Enhydrictis Explained

Enhydrictis is a genus of extinct mustelid, belonging to the subfamily Galictinae. The type species, and best known, is Enhydrictis galictoides from the Pleistocene of Sardinia and Corsica. Some authors attribute species from mainland Eurasia to the genus, but this is disputed, with others considering the genus endemic to Sardinia-Corsica.

Taxonomy

The exact number of species of Enhydrictis has been a matter of debate.[1] One species of Pannonictis, Pannonictis pilgrimi, has been classified as a belonging to Enhydrictis (as Enhydrictis ardea), although this is unlikely.[2] [3] A 2019 study also suggests that the genus Oriensictis of Asia should be considered a synonym of Enhydrictis as well.[4] In 2016, a new species from Algeria was described. Known as Enhydrictis hoffstetteri, it is the first member of the genus known from Africa.[5] Other scholars have considered the attribution of this species to Enhydrictis doubtful, and that the species should be placed in Pannonictis instead. In 2018 a new species, Enhydrictis praegalictoides, was described from Middle Pleistocene aged sites on Sardinia; it is likely ancestral to E. galictoides. The Corsica-Sardinian species of Enhydrictis are thought to have evolved from a Pannonictis-like ancestor.

Enhydrictis and its relatives are classified as belonging to the subfamily Galictinae[6] and the tribe Galictini. While Galictini was widespread in Eurasia during the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene, the only extant members of the tribe, the grisons (Galictis) and the Patagonian weasel (Lyncodon), are endemic to Central and South America.[7]

Description

Enhydrictis galictoides was a fairly large, robust terrestrial mustelid.[8] When first described, it was considered to be an otter-like species adapted to an aquatic lifestyle, but studies on the limb bones do not support such claims.[9]

Paleoecology

Before the arrival of humans on the islands in about 8000 BC, during the Middle and Late Pleistocene, Corsica and Sardinia had their own highly endemic depauperate terrestrial mammal fauna which included a species of dwarf mammoth (Mammuthus lamarmorai), the Tyrrhenian vole (Microtus henseli), the Sardinian pika (Prolagus sardus), the Tyrrhenian field rat (Rhagamys orthodon) one or two species of shrew belonging to the genus Asoriculus, a mole (Talpa tyrrhenica), the Sardinian dhole (Cynotherium sardous), three species of otter (Algarolutra majori, Sardolutra ichnusae, Megalenhydris barbaricina) and a deer (Praemegaceros cazioti). All of these species are now extinct.[10]

Notes and References

  1. Rook . L. . Pannonictis nestii (Carnivora, Mammalia) from the late Villafranchian of Pietrafitta (Umbria, Italy). Preliminary note . January 1995.
  2. Book: Kurten . Bjorn . Pleistocene Mammals of Europe . 2007 . AldineTransaction . 9780202309538 . 97.
  3. Colombero . S. . Pavia . M. . Rook . L. . Pannonictis nestii (Galictinae, Mustelidae), a new element in the vertebrate association of the human site of Pirro Nord (Italy, Early Pleistocene) . Geodiversitas . September 2012 . 34 . 3 . 665–681 . 10.5252/g2012n3a11. 2318/126812 . 55597076 . free .
  4. Quigao . J. . Discovery of Enhydrictis (Mustelidae, Carnivora, Mammalia) cranium in Puwan, Dalian, Northeast China demonstrates repeated intracontinental migration during the Pleistocene . Quaternary International . April 2019 . 513 . 18–29 . 10.1016/j.quaint.2019.01.024. 2019QuInt.513...18J . 133825348 .
  5. Geraads . D. . Pleistocene Carnivora (Mammalia) from Tighennif (Ternifine), Algeria . Geobios . 2016 . 49 . 6 . 445–458 . 10.1016/j.geobios.2016.09.001. 2016Geobi..49..445G . 89558550 .
  6. Lucenti . S. . Revising the species "Mustela" ardea Gervais, 1848–1852 (Mammalia, Mustelidae): Martellictis gen. nov. and the systematics of the fossil "Galictinae" of Eurasia . Comptes Rendus Palevol . 2018 . 17 . 8 . 522–535 . 10.1016/j.crpv.2018.02.003. 2018CRPal..17..522B . free .
  7. Rook. Lorenzo. Bartolini Lucenti. Saverio. Tuveri. Caterinella. Arca. Marisa. October 2018. Mustelids (Carnivora, Mammalia) from Monte Tuttavista fissure fillings (Early and Middle Pleistocene; Orosei, Sardinia): Taxonomy and evolution of the insular Sardinian Galictini. Quaternary Science Reviews. en. 197. 209–223. 10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.08.022. 2018QSRv..197..209R . 134162908 .
  8. Book: van der Geer . Alexandra . Lyras . George . de Vos . John . Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands . 2011 . Wiley . 9781119675747 . 129.
  9. Bate . Dorothea M. A. . 17. Note on the Habits of Enhydrictis galictoides, with Description of some Limb-bones of this Mustelid from the Pleistocene of Sardinia . Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London . July 1935 . 105 . 2 . 241–245 . 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1935.tb06247.x.
  10. Valenzuela . Alejandro . Torres-Roig . Enric . Zoboli . Daniel . Pillola . Gian Luigi . Alcover . Josep Antoni . 2021-11-29 . Asynchronous ecological upheavals on the Western Mediterranean islands: New insights on the extinction of their autochthonous small mammals . The Holocene . 32 . 3 . 137–146 . 10.1177/09596836211060491 . 244763779 . 0959-6836.

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