Anoplotherium
| Anoplotherium | ||||||||||||
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Skull of Anoplotherium commune |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Upper Eocene to Lower Oligocene | ||||||||||||
| 37 to 33 million years | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Anoplotherium | ||||||||||||
| G. Cuvier , 1804 | ||||||||||||
Anoplotherium is an extinct species of cloven-hoofed animals (Artiodactyla) extending from the upper Eozän to the Lowest Oligozän lived. It was first found in the gypsum quarries near Montmartre , Paris .
etymology
The term Anoplotherium is a neologism from the Greek and is composed of the prefix αν to (un, not) ὅπλον hoplon (military equipment, heavy weapons, heavy armor, heavily armed) and θήρ Ther (wild animal, monster) - ie unarmed animal , regarding missing tusks or tusks.
history
The first record of Anoplotherium was in the gypsum quarries from 1804 Butte Montmartre been made in Paris. It was scientifically described by Georges Cuvier in the same year . In 1825 Gray put the genus to the Rhinocerotina or Rhinocerotoidea (rhinos) and Robert Owen assigned it in 1848 to the subordination of the ruminants (Ruminantia). Alfred Sherwood Romer placed them under the callous soles in 1960 . Only Robert L. Carroll (1988) and again JJ Hooker assigned her as a separate family the Anoplotheriidae within the suborder Tylopoda (Schwielensohler). J. Sudre had already united the families Anoplotheriidae and the related Cainotheriidae in 1977 to form the superfamily Anoplotheroidea .
description
Anoplotherium was a primitive, selenodontic even-toed ungulate with four toes in the hind and five toes in the forefoot. The radius and ulna were not yet fused together and the metacarpal and metatarsal bones were still free to move. The eye socket was not completely closed at the back and the wart part of the temporal bone protruded to the side.
The continental ground-dwelling animal was a relatively large herbivore that stood up on its hind legs to reach its food. In this way, the animal could still reach leaves at a height of more than 2 meters, a quality in which no other mammal species living at the time resembled it. The bipedality of Anoplotherium can be recognized by its bone structure - the pelvis has expanded iliac bones and a long pubic symphysis , centrally curved shins that are shorter than the thigh bones and tail vertebrae that widen backwards . The muscles used to lift the forelegs had a large area of attachment above the shoulder blade and the tail was long and very muscular to balance the upper body. The front legs were quite short and the toes had no claws , but were hooped .
Species, synonyms, and family relationships
The only known species of Anoplotherium is Anoplotherium latipes . Synonyms are Anoplotherium platypus Pomel 1851 (nomen dubium) and Eurytherium Gervais 1852. The species Anoplotherium commune and Anoplotherium laurillardi are probably also identical to Anoplotherium latipes and show differences only due to sexual dimorphism .
Sister taxa are Dacrytherium elegans , Tapirulus schlosseri and Robiacina minuta .
Occurrence
Remains of Anoplotherium are restricted to Europe , they can be found in the following countries:
The only known site of anoplotherium in Germany is Frohnstetten on the Swabian Alb near Sigmaringen . The fossils were found in a paleogenic fissure filling in the Jurassic limestone .
In Switzerland, remains of anoplotherium were discovered in the Priabonian (Escamps horizon) of the Mormont near La Sarraz ( canton of Vaud ).
The finds in England focus on the Hampshire Basin , in particular on the Headon Hill Formation , Bembridge Limestone Formation and the Lower Hamstead member of the Bouldnor Formation of the Isle of Wight .
In France, in addition to the first find in the Paris Basin , finds were also made in the Aquitaine Basin , for example in the south of the Dordogne department near Eymet and in the phosphorites of the Quercy near Aubrelong and in Provence near Apt .
Timeframe
The discoveries made by Anoplotherium span the period from Priabonian to Lower Rupelian and are therefore between 37 and 33 million years old. The only previously known find from the Rupelian (Lower Oligocene) comes from the Ronzon level of the crevice-filling Quercy phosphorites.
The anoplotheria finds have so far been assigned to the land mammal zones MP17A , MP17B , MP20 and MP21 , ie they belong to the fauna zone of the headonian and suevian . The animals had survived the Grande Coupure , but then died out in the period that followed.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cuvier, G .: Memoire sur le squelette presque entier d'un petit quadrupede du genre des sarigues, trouvé dans la pierre a platre des environs de Paris . In: Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris . tape 5 , 1804, pp. 277-292 .
- ↑ Sudre, J .: Les artiodactyles de l'Eocene moyen et superieur d'Europe occidentale; systematique et evolution . In: Memoires et Travaux de l'Institut de Montpellier de l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes . tape 7 , 1978, p. 1-229 .
- ↑ Hooker, JJ: Bipedal browsing adaptations of the unusual Late Eocene-Early Oligocene tylopod Anoplotherium (Artiodactyla, Mammalia) . In: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society . 151, Issue, 2007, pp. 609-659 .
- ↑ B. Geze: Contribution a la connaissance of phosphorites du Quercy . In: Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France . tape 5 (8) , 1938, pp. 123-146 .
Web links
- JJ HOOKER: Bipedal browsing adaptations of the unusual Late Eocene-earliest Oligocene tylopod Anoplotherium (Artiodactyla, Mammalia). In: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 151, 2007, p. 609, doi : 10.1111 / j.1096-3642.2007.00352.x .