Harpagolestes
| Harpagolestes Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Skull of H. immanis | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | †Mesonychia |
| Family: | †Mesonychidae |
| Genus: | †Harpagolestes Wortman, 1901 |
| Species[1] | |
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Harpagolestes ("hooked thief") is an extinct genus of hyena like, bear sized mesonychid mesonychian that lived in Central and Eastern Asia and western and central North America during the middle to late Eocene. It has been suggested that Harpagolestes is a wastebasket genus for fragmentary Eocene mesonychids.[2]
Description
[edit]
Harpagolestes was a large animal, with a skull length of a half a meter in some species.[3] Fossil specimens have been recovered in the United States, Canada, Mongolia, China, and controversially North Korea.[1] Harpagolestes exhibits strong, curved canine teeth, a deep lower jaw, massive skull, and heavy wear on the molars. This along with stout limb bones suggest that Harpagolestes was a scavenger and did not pursue its prey. The wear on the molars suggests it regularly cracked bones.[3] The poorly known North Korean "H." koreanicus was named based on three isolated teeth, but other researchers found the teeth insufficient for a diagnosis and the holotype of this species is currently lost.[2][4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Selina V. Robson; Nicholas A. Famoso; Edward Byrd Davis; Samantha S.B. Hopkins (2019). "First mesonychid from the Clarno Formation (Eocene) of Oregon, USA". Palaeontologia Electronica. 22 (2): Article number 22.2.35. doi:10.26879/856.
- ^ a b Szalay, F.S.; Gould, S.J. (1966). "Asiatic Mesonychidae (Mammalia, Condylarthra)". Bulletin of the AMNH. 132 (2): 127–174.
- ^ a b N. N. Kramarenko (1974). Зоогеография палеогена Азии (Zoogeography of Paleogene of Asia). Publishing office "Nauka". p. 113. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
- ^ Tomiya, Susumu; Zack, Shawn P.; Spaulding, Michelle; Flynn, John J. (March 2021). "Carnivorous mammals from the middle Eocene Washakie Formation, Wyoming, USA, and their diversity trajectory in a post-warming world". Journal of Paleontology. 95 (S82): 1–115. doi:10.1017/jpa.2020.74. hdl:2433/274918. ISSN 0022-3360. S2CID 232358160.
External links
[edit]- Harpagolestes – Palaeos Archived 2011-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
- Fossil data
- science
- Classification of Species
- Digital Library
- First mesonychid from Oregon
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| Triisodontidae |  | |
| Mesonychidae | ||
| Hapalodectidae | ||
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