Palaeoryctidae Explained

Palaeoryctidae ("ancient diggers") is an extinct family of non-specialized eutherian mammals from extinct order Palaeoryctida, that lived in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa from the late Cretaceous to middle Eocene.^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]}

Description

From a near-complete skull of the genus Palaeoryctes found in New Mexico, it is known that palaeoryctids were small, shrew-like insectivores with an elongated snout similar to that of the leptictids. However, in contrast to the latter, little is known about palaeoryctids' postcranial anatomy (the skeleton without the skull). A 2024 study found shared cranial details between palaeoryctids and leptictids, suggesting a possible close relationship, plesiomorphic retentions, or convergent acquisitions.^[6] Where the leptictids were short-lived, the palaeoryctids seem to have been ancestors of Eocene species. While their dental morphology still indicate a mostly insectivorous diet, it, to some extent, also relate to Eocene carnivores such as creodonts.

Taxonomy and phylogeny

History of phylogeny

The relationship between this archaic group and other insectivorous mammals is uncertain.^[7] Palaeoryctidae was originally assigned to the now-abandoned grouping Insectivora by Sloan and Van Valen (1965), then to clade Proteutheria,^[4] and more recently to Eutheria by Scott et al. (2002).^[8]

Generally speaking Palaeoryctidae has been used as a wastebasket taxon for many archaic insectivorous mammals.^[9]

According to a 2022 study by Bertrand et al., palaeoryctids are identified to be a basal group of placental mammals.^[10]

Taxonomy

• Order: †Palaeoryctida
  • Family: †Palaeoryctidae
    • Genus: †Aceroryctes
      • †Aceroryctes dulcis
    • Genus: †Lainoryctes
      • †Lainoryctes youzwyshyni
    • Genus: †Nuryctes
      • †Nuryctes alayensis
      • †Nuryctes gobiensis
      • †Nuryctes qinlingensis
    • Genus: †Pinoryctes
      • †Pinoryctes collector
    • Subfamily: †Palaeoryctinae^{(paraphyletic subfamily)}
      • Genus: †Aaptoryctes
        • †Aaptoryctes ivyi
      • Genus: †Eoryctes
        • †Eoryctes melanus
      • Genus: †Ottoryctes
        • †Ottoryctes winkleri
      • Genus: †Palaeoryctes^{(paraphyletic genus)}
        • †Palaeoryctes cruoris
        • †Palaeoryctes jepseni
        • †Palaeoryctes minimus
        • †Palaeoryctes puercensis
        • †Palaeoryctes punctatus

Phylogeny

References

• Book: Jordi . Agustí . Mauricio . Antón . Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids: 65 Million Years of Mammalian Evolution in Europe . Columbia University Press . New York . 2002 . 0-231-11640-3 . Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids: 65 Million Years of Mammalian Evolution in Europe.
• Gingerich . Philip D. . Aaptoryctes (Palaeoryctidae) and Thelysia (Palaeoryctidae?); New Insectivorous Mammals from the Late Paleocene and Early Eocene of Western North America . Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology . University of Michigan . December 1982 . 26 . 3 . 37–47 .

External links

• Web site: Family: Palaeoryctidae: Occurrence overview . . 17 January 2010.
• Web site: †Palaeoryctidae . Mikko's Phylogeny Archive . 17 January 2010.

Notes and References

1. Book: Mammals: An Outline of Theriology . 1976 . en.
2. C. . McKenna, Malcolm . Xiangxu. . Xue . Mingzhen. . Zhou . 1984 . Prosarcodon lonanensis, a new Paleocene micropternodontid palaeoryctoid insectivore from Asia. . American Museum novitates; no. 2780 . en-US . 2246/5265.
3. Book: McKenna . Malcolm C. . Bell . Susan K. . Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level . 16 March 2015 . 1997 . Columbia University Press . New York . 978-0-231-11012-9.
4. Gregg F. Gunnell, Thomas Bown, Jonathan Ivan Bloch, Doug M. Boyer (2008.) "Proteutheria"; pp. 63–81 in C. M. Janis, G. F. Gunnell, and M. Uhen (eds.), "Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America. Volume 2: Small Mammals, Xenarthrans, and Marine Mammals." Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.
5. Rankin . Brian D. . Holroyd . Patricia A. . October 2014 . Sues . Hans-Dieter . Aceroryctes dulcis, a new palaeoryctid (Mammalia, Eutheria) from the early Eocene of the Wasatch Formation of southwestern Wyoming, USA . Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences . en . 51 . 10 . 919–926 . 10.1139/cjes-2014-0101 . 0008-4077.
6. Wible . John R. . Bertrand . Ornella C. . 2024-07-08 . Basicranial Anatomy of Leptictis haydeni Leidy, 1868 (Mammalia, Eutheria, Leptictidae) . Annals of Carnegie Museum . 90 . 1 . 10.2992/007.090.0101 . 0097-4463.
7. Book: History, Carnegie Museum of Natural . Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History . 1995 . Carnegie Museum of Natural History. . en.
8. Web site: PBDB Taxon . 2024-07-10 . paleobiodb.org.
9. Book: Prothero, Donald R. . The Princeton Field Guide to Prehistoric Mammals . 2016-11-15 . Princeton University Press . 9781400884452 . 104 . en.
10. Bertrand . O. C. . Shelley . S. L. . Williamson . T. E. . Wible . J. R. . Chester . S. G. B. . Flynn . J. J. . Holbrook . L. T. . Lyson . T. R. . Meng . J. . Miller . I. M. . Püschel . H. P. . Smith . T. . Spaulding . M. . Tseng . Z. J. . Brusatte . S. L. . 2022 . Brawn before brains in placental mammals after the end-Cretaceous extinction . Science . 376 . 6588 . 80–85 . 10.1126/science.abl5584 . 2022Sci...376...80B . 20.500.11820/d7fb8c6e-886e-4c1d-9977-0cd6406fda20 . free.