Osmotherium Explained

Osmotherium is an extinct genus of skunk from Pleistocene North America. it contains a single species, Osmotherium spelaeum.^[1] The genus name, Osmotherium, hails from Aincient Greek, osmḗ, "smell"; and therium, "beast"; meaning smelly beast. The species name, spelaeum, Latin for "cave", in reference to the sole locality which its remains have been found in, Port Kennedy Bone Cave.

While fragmentary, Osmotherium spelaeum's jaws are the most prominent of any other Mephitid in the locality, with Cope himself describing 6 different specimens, although attributing some to Mephitis, Brachyprotoma and the now defunct Pelycictis.^{[2] [3] [4]}

While information on these fragmentary remains scarce, in 2005 Wang et al.'s description of Martinogale faulli, Osmotherium was recovered as a sister genus to Mephitis: ^[5]

Notes and References

1. Cope . E. D. . 1896 . New and Little Known Mammalia from the Port Kennedy Bone Deposit . Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia . 48 . 378-394.
2. Cope . E. D. . 1899 . Vertebrate remains from Port Kennedy bone deposits . Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia . 11 . 193-286.
3. Hall, E. R. (1936). Mustelid Mammals from the Pleistocene of North America: With Systematic Notes on Some Recent Members of the Gerera Mustela, Taxidea and Mephitis.
4. Daeschler, E., Spamer, E. E., & Parris, D. C. (1993). Review and new data on the Port Kennedy local fauna and flora (Late Irvingtonian), Valley Forge National Historical Park, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The Mosasaur, 5, 23–41.
5. Wang . Xiaoming . Whistler . David P. . Takeuchi . Gary T. . 2005-12-30 . A new basal skunk Martinogale (Carnivora, Mephitinae) from Late Miocene Dove Spring Formation, California, and origin of New World mephitines . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . en . 25 . 4 . 936–949 . 10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0936:ANBSMC]2.0.CO;2 . 0272-4634.