fayum Depression, Egypt. [3] The author described it as an “extremely gigantic species, being the largest of all the hyracoids hitherto known” – estimates of body mass range from 600 kg (1,300 lb) to 1,300 kg (2,900 lb). [4] T. tantulus is the smallest Titanohyrax species known, with a body mass of around 23 kg (51 lb). [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

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

Moeritherium is an extinct genus of primitive proboscideans. These prehistoric mammals are related to the elephant and, more distantly, sea cows and hyraxes. They lived during the Eocene epoch.

<i>Aegyptopithecus</i> Extinct single-species genus of primate

Aegyptopithecus is an early fossil catarrhine that predates the divergence between hominoids (apes) and cercopithecids. It is known from a single species, Aegyptopithecus zeuxis, which lived around 38-29.5 million years ago in the early part of the Oligocene epoch. It likely resembled modern-day New World monkeys, and was about the same size as a modern howler monkey, which is about 56 to 92 cm long. Aegyptopithecus fossils have been found in the Jebel Qatrani Formation of modern-day Egypt. Aegyptopithecus is believed to be a stem-catarrhine, a crucial link between Eocene and Miocene fossils.

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

Arsinoitherium is an extinct genus of paenungulate mammals belonging to the extinct order Embrithopoda. It is related to elephants, sirenians, and hyraxes. Arsinoitheres were superficially rhinoceros-like herbivores that lived during the Late Eocene and the Early Oligocene of North Africa from 36 to 30 million years ago, in areas of tropical rainforest and at the margin of mangrove swamps. A species described in 2004, A. giganteum, lived in Ethiopia about 27 million years ago.

<i>Paraceratherium</i> Extinct genus of hornless rhinocerotoids from Eurasia

Paraceratherium is an extinct genus of hornless rhinocerotoids belonging to the family Paraceratheriidae. It is one of the largest terrestrial mammals that has ever existed and lived from the early to late Oligocene epoch. The first fossils were discovered in what is now Pakistan, and remains have been found across Eurasia between China and the Balkans. Paraceratherium means "near the hornless beast", in reference to Aceratherium, the genus in which the type species P. bugtiense was originally placed.

<i>Dorudon</i> Genus of ancient whales

Dorudon ("spear-tooth") is a genus of extinct basilosaurid ancient whales that lived alongside Basilosaurus 40.4 to 33.9 million years ago in the Eocene. It was a small whale, with D. atrox measuring 5 metres (16 ft) long and weighing 1–2.2 metric tons. Dorudon lived in warm seas around the world and fed on small fish and mollusks. Fossils have been found along the former shorelines of the Tethys Sea in present-day Egypt and Pakistan, as well as in the United States, New Zealand and Western Sahara.

<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>Hyaenodon</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Hyaenodon ("hyena-tooth") is an extinct genus of carnivorous placental mammals from extinct tribe Hyaenodontini within extinct subfamily Hyaenodontinae, that lived in Eurasia and North America from the middle Eocene, throughout the Oligocene, to the early Miocene.

<i>Barytherium</i> Extinct genus of proboscid

Barytherium is a genus of an extinct family (Barytheriidae) of primitive proboscideans that lived during the late Eocene and early Oligocene in North Africa. The type species is Barytherium grave, found at the beginning of the 20th century in Fayum, Egypt. Since then, more complete specimens have been found at Dor el Talha, Libya. More fossils were also discovered in 2011 in the Aidum area in Dhofar by Oman's Ministry of Heritage and Culture, which was named Barytherium omansi.

<i>Hoplophoneus</i> Extinct genus of carnivores

Hoplophoneus is an extinct genus of the family Nimravidae, endemic to North America during the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene epochs, existing for approximately 6 million years.

