''Ekweeconfractus'' ("broken fox")
[ is a genus of teratodontine ]hyaenodont
Hyaenodonta ("hyena teeth") is an extinct order of hypercarnivorous placental pan-carnivoran mammals from mirorder Ferae. Hyaenodonts were important mammalian predators that arose during the early Paleocene in Europe and persisted well into the ...
known from deposits at the Moruorot site in Kenya
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The genus contains only a single known species, ''Ekweeconfractus amorui''. The full scientific name of type species translates as "broken fox of stone". Known from a single skull with an intact cranium, it is estimated to have weighed around , similar in size to a large fox. The researchers who described and named the fossil were able to conduct a CT scan
A computed tomography scan (CT scan; formerly called computed axial tomography scan or CAT scan) is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers ...
of the cranial cavity, revealing that the animal had a comparatively large neocortex
The neocortex, also called the neopallium, isocortex, or the six-layered cortex, is a set of layers of the mammalian cerebral cortex involved in higher-order brain functions such as sensory perception, cognition, generation of motor commands, sp ...
for the overall size of its brain, and an estimated encephalisation quotient
Encephalization quotient (EQ), encephalization level (EL), or just encephalization is a relative brain size measure that is defined as the ratio between observed to predicted brain mass for an animal of a given size, based on nonlinear regressi ...
of 0.54, similar to that of other contemporary African hyaenodonts, but lower than that of ''Hyaenodon
''Hyaenodon'' (" hyena-tooth") is an extinct genus of carnivorous hyaenodont mammals from tribe Hyaenodontini, within subfamily Hyaenodontinae in family Hyaenodontidae,Malcolm C. McKenna, Susan K. Bell (1997."Classification of Mammals: Above t ...
''.
Phylogeny
The phylogenetic relationships of genus ''Ekweeconfractus'' are shown in the following cladogram:
See also
* Mammal classification
Mammalia is a class of animal within the phylum Chordata. Mammal classification has been through several iterations since Carl Linnaeus initially defined the class. No classification system is universally accepted; McKenna & Bell (1997) and Wilson ...
* Teratodontidae
Teratodontidae ("monstrous teeth") is a family of extinct predatory mammals from extinct paraphyletic superfamily Hyainailouroidea within extinct order Hyaenodonta. Fossil remains of these mammals are known from Middle Eocene to Late Miocene depo ...
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q107616246
Hyaenodonts
Cenozoic mammals of Africa