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Zodiolestes
''Zodiolestes'' is a genus of mustelids, now extinct, which existed during the Miocene period. The genus was first described in 1942, by E. S. Riggs, who identified the sister genus ''Promartes'' at the same time, and assigned to the family Procyonidae. In 1998 it was assigned to the subfamily Oligobuninae of the family Mustelidae. Two species have been identified in the genus: '' Z. daimonelixensis'' and '' Z. freundi''. ''Z. daimonelixensis'' showed digging adaptations, and one fossil was found curled up in the "corkscrew" burrow of the Miocene beaver, ''Palaeocastor''. ''Zodiolestes'' was most likely a predator of these fossorial beavers. This situation was analogous to the modern day prairie dog (genus ''Cynomys'') and its predator the black-footed ferret (''Mustela nigripes The black-footed ferret (''Mustela nigripes''), also known as the American polecatHeptner, V. G. (Vladimir Georgievich); Nasimovich, A. A; Bannikov, Andrei Grigorovich; Hoffmann, Robert S. (2001)'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zodiolestes Daimonelixensis
''Zodiolestes'' is a genus of mustelids, now extinct, which existed during the Miocene period. The genus was first described in 1942, by E. S. Riggs, who identified the sister genus ''Promartes'' at the same time, and assigned to the family Procyonidae. In 1998 it was assigned to the subfamily Oligobuninae of the family Mustelidae. Two species have been identified in the genus: '' Z. daimonelixensis'' and '' Z. freundi''. ''Z. daimonelixensis'' showed digging adaptations, and one fossil was found curled up in the "corkscrew" burrow of the Miocene beaver, ''Palaeocastor''. ''Zodiolestes'' was most likely a predator of these fossorial beavers. This situation was analogous to the modern day prairie dog (genus ''Cynomys'') and its predator the black-footed ferret (''Mustela nigripes The black-footed ferret (''Mustela nigripes''), also known as the American polecatHeptner, V. G. (Vladimir Georgievich); Nasimovich, A. A; Bannikov, Andrei Grigorovich; Hoffmann, Robert S. (2001)''Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zodiolestes Freundi
''Zodiolestes'' is a genus of mustelids, now extinct, which existed during the Miocene period. The genus was first described in 1942, by E. S. Riggs, who identified the sister genus ''Promartes'' at the same time, and assigned to the family Procyonidae. In 1998 it was assigned to the subfamily Oligobuninae of the family Mustelidae. Two species have been identified in the genus: '' Z. daimonelixensis'' and '' Z. freundi''. ''Z. daimonelixensis'' showed digging adaptations, and one fossil was found curled up in the "corkscrew" burrow of the Miocene beaver, ''Palaeocastor''. ''Zodiolestes'' was most likely a predator of these fossorial beavers. This situation was analogous to the modern day prairie dog (genus ''Cynomys'') and its predator the black-footed ferret (''Mustela nigripes The black-footed ferret (''Mustela nigripes''), also known as the American polecatHeptner, V. G. (Vladimir Georgievich); Nasimovich, A. A; Bannikov, Andrei Grigorovich; Hoffmann, Robert S. (2001)''Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oligobuninae
''Oligobuninae'' is an extinct subfamily of the family Mustelidae known from Miocene deposits in North America. The subfamily was described by J. A. Baskin in 1998; of the genera that he assigned to this clade, seven are recognized today - ''Brachypsalis'', ''Megalictis'', ''Oligobunis'', ''Promartes'', ''Zodiolestes'', '' Floridictis'' and '' Parabrachypsalis'' - representing thirteen separate species. ''Potamotherium ''Potamotherium'' ('river beast') an extinct genus of caniform carnivoran from the Miocene epoch of France and Germany. It has been previously assigned to the mustelid family, but recent work suggests that it represents a primitive relative of p ...'', usually considered to belong to Oligobuninae, has been reclassified as a basal pinnipedomorph in the family Semantoridae, which also includes '' Puijila'' and '' Semantor''.Berta, A., Morgan, C., & Boessenecker, R.W. (2018). "The Origin and Evolutionary Biology of Pinnipeds: Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses". Annua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Promartes
''Promartes'' is a genus of mustelids, now extinct, which existed during the Miocene period. Taxonomy The genus was first described in 1942, by E. S. Riggs, who identified the sister genus '' Zodiolestes'' at the same time, and assigned to the family Mustelidae. It belongs to the subfamily Oligobuninae. Five species have been identified in the genus: ''Promartes darbyi'', ''P. gemmarosae'', ''P. lepidus'', ''P. olcotti'', and''P. vantasselensis'', three of which were originally identified as members of ''Oligobunis ''Oligobunis'' is an extinct genus of mustelids, which existed during the Miocene epoch. The genus was first described by E. D. Cope in 1881. Cope assigned the genus to the family Mustelidae, and J. A. Baskin assigned it to the subfamily Oligo ...''.Riggs (1942) Notes References * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q7249679 Prehistoric mustelids Miocene mustelids Prehistoric mammals of North America Prehistoric carnivoran genera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palaeocastor
