Anthracobunidae Explained

Anthracobunidae is an extinct family of stem perissodactyls that lived in the early to middle Eocene period. They were originally considered to be a paraphyletic family of primitive proboscideans^[1] possibly ancestral to the Moeritheriidae and the desmostylians. The family has also thought to be ancestral to the Sirenia.^[2] They superficially resemble the Moeritheriidae in both size and cheek tooth morphology, but lack their characteristic tusks. They were relatively small, ranging in size from 1 to 2 m in length. They are known only from fragmentary remains (mainly teeth) from Eocene deposits of the northwestern part of the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent. Recently excavated fossils with well-preserved jaws and teeth demonstrate that these animals were either perissodactyls^[3] or else part of a more primitive sister group to the perissodactyls.^[4] The anthracobunids were probably amphibious and lived in marshy environments. Analyses of stable isotopes and long bone geometry suggest most anthracobunids fed on terrestrial vegetation, but lived near water. The same cladistic analyses that prompted their new placement also imply that the semiaquatic marine desmostylians, another putative non-African afrotherian group, were closely related to the anthracobunids.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Book: Gheerbrant, E. D. Donming . P. Tassy. The Rise of Placental Mammals: Origins and Relationships of the Major Extant Clades. 2005. Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. 080188022X. 84–105. https://books.google.com/books?id=DhchVG_rbQ8C&pg=PA84. Kenneth D. Rose. J. David Archibald. Paenungulata (Sirenia, Proboscidea, Hyracoidea, and Relatives).
2. Wells . N.A. . Gingerich . P.D. . Philip D. Gingerich . Review of Eocene Anthracobunidae (Mammalia, Proboscidea) with a new genus and species, Jozaria palustris, from the Kuldana Formation of Kohat (Pakistan) . 1983 . Contrib. Mus. Pal. Univ. Michigan . 26 . 7 . 117–139 . 742731409.
3. Web site: Qiu . L. . Ancient "Oddball" Mammal Reshuffles Family Tree? . . 2014-10-08 . 2014-10-11 . 2014-10-11 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141011071917/http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2014/10/08/animals-science-paleontology-fossils-evolution-rhinoceroses-elephants/.
4. Rose . K.D. . Holbrook . L.T. . etal . 2019 . Anatomy, relationships, and paleobiology of Cambaytherium (Mammalia, Perissodactylamorpha, Anthracobunia) from the Lower Eocene of western India . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 39 . sup1 . 1–147 . 10.1080/02724634.2020.1761370. 2019JVPal..39S...1R . 226263139 .