Viverravidae

Viverravidae
Temporal range: 66.043–33.9 Ma early Paleocene - late Eocene
skull of Viverravus minutus
skull of Didymictis protenus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Pan-Carnivora
Clade: Carnivoramorpha
Superfamily: Viverravoidea
Wortman & Matthew, 1899
Family: Viverravidae
Wortman & Matthew, 1899[1]
Type genus
Viverravus
Marsh, 1872
Genera
Synonyms
synonyms of family:
  • Didymictida (Kretzoi, 1945)[2]
  • Didymictidae (Flynn & Galiano, 1982)[3]
  • Viverravidea
  • Viverravinae (Matthew, 1909)[4]

Viverravidae ("ancestors of viverrids") is an extinct monophyletic family of mammals from extinct superfamily Viverravoidea within the clade Carnivoramorpha, that lived from the early Palaeocene to the late Eocene in North America, Europe and Asia.[5][6][7] They were once thought to be the earliest carnivorans and ancestral to extant ones, but now are placed outside the order Carnivora based on cranial morphology as relatives (a plesion-group) to extant carnivorans.[8][9]

General characteristics

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Wang and Tedford propose that they arose in North America 66–60 million years ago, spread to Asia then later to Europe, and were the first carnivoramorphans and possessed the first true pair of carnassial teeth.[10] In viverravids, the skull is elongated and the number of molars is reduced to two (M1/m1 and M2/m2 are present and M3/m3 are absent).

Classification and phylogeny

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Classification

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Taxonomy retrieved from the Paleobiology Database[11]

Superfamily: †Viverravoidea (Wortman & Matthew, 1899)
Family: †Viverravidae (Wortman & Matthew, 1899)
  • Genus: †Orientictis (Huang & Zheng, 2005)
    • Orientictis spanios (Huang & Zheng, 2005)
  • Genus: †Pappictidops (Qiu & Li, 1977)
    • Pappictidops acies (Wang, 1978)
    • Pappictidops obtusus (Wang, 1978)
    • Pappictidops orientalis (Qiu & Li, 1977)
  • Genus: †Preonictis (Tong & Wang, 2006)
    • Preonictis youngi (Tong & Wang, 2006)
  • Genus: †Variviverra (Tong & Wang, 2006)
    • Variviverra vegetatus (Tong & Wang, 2006)
  • Incertae sedis:
  • Subfamily: †Didymictinae (Flynn & Galiano, 1982)
    • Genus: †Bryanictis (MacIntyre, 1966)
      • Bryanictis microlestes (Simpson, 1935)
      • Bryanictis paulus (Meehan & Wilson, 2002)
      • Bryanictis terlinguae (Standhardt, 1986)
    • Genus: †Didymictis (Cope, 1875)
      • Didymictis altidens (Cope, 1880)
      • Didymictis dellensis (Dorr, 1952)
      • Didymictis leptomylus (Cope, 1880)
      • Didymictis protenus (Cope, 1874)
      • Didymictis proteus (Polly, 1997)
      • Didymictis vancleveae (Robinson, 1966)
      • Didymictis sp. [Erquelinnes, Hainaut, Belgium] (Dollo, 1909)
    • Genus: †Intyrictis (Gingerich & Winkler, 1985)
      • Intyrictis vanvaleni (MacIntyre, 1966)
    • Genus: †Pristinictis (Fox & Youzwyshyn, 1994)
      • Pristinictis connata (Fox & Youzwyshyn, 1994)
    • Genus: †Protictis (paraphyletic genus) (Matthew, 1937)
      • Protictis agastor (Gingerich & Winkler, 1985)
      • Protictis haydenianus (Cope, 1882)
      • Protictis minor (Meehan & Wilson, 2002)
      • Protictis paralus (Holtzman, 1978)
      • Protictis simpsoni (Meehan & Wilson, 2002)
      • Subgenus: †Protictoides (Flynn & Galiano, 1982)
        • Protictis aprophatos (Flynn & Galiano, 1982)
    • Genus: †Raphictis (Gingerich & Winkler, 1985)
      • Raphictis gausion (Gingerich & Winkler, 1985)
      • Raphictis iota (Scott, 2008)
      • Raphictis machaera (Rankin, 2009)
      • Raphictis nanoptexis (Rankin, 2009)
    • Incertae sedis:
  • Subfamily: †Ictidopappinae (Van Valen, 1969)
    • Genus: †Ictidopappus (Simpson, 1935)
      • Ictidopappus mustelinus (Simpson, 1935)
  • Subfamily: †Viverravinae (Wortman & Matthew, 1899)
    • Genus: †Simpsonictis (MacIntyre, 1962)
      • Simpsonictis jaynanneae (Rigby, 1980)
      • Simpsonictis pegus (Gingerich & Winkler, 1985)
      • Simpsonictis tenuis (Simpson, 1935)
    • Genus: †Viverravus (Marsh, 1872)
      • Viverravus acutus (Matthew & Granger, 1915)
      • Viverravus gracilis (Marsh, 1872)
      • Viverravus lawsoni (Hooker, 2010)
      • Viverravus laytoni (Gingerich & Winkler, 1985)
      • Viverravus lutosus (Gazin, 1952)
      • Viverravus minutus (Wortman, 1901)
      • Viverravus politus (Matthew & Granger, 1915)
      • Viverravus rosei (Polly, 1997)
      • Viverravus sicarius (Matthew, 1909)
      • Viverravus sp. [V11141] (Meng, 1998)
      • Viverravus sp. [Locality Group 2, Washakie Basin, Wyoming] (Tomiya, 2021)
    • Genus: †Viverriscus (Beard & Dawson, 2009)
      • Viverriscus omnivorus (Beard & Dawson, 2009)

Phylogeny

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The phylogenetic relationships of family Viverravidae are shown in the following cladogram:[3][12][13][14][15]

 Carnivoramorpha 

Carnivoraformes

 ? 