''Palaeocastor'' ('prehistoric beaver') is an extinct genus of beavers that lived in the North American Badlands during the late Oligocene period to early Miocene. ''Palaeocastor'' was much smaller than modern beavers. There are several species including ''Palaeocastor fossor, Palaeocastor magnus,'' ''Palaeocastor wahlerti, and Palaeocastor peninsulatus.'' Habitat Some members of this genus made corkscrew-shaped burrows and tunnels. Like many early castorids, ''Palaeocastor'' was predominantly a burrowing animal instead of an aquatic animal. Fossil evidence suggests they may have lived in family groups like modern beavers and employed a K reproductive strategy instead of the normal r-strategy of most rodents. Based on size and habitat, ''Palaeocastor fossor'' has been compared to a black-tailed prairie dog ('' Cynomys ludovicianus''). "Devil's corkscrews" The discovery of ''Palaeocastor'' sprang from the discovery of devil's corkscrews in the plains of Sioux County, N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern marine invertebrates than the Pliocene has. The Miocene is preceded by the Oligocene and is followed by the Pliocene. As Earth went from the Oligocene through the Miocene and into the Pliocene, the climate slowly cooled towards a series of ice ages. The Miocene boundaries are not marked by a single distinct global event but consist rather of regionally defined boundaries between the warmer Oligocene and the cooler Pliocene Epoch. During the Early Miocene, the Arabian Peninsula collided with Eurasia, severing the connection between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, and allowing a faunal interchange to occur between Eurasia and Africa, including the dispersal of proboscideans into Eurasia. During the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family (taxonomy), family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. ''Panthera leo'' (lion) and ''Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus ''Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomy (biology), taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mustelid
The Mustelidae (; from Latin ''mustela'', weasel) are a family of carnivorous mammals, including weasels, badgers, otters, ferrets, martens, minks and wolverines, among others. Mustelids () are a diverse group and form the largest family in the suborder Caniformia of the order Carnivora. They comprise about 66 to 70 species in nine subfamilies. Variety Mustelids vary greatly in size and behaviour. The smaller variants of the least weasel can be under in length, while the giant otter of Amazonian South America can measure up to and sea otters can exceed in weight. Wolverines can crush bones as thick as the femur of a moose to get at the marrow, and have been seen attempting to drive bears away from their kills. The sea otter uses rocks to break open shellfish to eat. Martens are largely arboreal, while European badgers dig extensive tunnel networks, called setts. Only one mustelid has been domesticated; the ferret. Tayra are also kept as pets (although they requ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point. Because a species' potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" (typically in the fossil record) after a period of apparent absence. More than 99% of all species that ever lived on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, are estimated to have died out. It is estimated that there are currently around 8.7 million species of eukaryote globally, and possibly many times more if microorganisms, like bacteria, are included. Notable extinct animal species include non-avian dinosaurs, saber-toothed cats, dodos, m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Procyonidae
Procyonidae is a New World family of the order Carnivora. It comprises the raccoons, ringtails, cacomistles, coatis, kinkajous, olingos, and olinguitos. Procyonids inhabit a wide range of environments and are generally omnivorous. Characteristics Procyonids are relatively small animals, with generally slender bodies and long tails, though the common raccoon tends to be bulky. Because of their general build, the Procyonidae are often popularly viewed as smaller cousins of the bear family. This is apparent in their German names: a raccoon is called a ''Waschbär'' (washing bear, as it "washes" its food before eating), a coati is a ''Nasenbär'' (nose-bear), while a kinkajou is a ''Honigbär'' (honey-bear). Dutch follows suit, calling the animals ''wasbeer'', ''neusbeer'' and ''rolstaartbeer'' respectively. However, it is now believed that procyonids are more closely related to mustelids than to bears. Procyonids share common morphological characteristics including a shortened ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mustelidae
The Mustelidae (; from Latin ''mustela'', weasel) are a family of carnivorous mammals, including weasels, badgers, otters, ferrets, martens, minks and wolverines, among others. Mustelids () are a diverse group and form the largest family in the suborder Caniformia of the order Carnivora. They comprise about 66 to 70 species in nine subfamilies. Variety Mustelids vary greatly in size and behaviour. The smaller variants of the least weasel can be under in length, while the giant otter of Amazonian South America can measure up to and sea otters can exceed in weight. Wolverines can crush bones as thick as the femur of a moose to get at the marrow, and have been seen attempting to drive bears away from their kills. The sea otter uses rocks to break open shellfish to eat. Martens are largely arboreal, while European badgers dig extensive tunnel networks, called setts. Only one mustelid has been domesticated; the ferret. Tayra are also kept as pets (although they requ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cynomys
Prairie dogs (genus ''Cynomys'') are herbivorous burrowing ground squirrels native to the grasslands of North America. Within the genus are five species: black-tailed, white-tailed, Gunnison's, Utah, and Mexican prairie dogs. In Mexico, prairie dogs are found primarily in the northern states, which lie at the southern end of the Great Plains: northeastern Sonora, north and northeastern Chihuahua, northern Coahuila, northern Nuevo León, and northern Tamaulipas. In the United States, they range primarily to the west of the Mississippi River, though they have also been introduced in a few eastern locales. They are also found in the Canadian Prairies. Despite the name, they are not actually canines; prairie dogs, along with the marmots, chipmunks, and several other basal genera belong to the ground squirrels (tribe ''Marmotini''), part of the larger squirrel family (''Sciuridae''). Prairie dogs are considered a keystone species with their mounds often being used by other sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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