Ictitherium Explained

Ictitherium (meaning "weasel beast") is an extinct genus belonging to the family Hyaenidae and the subfamily Ictitheriinae erected by Trouessart in 1897. Ictitherium species were endemic to Eurasia and Africa during the Middle Miocene through the Early Pliocene (12.7—5.3 mya) and existed approximately .[1]

Description

Ictitherium were around 1.2m (03.9feet) long, and looked more like civets than modern hyenas, possessing a long body with short legs and a possibly short tail. It is speculated that I. viverrinum was an opportunistic feeder,[2] and that it ate plants as well as medium-small mammals and birds.[3] Ictitherium was a very successful and abundant genus, with multiple fossils often being found at a single site.[4] Possibly, this early hyena genus lived in packs and had a social order, much like its modern descendants.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Paleobiology Database: Ictitherium basic info. . 2009-08-05 . 2012-10-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121013060525/http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=checkTaxonInfo&taxon_no=104841&is_real_user=1 . live .
  2. Rivals . Florent . Belyaev . Ruslan I. . Basova . Vera B. . Prilepskaya . Natalya E. . 15 May 2024 . A tale from the Neogene savanna: Paleoecology of the hipparion fauna in the northern Black Sea region during the late Miocene . . en . 642 . 112133 . 10.1016/j.palaeo.2024.112133 . 30 August 2024 . Elsevier Science Direct . free.
  3. Web site: 14 Feb 2021. Carnivoran Dietary Adaptations: A Multiproxy Study on the Feeding Ecology of the Fossil Carnivorans of Greece.
  4. Book: Palmer, D.. 1999 . The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. Marshall Editions. London. 221. 1-84028-152-9.

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