Witwatia is an extinct genus of giant bat that contained two species which lived in the Al Fayyum in Egypt during the late Eocene and one species which lived in Tunisia during the early Eocene. It is known from a lower jaw and teeth. Three species have been named: the type species W. schlosseri, W. eremicus and W. sigei.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jebel Qatrani Formation</span> Geologic formation in Egypt

The Jebel Qatrani Formation is a geologic formation located in the Faiyum Governorate of central Egypt. It is exposed between the Jebel Qatrani escarpment and the Qasr el Sagha escarpment, north of Birket Qarun lake near Faiyum. The formation conformably overlies the Qasr el Sagha Formation and is topped by the Widan el Faras Basalt. The age of the formation has been subject to debate, but the most recent research indicates that it covers both the latest parts of the Eocene and the Early Oligocene, spanning over the boundary between these two time periods.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyrax</span> Small, herbivorous mammals in the order Hyracoidea

Hyraxes, also called dassies, are small, thickset, herbivorous mammals in the order Hyracoidea. Hyraxes are well-furred, rotund animals with short tails. Modern hyraxes are typically between 30 and 70 cm long and weigh between 2 and 5 kg. They are superficially similar to pikas and marmots, but are more closely related to elephants and sea cows.

<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.

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

Megalohyrax is an extinct hyrax-grouped genus of herbivorous mammal that lived during the Miocene, Oligocene, and Eocene, about 55-11 million years ago. Its fossils have been found in Africa and in Asia Minor.

Antilohyrax was a genus of herbivorous mammal belonging to the order Hyracoidea. Fossils were found in 1983 in Egypt, 46 m above the bottom of the Jebel Qatrani Formation. The species Antilohyrax pectidens had an approximate weight of 33–35 kg. It had features not seen in other hyraxes, including a "broad hyper-pectinate comb-like first incisor" on its lower jaw, selenodont molars and a rostrum similar to that seen in even-toed ungulates.

Propliopithecoidea is a superfamily of catarrhine primates that inhabited Africa and the Arabian Peninsula during the Early Oligocene about 32 to 29 million years ago. Fossils have been found in Egypt, Oman and Angola. They are one of the earliest known families of catarrhines.

Phiomicetus is a genus of protocetid whale that lived between 43 and 42 million years ago during the Lutetian period in what is now Egypt. It had powerful jaws and large teeth that would have allowed it to hunt and tear large prey.

Sparnotheriodon is an extinct genus of sparnotheriodontid litoptern that lived during the Middle Eocene of what is now Argentina, leaving fossils in the Sarmiento Formation.

<i>Mixtotherium</i> Extinct genus of endemic Palaeogene European artiodactyls

Mixtotherium is an extinct genus of Palaeogene artiodactyls belonging to the monotypic family Mixtotheriidae. Known informally as mixtotheriids or mixtotheres, these artiodactyls were endemic to western Europe and occurred from the middle to late Eocene. The genus and type species were both first established by the French naturalist Henri Filhol in 1880. Several species are well known by good skull fossils, which were informative enough to allow for classifications of the species to their own family. The Mixtotheriidae, first recognized by Helga Sharpe Pearson in 1927, is currently known by 7 valid species, although M. priscum is thought by several authors to be synonymous with M. gresslyi. The affinities of the Mixtotheriidae in relation to other artiodactyl families is uncertain, but it is currently thought to have been related to the Cainotherioidea and Anoplotheriidae.

References

  1. Matsumoto, H., 1922. Megalohyrax, Andrews and Titanohyrax, gen. nov. A revision of the genera of hyracoids from the Fayum, Egypt. Proceedings of the Zoological Society 1921, 839-850
  2. Rasmussen, D. T., 1989. The evolution of the Hyracoidea: a review of the fossil evidence. In: Prothero, D.R., Schoch, R.M. (Eds.), The Evolution of Perissodactyls. Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 57-78.
  3. Court, N.; Hartenberger, J. (1992). "A new Species of the Hyracoid Mammal Titanohyrax from the Eocene of Tunisia" (PDF). Palaeontology. 35 (2): 309–317.
  4. 1 2 Rodolphe Tabuce (2016). "A mandible of the hyracoid mammal Titanohyrax andrewsi in the collections of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris (France) with a reassessment of the species". Palaeovertebrata. 40 (1): e4. doi:10.18563/pv.40.1.e4.

Sources