Quercygale Explained

Quercygale ("weasel from Quercy") is an extinct genus of placental mammals from extinct family Quercygalidae within clade Carnivoraformes, that lived in Europe during the early to late Eocene.^{[1] [2]} Phylogenetic analysis of the basicranial morphology of carnivoramorphans suggests Quercygale is the most advanced member of clade Carnivoraformes as a sister taxon to crown group Carnivora, predating the split between Feliformia and Caniformia,^{[3] [4]} although another recent study has proposed genus Quercygale should be placed as a stem group within Feliformia.^[5]

Taxonomy

Family: †Quercygalidae ----Genus: †Quercygale

Species:	Distribution of the species and type locality:	Age:
†Q. angustidens ^[6]	(Quercy Phosphorites and Sables Du Castrais)	40.0–37.5 Ma
†Q. hastingsae ^[7]	(Headon Bedes)	37.8–37.5 Ma
†Q. helvetica ^[8]		47.8–41.2 Ma
†Q. smithi ^[9]	(Mutigny and Mancy)	55.2–47.8 Ma
†Q. sp. [''MNNA 9010''] ^[10]	(Basque Country)	37.0–35.0 Ma

Notes and References

1. Book: McKenna . Malcolm C. . Bell . Susan K. . Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level . 1997 . Columbia University Press . New York . 978-0-231-11012-9.
2. Web site: Quercygale . www.paleodb.org . 11 March 2017.
3. Wesley-Hunt . G. D. . Werdelin . L. . 2005 . Basicranial morphology and phylogenetic position of the upper Eocene carnivoramorphan Quercygale . Acta Palaeontologica Polonica . 50 . 4 . 837–846.
4. Flink . T. . Werdelin . L. . 2022 . Digital endocasts from two late Eocene carnivores shed light on the evolution of the brain at the origin of Carnivora . Papers in Palaeontology . 8 . 2 . e1422 . 10.1002/spp2.1422 . 247465166. free . 2022PPal....8E1422F .
5. Tomiya . Susumu . Tseng . Zhijie Jack . Whence the beardogs? Reappraisal of the Middle to Late Eocene 'Miacis' from Texas, USA, and the origin of Amphicyonidae (Mammalia, Carnivora) . Royal Society Open Science . 3 . 10 . 2016 . 160518 . 2054-5703 . 10.1098/rsos.160518 . 27853569 . 2016RSOS....360518T. 5098994.
6. Filhol . H . 1872 . Recherches sur les mammifères fossiles des dépots de phosphate de chaux dans les départements du Lot, du Tarn et de Tarn−et− Garonne . Annales des Sciences Géologiques . 3 . 1–31.
7. Davies . W. . 1884 . Notes on some new carnivores from the British Eocene formations . Geological Magazine NS, Decade III . 1 . 10 . 10.1017/s0016756800185802 . 1884GeoM....1..433D . 433–438. 131595417 .
8. Rütimeyer, L. (1862.) "Eocaene Säugetiere aus dem Gebiet des Schweizerischen Jura." Neue Denkschriften der allgemeinen Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für die gesammten Naturwissenschaften, 19, 1–98.
9. Solé . Floréal . 2014 . New carnivoraforms from the early Eocene of Europe and their bearing on the evolution of the Carnivoraformes . Palaeontology . en . 57 . 5 . 10.1111/pala.12097 . 1475-4983 . 963–978. 2014Palgy..57..963S . 129314381 .
10. H. Astibia, A. Aranburu, X. Pereda Suberbiola, X. Murelaga, C. Sesé, M. A. Cuesta, S. Moyà-Solà, J. E. Baceta, A. Badiola and M. Köhler (2000.) "Un nouveau site à vertébrés continentaux de l'Éocène supérieur de Zambrana (Bassin de Maranda-Treviño, Alava, Pays basque)." Géobios 32(2):233-248