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Origin and evolution of the P seudorhyncocyonidae, a E uropean P aleogene family of insectivorous placental mammals
Author(s) -
Hooker Jerry J.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
palaeontology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.69
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1475-4983
pISSN - 0031-0239
DOI - 10.1111/pala.12018
Subject(s) - clade , sister group , genus , biology , phylogenetic tree , cladistics , zoology , evolutionary biology , gene , genetics
Abstract Two new species of pseudorhyncocyonid, F ordonia lawsoni sp. nov. and L eptictidium prouti sp. nov. from the UK earliest E ocene, described here, are older than any previously recorded member of the family. They are represented by teeth from numerous loci, which allow a better understanding of the sparsely known dentitions of currently known pseudorhyncocyonids. This facilitates the recognition of two further species of L eptictidium , L . listeri sp. nov. from the M iddle E ocene of G ermany and L . storchi sp. nov. from the L ate E ocene of F rance. Study of occlusal relationships also helps to fill gaps in our knowledge of missing tooth loci. Cladistic analysis of pseudorhyncocyonids with their previously judged closest relatives, the L eptictidae, P antolesta and P alaeanodonta, shows that two E uropean species, D iaphyodectes prolatus and P alaeictops ? levei , formerly thought to be leptictids, are instead primitive pseudorhyncocyonids, extending the range of the family further back in time to the M iddle P aleocene. P ? levei is placed in the new genus P hakodon gen. nov. The analysis also shows that the P seudorhyncocyonidae are sister group to the other three groups combined and that family‐level differentiation in this probable clade took place as early as the earliest Paleocene.