Hilalia Explained

Hilalia is an extinct genus of condylarth that lived during the Eocene. Fossils of Hilalia have been found at Uzunçarsidere Formation in Turkey.^[1] It was the last surviving genus of Pleuraspidotheriids, which were previously thought to have gone extinct during the Late Palaeocene.^[2]

Taxonomy

Four species have been described, differing from each other primarily by size and premolar morphology.

Species

• Hilalia robusta
• Hilalia saribeya
• Hilalia selanneae
• Hilalia sezerorum

Paleoecology

During the Eocene, Turkey is believed to have been an island ecosystem, harboring many taxa that had gone extinct on mainland areas earlier.^[3]

Living alongside Hilalia were embrithopods and various metatherians, such as the predatory Anatoliadelphys.^{[4] [5]}

Notes and References

1. Maas . M.C. . Enigmatic New Ungulates from the Early Middle Eocene of Central Anatolia, Turkey . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 2001 . 21 . 3 . 578–590 . 10.1671/0272-4634(2001)021[0578:ENUFTE]2.0.CO;2 . 20061987 .
2. Métais . G. . Tarsal morphology of the pleuraspidotheriid mammal Hilalia from the middle Eocene of Turkey . Acta Palaeontologica Polonica . 2017 . 62 . 1 . 173–179 . 10.4202/app.00314.2016. 1808/25201 . free .
3. Métais . G. . Eocene metatherians from Anatolia illuminate the assembly of an island fauna during Deep Time . PLOS ONE . 2018 . 14 . 2 . e0212985 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0212985. 30794714 . 6386525 . free .
4. A. Murat Maga; Robin M. D. Beck (2017). "Skeleton of an unusual, cat-sized marsupial relative (Metatheria: Marsupialiformes) from the middle Eocene (Lutetian: 44-43 million years ago) of Turkey". PLoS ONE. 12 (8): e0181712. .
5. Web site: de Lazaro . Enrico . Cat-Sized Marsupial Relative Lived in Turkey 43 Million Years Ago . Sci-news . Aug 18, 2017.