Harpagolestes

Harpagolestes
Temporal range:
Skull of H. immanis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Placentalia
Order: †Mesonychia
Family: †Mesonychidae
Genus: †Harpagolestes
Wortman, 1901
Type species
Harpagolestes macrocephalus
Wortman, 1901
Other species[1]
  • H. brevipes
  • H. immanis
  • "H." koreanicus
  • H. leotensis
  • H. leei
  • H. orientalis?
  • H. uintensis

Harpagolestes ("hooked thief") is an extinct genus of hyena like, bear sized mesonychid mesonychian that lived in Central and Eastern Asia as well western and central North America during the middle to late Eocene.[1] It was one of the largest mesonychians known, with large species having a skull length of at least 40 cm (16 in).[2][3] Even the smaller species, H. orientalis was larger than Mesonyx, having a skull length of 32 cm (13 in).[3] Unlike the closely related Mesonyx, Harpagolestes was believed to have been a scavenger as it lacked the dentition to effectively slice through flesh and tendon as well as stout limbs.[3][4] Harpagolestes was the last North American mesonychid, with the last species going extinct after the early Duchesnean of NALMA.[1][5]

Taxonomy

Szalay and Gould (1966) classified Harpagolestes as a mesonychine mesonychid within the paper they described H. orientalis.[3] In their 2007 paper, Geisler et al. recovered Harpagolestes was recovered in a clade with Mesonyx and Synoplotherium.[6]

Spaulding et al. (2009) recovered Harpagolestes as a paraphyletic genus, with H. orientalis being more closely related to Pachyaena than to H. uintensis.[7]

Solé et al. (2018) recovered Harpagolestes as part of the Mesonyx clade, a clade of derived mesonychids that were mostly known from the Eocene. Their phylogenetic analysis recovered it as a sister taxon of Mesonyx.[8] Solé et al. (2023) also recovered Harpagolestes as a member of the Mesonyx clade, although within this study it is recovered as a sister taxon to the group containing Mongolonyx and Mongolestes.[9]

The geographic origin of Harpagolestes is unclear as they were coeval in both North America and Asia. Within North America, it first appeared during the Bridgerian faunal stage via H. macrocephalus. However, the genus was more abundant during the Uintan faunal stage.[1] In Asia, Harpagolestes first appeared during the Irdinmanhan faunal stage.[10]

Description

Life reconstruction of H. orientalis

Harpagolestes was a large animal, with a skull length of a half a meter in some species.[4] H. orientalis was one of the smaller species, with a skull length of 32 cm (13 in),[3] making it larger than Mesonyx obtusidens who had a skull length of 27.9 cm (11.0 in).[2] Additionally, the skull of H. orientalis was significantly more robust, as well as consisting of relatively larger teeth.[3] H. uintensis from the Middle Eocene of Wyoming is described as having a total cranium length of 42.9 cm (16.9 in) and a facial length of 20.6 cm (8.1 in).[2] H. immanis was slightly larger than H. uintensis, with a skull length of 46 cm (18 in).[3] The largest species within the genus was H. brevipes.[11] 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.[3][12]

Paleobiology

Szalay and Gould (1966) recovered Harpagolestes as a bone-crushing, carrion feeder as it showed extensive wear on the dentition. The blunt nature of their teeth suggests they were poorly suited for slicing through flesh or tendons. They concluded the blunt nature of their teeth suggests they were well adapted for feeding on abundant carrion of large herbivores of North America and Asia.[3] Kramarenko (1974) noted that the limb bones Harpagolestes were stout, suggesting Harpagolestes did not pursue its prey and was scavenger.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 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.
  2. 1 2 3 Osborn, Henry Fairfield (November 11, 1924). "Andrewsarchus, giant mesonychid of Mongolia". American Museum Novitates (146). The American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved December 15, 2024.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Szalay, F.S.; Gould, S.J. (1966). "Asiatic Mesonychidae (Mammalia, Condylarthra)". Bulletin of the AMNH. 132 (2): 127–174.
  4. 1 2 3 N. N. Kramarenko (1974). Зоогеография палеогена Азии (Zoogeography of Paleogene of Asia). Publishing office "Nauka". p. 113. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  5. ↑ Gustafson, Eric (1986). "Carnivorous mammals of the Late Eocene and Early Oligocene of Trans-Pecos Texas". Bulletin of the Texas Memorial Museum of the University of Texas in Austin.
  6. ↑ Geisler, Jonathan H.; McKenna, Malcolm C. (2007). "A new species of mesonychian mammal from the lower Eocene of Mongolia and its phylogenetic relationships" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 52 (1): 189–212.
  7. ↑ Spaulding, Michelle; O'Leary, Maureen A.; Gatesy, John (2009-09-23). "Relationships of Cetacea (Artiodactyla) Among Mammals: Increased Taxon Sampling Alters Interpretations of Key Fossils and Character Evolution". PLOS ONE. 4 (9) e7062. Bibcode:2009PLoSO...4.7062S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0007062. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 2740860. PMID 19774069.
  8. ↑ Solé, Floréal; Godinot, Marc; Laurent, Yves; Galoyer, Alain; Smith, Thierry (2018). "The European Mesonychid Mammals: Phylogeny, Ecology, Biogeography, and Biochronology". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 25: 339–379. doi:10.1007/s10914-016-9371-8.
  9. ↑ Solé, Floréal; Fournier, Morgane; Ladevèze, Sandrine; et al. (2023). "New postcranial elements of mesonychid mammals from the Ypresian of France: New hypotheses for the radiation and evolution of the mesonychids in Europe". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 30 (2): 371–401. doi:10.1007/s10914-023-09651-x.
  10. ↑ Xun Jin (2012). "New mesonychid (Mammalia) material from the Lower Paleogene of the Erlian Basin, Nei Mongol, China" (PDF). Vertebrata PalAsiatica. 50 (3): 245–257.
  11. ↑ Jin, Xun (2005). "Mesonychids from Lushi Basin, Henan Province, China" (PDF). Vertebrata PalAsiatica. 43 (2): 151–164.
  12. ↑ 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.
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