Carnivoramorpha sp. (UALVP 31176)

 ? 

Carnivoramorpha sp. (USNM 538395)

 ? 

"Sinopa" insectivorus

 †Viverravidae 
 ? 

Ravenictis

 ? 

Carnivoramorpha sp. (UALVP 50993 & UALVP 50994)

 †Viverravoidea 
 †Viverravidae 
 †Pappictidops 

Pappictidops acies

Pappictidops obtusus

Pappictidops orientalis

 †Orientictis 

Orientictis spanios

 †Preonictis 

Preonictis youngi

 †Variviverra 

Variviverra vegetatus

 †Ictidopappinae 
 †Ictidopappus 

Ictidopappus mustelinus

 †Viverravinae 
 †Viverravus 

Viverravus minutus

Viverravus sicarius

Viverravus sp. (Locality Group 2, Washakie Basin, Wyoming)

Viverravus gracilis

Viverravus lutosus

Viverravus acutus

Viverravus rosei

Viverravus laytoni

 ? 

Viverravus sp. (V11141)

Viverravus lawsoni

Viverravus politus

 †Viverriscus 

Viverriscus omnivorus

 †Simpsonictis 

Simpsonictis jaynanneae

Simpsonictis pegus

Simpsonictis tenuis

 ? 

Viverravidae sp. (CM 71188 & CM 71189)

 †Didymictinae 
 †Bryanictis 

Bryanictis microlestes

Bryanictis paulus

Bryanictis terlinguae

 †Intyrictis 

Intyrictis vanvaleni

 †Protictis 

 †Protictis haydenianus 

 †Protictis minor 

 †Protictis simpsoni 

 †Raphictis 

Raphictis gausion

Raphictis iota

Raphictis machaera

Raphictis nanoptexis

 †Protictis paralus 

 †Protictis agastor 

 †(Protictoides

 †Protictis aprophatos 

 †Pristinictis 

Pristinictis connata

 ? 

"Deltatherium" durini

 †Didymictis 

Didymictis dellensis

Didymictis proteus

 ? 

Didymictis sp. (Erquelinnes, Hainaut, Belgium)

Didymictis altidens

Didymictis leptomylus

Didymictis protenus

Didymictis vancleveae

 sensu stricto 
 sensu lato 

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Wortman, J. L.; Matthew, W. D. (1899). "The ancestry of certain members of the Canidae, Viverridae, and Procyonidae". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 12: 109–138. hdl:2246/1535. OCLC 46687698.
  2. ^ Miklos Kretzoi (1945) "Bemerkungen über das Raubtiersystem." Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici, Budapest, vol. 38, pp. 59–83.
  3. ^ a b 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
  4. ^ W. D. Matthew (1909) "The Carnivora and Insectivora of the Bridger Basin, middle Eocene." Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History 9:289-567
  5. ^ "†family Viverravidae (Wortman & Matthew, 1899) (placental)". Fossilworks. Gateway to the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  6. ^ Malcolm C. McKenna, Susan K. Bell: Classification of Mammals: Above the Species Level in Columbia University Press, New York (1997), 631 Seiten. Viverravidae
  7. ^ Zack, Shawn P. (2012). "Deciduous dentition of Didymictis (Carnivoramorpha: Viverravidae): implications for the first appearance of "Creodonta"". Journal of Mammalogy. 93 (3): 808–817. doi:10.1644/11-MAMM-A-245.1. ISSN 0022-2372.
  8. ^ Wesley-Hunt, G. D.; Flynn, J. J. (2005). "Phylogeny of the Carnivora: basal relationships among the carnivoramorphans, and assessment of the position of 'Miacoidea' relative to Carnivora". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 3: 1–28. doi:10.1017/S1477201904001518. S2CID 86755875.
  9. ^ Polly, David, Gina D. Wesley-Hunt, Ronald E. Heinrich, Graham Davis and Peter Houde (2006). "Earliest known carnivoran auditory bulla and support for a recent origin of crown-clade carnivora (Eutheria, Mammalia)" (PDF). Palaeontology. 49 (5): 1019–1027. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2006.00586.x.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Wang, Xiaoming; Tedford, Richard H. (2008.) "Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History." New York: Columbia University Press
  11. ^ Paleobiology Database. Retrieved with Fossilworks (March 3, 2017)
  12. ^ 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
  13. ^ P. D. Polly. (1997.) "Ancestry and Species Definition in Paleontology: A Stratocladistic Analysis of Paleocene-Eocene Viverravidae (Mammalia, Carnivora) from Wyoming." Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan 30(1):1-53
  14. ^ Solé, Floréal; Smith, Thierry; De Bast, Eric; Codrea, Vlad; Gheerbrant, Emmanuel (2016). "New carnivoraforms from the latest Paleocene of Europe and their bearing on the origin and radiation of Carnivoraformes (Carnivoramorpha, Mammalia)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 36 (2): e1082480. doi:10.1080/02724634.2016.1082480. ISSN 0272-4634. S2CID 87537565.
  15. ^ S. Faurby, L. Werdelin, A. Antonelli (2019.) "Dispersal ability predicts evolutionary success among mammalian carnivores" Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 461, SE